Haverhill city councilors will meet in special session Friday afternoon to hear Mayor Melinda E. Barrett’s “Declaration of Emergency” and request to borrow money to raze the fire-damaged Stevens Mill complex.
The city was expected to, at least temporarily, bear the cost of the removing the mill along Little River, just off Lafayette Square. Past attempts, over more than a decade, have sought to collect back taxes on the property and recover costs of boarding and demolishing buildings. As WHAV reported earlier, the city made plans to demolish the brick mill after officials determined it “sustained a critical loss of structural integrity.”
Mayoral Chief of Staff Christine Lindberg told WHAV bids from potential demolition contractors are expected Thursday morning.
Three have been charged in connection with starting an early morning, April 28, fire at the complex that turned into a three-alarm blaze and required round-the-clock monitoring.
Councilors meet Friday, 3 p.m., at the Theodore A. Pelosi, Jr. Council Chambers, 4 Summer St, Room 202, Haverhill.
Property Brings Ups and Downs Over the Years
Haverhill has a complicated history with the property, running the gamut from despair over fires and related costs to possibly welcoming about 700 apartments and a restaurant.
As early as 2014, the city took steps to, first, try to recover $7,955 in expenses incurred to board the building and then to foreclose on a tax lien.
Haverhill’s attempts to recover about $100,000 in expenses following a Sept. 20, 2015 fire in another part of the complex have so far also proved unsuccessful. Former Mayor James J. Fiorentini and then-Building Inspector Richard Osborne first filed a $2,309 claim for demolition of 14 Stevens St. that December and the Fiorentini and Building Inspector Thomas Bridgewater made the larger claim Sept. 15, 2021.
However, there was hope during May, 2017, when Haverhill city councilors approved a special permit for Boston-based Winn Development to initially construct 82 out of a possible 701 apartments and a restaurant. (See drawing below.) It was part of a proposed $30 million redevelopment of the site whose fate became tied to the adjacent Little River dam.
At the start of 2025, the city placed a lien on the property at 14-16 Stevens St.in hopes of eventually recovering the $20,590 cost of boarding up and clean the abandoned property. In a claim drafted the month before, the city named (Steven and Carol) Shain Realty Trust in its filing with the Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds. The move was aimed at protecting residents against “public safety nuisances or hazards” and signed by Barrett and Health and Inspectional Service Director Richard MacDonald.
A 2016 drawing of plans to redevelop the Stevens Mill property.