A view of the former Uniroyal plant taken in 2020.
Reminder Publishing file photo
CHICOPEE — Chicopee is one of several communities that will benefit from the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s fiscal year 2027 Community One Stop for Growth program.
According to the state, the city is receiving $250,000 through the underutilized properties program to support architecture and engineering work to advance the redevelopment of the former Uniroyal site into 448 housing units and 6,000 square feet of commercial space.
According to mass.gov, the funding will also help support 224 new jobs.
The Community One Stop for Growth, overseen by the Executive Office of Economic Development, allows cities, towns and organizations to access state funding for projects that create housing, strengthen downtowns, prepare sites for development, build construction and support local economic growth.
This year’s awards are being delivered through 14 grant programs administered by EOED, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and MassDevelopment.
Department of Planning and Development Director Lee Pouliot told Reminder Publishing that the underutilized properties program is extremely competitive, so he is excited to see Chicopee receive the award for the Uniroyal property. He added that it’s a flexible program that supports a wide array of scope items for properties that are either abandoned, empty or underutilized.
“We’re really excited to take this next step with redevelopment planning for the Uniroyal property,” Pouliot stated.
The funding will be used to complete early schematic design work with the preferred developer on the Uniroyal property, beginning the pre-development phase of project planning for the redevelopment of the remaining buildings on the site.
Pouliot said the timeline for the design work phase has not yet been determined, but hopes that once the contracts are executed and the City Council accepts the award, the phase will take 12-18 months to complete.
Once the redevelopment is complete, Pouliot explained that it will bring benefits to Chicopee and the region.
The Uniroyal redevelopment vision plan has always been anticipated to be a housing focused mill conversion effort with potentially some smaller neighborhood scale commercial spaces, according to the city.
Pouliot said that, based on the scale of the property and the buildings available for redevelopment, Chicopee could be looking at adding between 400 and 600 new residential units. He added that the units will hopefully come in varying sizes to accommodate a wide variety of family types looking for housing.
“Housing is a critical issue across the commonwealth and across the country, so any projects that can deliver new housing units to the marketplace are critical,” Pouliot said.
From the city’s perspective, Uniroyal is a tax-foreclosed property that the city currently owns and is not generating any revenue.
“It’s always the city’s desire to get these types of properties back into the private sector for redevelopment so that they start generating tax revenue again,” Pouliot said. “In some ways, we can address two policy needs at once. One, getting rid of a property from the city’s portfolio that was a foreclosure, getting it back on the tax rolls, and two, supporting housing development that is just dramatically needed everywhere.”
Of the 402 projects receiving awards through One Stop for Growth, 36% are in rural communities, 24% in gateway cities, 37% in Housing Choice communities, and 50% in MBTA communities. In total, 207 communities are receiving awards, which is the largest number of communities represented in a single round in the program’s history.
“We’re investing in communities across Massachusetts to create the housing, jobs and economic growth our state needs,” Gov. Maura Healey said. “These awards will turn underused properties into new homes and businesses, strengthen downtowns, create good jobs and unlock billions of dollars in private investment. That means more opportunity for families, workers and businesses in every part of our state.”
Chicopee also received $450,000 in FY26 through the MassWorks Infrastructure program to design neighborhood-scale infrastructure improvements for the Uniroyal project.
