Affordable Housing Development Breaks Ground at Van Brodie Mill

New affordable housing is coming to Lawrence, Massachusetts at Van Brodie Mill, an adaptive reuse project that recently broke ground. The redevelopment will bring new life to the old textile mill, addressing the community’s affordable housing needs while preserving the history of the site.

Van Brodie Mill will consist of 102 mixed-income units in two buildings. At 130,000 SF, the main, four-story building will house 100 units. A separate 4,000 SF building that was once an incinerator will be renovated into two additional apartments. Bohler provided civil engineering, surveying, permitting, landscape architecture and construction administration services for the project.

The original construction was built nearly 100 years ago as part of Arlington Mills, a 75-acre industrial complex. It was first used to manufacture yarn for wool and flannel, and later used to make food products, but has been vacant for the past 15 years.

This project is transforming the historic brownfield site into affordable housing, meeting a more immediate need for the community. All of the units are dedicated to households earning below the area median income, ranging from very low-income to workforce housing. The redevelopment will also advance Massachusetts’ Housing Choice Initiative, furthering the goal of 135,000 new homes by 2025.