Lowell Planning Board Approves 160-Unit North Canal Affordable Housing Redevelopment

LOWELL -- January 22, 2026, Lowell Planning Board unanimously approves redevelopment of 116-unit North Canal affordable housing complex into 160 new units. The 5-0 vote Thursday authorizes New North Canal LLC, working with Coalition for a Better Acre, to replace two aging Moody Street properties, built in the 1960s with materials described as not meant to endure, with a four-story, 100-unit senior housing building at 463 Moody Street and a five-story, 60-unit family building at 281 Moody Street. Vice Chair Gerald Frechette moved approval with six conditions, including a Transportation Demand Management plan identifying a transportation coordinator, secure bicycle parking, a canal-edge safety buffer, and snow storage that cannot impede pedestrian walkway access. Executive Director Dan Rivera of CBA told the board that state law requires a free relocation consultant for all displaced tenants and that the team hopes to break ground in spring 2028 after a pending state funding decision. The board also voted unanimously to approve a two-lot Definitive Subdivision at 104 Mariposa Avenue for applicant Soklark Hong, conditioned on tree relocations, and allowed the Rivers Edge PRD application at 165 Nelson Avenue to withdraw without prejudice after the City Law Department determined it must first go before the City Council.