COVID-19 slammed businesses and economies around the world and downtown Lynn was not spared the crushing blows.
A Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and city virtual meeting Wednesday revealed that 50 percent of downtown businesses reported temporary or permanent closures, with half of businesses now operating at reduced capacity and 40 percent reporting 25 percent or greater revenue loss during the pandemic.
This grim testament to the global pandemic’s devastation stands in contrast to vaccination campaigns heralding the end of widespread COVID-19-driven social-distancing protocols and economic revitalization’s onset.
MAPC and city officials during Wednesday’s presentation said city agencies and organizations are making sure grants and other resources are available to businesses to speed their recovery.
A downtown improvement laundry list is slowly getting whittled down. MAPC identified walkability, green space, bicycle lanes, lighting and downtown signage as improvement areas.
Central Street and Washington Street construction work is underway and the former Central Square vacant lot by the commuter rail overpass is a new green space with an entertainment stage.
MAPC representatives suggested the commuter parking garage’s facade, which faces North Shore Community College’s Broad Street campus, could use improvements. That suggestion is an understatement: The garage, with its rusting iron superstructure and crumbling concrete steps, is way overdue for a significant overhaul.
Downtown’s most promising news is its budding potential as the location for new housing located a short walk from the commuter rail line. Throughout the pandemic, Propocio Companies kept workers employed building the firm’s Caldwell residential high rise between Oxford and Munroe streets.
Caldwell is a building that could easily grace Boston’s Seaport District or Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s West Side. It has become the flagship for additional Procopio projects underway downtown.
There are generous opportunities for envisioning future downtown development.
The sprawling parking lot, flanked by 12 businesses and State, Market and Tremont streets, is a potential canvas for new downtown development incorporating walkability and commuter rail access. The same potential exists in the city’s Buffum Street parking lot.
How the city recovers from COVID-19 is sure to be a topic during campaign debates in this municipal election year with downtown’s recovery at the center of the discussion.
