WHEN A LOCAL DEVELOPER came to Fitchburg Art Museum director Nick Capasso more than a decade ago with an idea to create artist-preference housing downtown, he needed little convincing. But the rest of the city, including the Fitchburg City Council, wasn’t as receptive to the concept of a “creative economy.”
“Initially it was a foreign concept, because no one’s done artist housing here,” Capasso said. “We had spent years systematically educating the Fitchburg City Council to get them to understand that we’re not inventing the wheel here. This has been done successfully in other communities.”
More than 10 years later, the post-industrial era city that suffered from the long-term decline of manufacturing has embraced arts and culture as a way to restore its standing as a vibrant hub of North-Central Massachusetts.
Local, state, and federal leaders gathered Thursday to cut the ribbon on the Fitchburg Arts Community, a 68-unit affordable housing project with amenities for artists, designed and developed by Marc Dohan, executive director of the nonprofit Fitchburg community development organization NewVue.
Not only has the $45 million project brought much-needed housing to the city’s recovering downtown that is affordable to a community that can help drive urban revival, it has also tackled blight by restoring three former municipal buildings once vacant and boarded up. Residents began moving into the FAC in the spring, and nearly all the units are now occupied.
“These homes help create space for musicians, painters, performers, designers and makers of all kinds to live, work, and connect right here in the heart of our city,” Mayor Sam Squailia said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The community housing has attracted artists from North-Central Massachusetts, as well as other parts of New England, according to Capasso, who called it a “dream come true.”
“In an economically challenged community, the best projects to invest in are the ones that can address multiple issues simultaneously and successfully, and that’s what this is,” he said.
NewVue officially purchased the three buildings in 2018 and began construction in 2023. B.F. Brown Junior High School was built in 1923 and sits across from the award-winning arts museum, along with the High School Annex built in 1869 and the City Stables in 1886.
Capasso said the buildings were abandoned and neglected for years. Now, the 100-year-old museum will benefit from being located near a community of people who enjoy the arts.
“We can’t have boarded up buildings across the street from the art museum,” Capasso said. “We’re the only tourist destination in downtown Fitchburg … We don’t want people to go home and say, ‘I was scared to get out of my car.’ That’s not going to happen anymore.”
Key historical elements were preserved in the restoration, including several old classroom chalkboards for artists to use in their apartment units. The school’s auditorium has been turned into a gallery space, and residents can enjoy a soundproof rehearsal room and shared art studios.
What took so long for the project to be completed? Dohan said convincing city government, remediating asbestos and lead paint in the building sites, and piecing together some 20 sources of local, state, and federal funding turned into a nearly 13-year endeavor.
After a fire destroyed the old school roof in 2016, the city was faced with an insurance settlement and a decision. Instead of tearing the buildings down, Fitchburg decided to reinvest. But while the artist housing project has been supported by the last three mayoral administrations, Dohan said the city, which has shifted its focus on market-rate housing construction, was initially hesitant to allow more affordable housing development.
He says the affordability component is key for the artist community, but there was also no other way to finance the project without the use of state and federal low-income housing tax credits. The development received over $21 million in federal funding. Roughly 70 percent of the units are deemed affordable, while the other 30 percent are workforce housing units for households that earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing but not enough to afford market rents.
“Young people cannot afford to live within 495,” Capasso said. “The housing market is locked up, the rental market is extreme, and they’re finding Fitchburg, and places like Fitchburg, to be much more desirable.”
But the project hasn’t just attracted young artists driven out of high-cost Boston.
A retired Bill Tolos and his wife Nancy moved into the building in May. Tolos was once a student at both the annex building and the junior high school where he went on to teach science for 34 years before it closed. The painter has lived in Fitchburg nearly his entire life, and he is a frequent visitor to the art museum. He said he’s found community at the FAC and feels like he’s “on vacation all the time.”
“I wanted to be part of this art community and be able to share with other artists and have a studio, instead of painting on my dining room table,” Tolos said. “When the fire happened, as everybody else, I was heartbroken … from the ashes they raised this building, and I’m so glad they did.”
