Page 9 - BusinessWest September 18, 2023

A.J. Crane acquired the ‘carpentry’ building at Ludlow Mills with the goal of having it redeveloped, with a restaurant being the preferred use.
Staff Photo
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Transformation of the mill, which has been well-chronicled by Busi- nessWest over the past dozen years, is the story in Ludlow. But not the only story.
Another is a possible charter change making the community a city and changing its form of govern- ment from the present Board of Selectmen to one of several options, including a town manager/Town Council format, a mayor/City Council alignment, or perhaps a mayor/manager/council arrangement.
The town has hired the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management to guide it through this pro- cess, said Town Administrator Marc Strange, add- ing that a charter-review committee will gather in the coming weeks and meet consistently for roughly a year, with a charter to be presented to town-meet- ing voters in October 2024, with a new form of gov- ernment possible by the middle of 2025.
Meanwhile, there are some infrastructure projects moving forward, especially an ambitious streetscape-improvement plan for the East Street corridor, which leads into Ludlow Mills.
“I do know there is
a great shortage of available land and available buildings at this time, and I think we’re going to have some good interest in the property.”
For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Ludlow and its many developing stories.
No Run-of-the-mill Project
Hanging on a wall on the ground floor of Ludlow’s Town Hall is a large aerial photograph of the section of town beside the Chicopee River, circa the 1920s.
Glancing at the image, the enormity of the mill complex — then even larger than it is today — comes clearly into focus, literally and figuratively.
The mills were, the many respects, the heartbeat of the community and an economic force, a supplier of jobs and vibrancy. And over the past several years, they have become that again, with new developments seemingly every year.
The latest, and most visible, of the latest developments is the ongoing renovation of the L-shaped clocktower building, including replacement of the hundreds of large windows that provided needed light for the mill workers.
The upper floors will be converted into nearly 100 apartments on the upper floors, with 48,000 square feet of space on the ground floor
Ludlow
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