Gardner receives $1.7M for building demolition, infrastructure and community advancement
Photo | Courtesy of City of Gardner
A former retail building on Rome Square in Gardner will be demolished and the property redeveloped.
The City of Gardner received $1.65 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for projects and social service programs in the city.
Of the funding, administered by the Massachusetts Community Development Block Grant Program, $921,700 will be used to demolish two derelict structures, according to a Friday press release from the Gardner mayor’s office.
A former retail block at 205-213 Main St. will be demolished to make way for site improvements as part of downtown revitalization. A former public pool building, vacant since 2012, will be demolished to make way for a new pavilion to serve a new park and pool nearby.
Infrastructure improvements, including the revitalization of Lafayette Square accounts for $446,820 of the funding, with the remainder being used to eliminate public school athletic user fees, programming for the Boys & Girls Club of Leominster and Fitchburg Gardner Clubhouse, and emergency housing assistance.
“In the last three years, we have made unprecedented investments in our City and our infrastructure, and we’ve started to see the return on that investment tenfold,” Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson said in the press release. “I can’t thank our partners at the state and federal level and in the private sector enough for their continued investments in Gardner. I’m really looking forward to seeing the positive impact these funds have on our community for generations.”
Downtown Gardner has seen a swell of activity since 2022, with several underused buildings sold to developers and new businesses opening throughout the city. More than 220 housing units are currently in the planning phases in Downtown Gardner, according to the press release.
The Massachusetts Community Development Block Grant Program is a federally funded, competitive grant program designed to help small cities and towns meet a broad range of community development needs. This program helps eligible cities and towns with populations under 50,000, which do not receive direct funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to meet a broad range of community development needs in housing, infrastructure, revitalization, economic development and public social services, according to the press release.
In the 2023 round of funding, 71 communities throughout Massachusetts received $65 million through the program.
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