Construction starts on new residential development at former UMass Lowell site
New England Council member, UMass Lowell is converting a former piece of its campus into a 340-unit housing development. Developer Trammel Crow Residential announced last Thursday it has started construction on a development that will be named Alexan Chelmsford, two miles west of the main UMass Lowell campus.
The 255 Princeton St. project, originally bought for $3 million from UMass Lowell amid an effort to centralize the campus towards downtown Lowell, is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2025. Alexan Chelmsford will include studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units in four-story buildings, alongside townhouse units, a pool, courtyards, a fitness facility, a resident clubhouse and nearly seven acres of protected wetland.
The land was in disrepair for many decades, being bought in 1984 for $1 and becoming abandoned for the last two decades, which included a fire that wiped out the buildings on the site. The project in Lowell coincides with two other Boston area residential developments scheduled to be completed next year, one of which is 210 units and the other 180 units. The Chelmsford development is just the latest instance of Massachusetts schools leveraging demand for property.
The New England Council commends UMass Lowell for the addition of these new housing units.
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