Canal-district land swap in works

Officials from the city and the National Park Service are nearing an agreement on a land swap in which the city would get the Park Service's parking lot off Dutton Street for further development in the Hamilton Canal District. In exchange, the city would build a parking garage in this area abutting the lot. See a video at lowellsun.com. SUN / DAVID H. BROW

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LOWELL -- After nearly two years of negotiation, officials from the city and the Lowell National Park Service are poised to announce a land-swap proposal that would call for construction of a 950-space garage in the Hamilton Canal District on land directly abutting what is now the Park Service parking lots on Dutton Street.

The garage would include retail space on the ground floor -- much like the Early Garage on Middlesex Street -- as well as high ceilings to accommodate National Park Service buses.

In exchange, the Park Service would turn over the parking-lot space to the city, which in turn would allow for further development in the $800 million Hamilton Canal District. One possibility for such development: a new headquarters for the Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank, which has received an offer for its space at One Merrimack Plaza and is looking to move out by next spring (see related story).

"There's been a lot going on, but a few things have broken loose," said Peter Aucella, assistant superintendent of the Park Service's Lowell operations. "It's an elaborate process."

"Everyone I've talked to has expressed the need for a parking garage," said City Manager Kevin Murphy. "That will pave the way for further development there."

It was nearly two years ago that President Barack Obama signed into law a bill filed by U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, that enabled the National Park Service to exchange land with the city, state or UMass Building Authority.

Aucella said the law requires that the land swap be equal in value. And getting to equality has proven to be tricky, particularly because the city needs to accommodate not only parking for passenger cars but also for up to 11 charter buses.

Adam Baacke, who headed the city's Department of Planning and Development before taking a similar position at UMass Lowell in February, said accommodating the 158 passenger-car spots was easy -- the city would simply reserve that number of spaces in the new garage.

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Canal-district land swap in works