Two local and regional nonprofits, the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, Archdiocese of Boston and the Greater Haverhill Foundation, have partnered together as Merrimack Street Ventures to bring new community life and pedestrian access to the Merrimack riverfront in Haverhill, Mass. The mixed-use, mixed-income Harbor Place is the culmination of their efforts, built in response to the city’s need for waterfront development, pedestrian gathering spaces, transit-oriented development, and workforce and low-income housing.
Harbor Place, located within a half mile of local bus and rail transit, offers 80 one- to three-bedroom units, including market-rate apartments as well as units affordable at 30%, 50%, 60%, 80%, and 110% of the area median income, effectively ranging in price from $420 to $2,300. A fitness center and lounge are available for resident use on the ground floor, and a restaurant and retail space face the public plaza. The development’s five-story commercial building has so far been leased to the University of Massachusetts, a local bank, and HC Media, among other tenants.
The buildings’ white roofs reflect up to 90% of sunlight, reducing the property’s summer energy use by 10% to 40%, and LED lighting and Energy Star–rated appliances are in use throughout the property.
One of the project’s main obstacles was a 10-foot concrete wall on the site, built after a flood in 1936, which restricted access to the Merrimack River and blocked it from view. To create access to the river without removing the wall, the development team raised the area’s grade by 10 feet. The Harbor Place property is built into a raised platform level with the top of the wall, with the new public plaza and boardwalk restoring pedestrian access to the river. The platform also allowed developers to create below-grade parking with additional excavation or new retaining walls.
