$2 Million MassWorks Grant For Marlborough Street Upgrades

MARLBOROUGH, MA — Marlborough will use a new $2 million MassWorks grant to make improvements along Lincoln Street ahead of an anticipated $25 million mixed-use development in the French Hill neighborhood.

According to city officials, the $2 million grant will be used to reconstruct a 0.6-mile stretch of Lincoln Street from the Assabet River Trail to Broad Street. The city will make improvements like adding new traffic lights, upgrading on-street parking, and installing new gas utility infrastructure.

The project will support a proposed mixed-use development near the corner of Lincoln and Mechanic streets that will bring 247 new market-rate apartments and close to 20,000 square feet of commercial space to the downtown area.

The governor's office gives out MassWorks grants each year to support development projects in cities across the state. Last week, Framingham got a $3.4 million MassWorks grant to help pay to rebuild a key intersection in the Nobscot area. A developer wants to turn a mostly abandoned shopping plaza in that neighborhood into a mixed-use development.

The grant was first announced in November, but state officials including Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, state Reps. Danielle Gregoire and Carmine Gentile, and state Sen. Jamie Eldridge visited Marlborough on Jan. 9 for a more official rollout.