Lawrence CommunityWorks is transforming a historic mill in Lawrence, MA into a community center called Union Crossing that will provide arts, culture, and education programming. It will feature artist studios, a computer lab, dance studio, martial arts studio, cafe, and makerspace. The goal is to create jobs and bring over 1,000 visitors per week to activate the community and support local families. Tenant space will be leased cooperatively at affordable hourly rates to maximize opportunities for small businesses and programs.

1. Union Crossing 50 Island Street, Lawrence, MA.
Where arts, culture, and education meet
Lawrence CommunityWorks is transforming an historic mill in the
heart of Lawrence’s north canal district into a dynamic mixed-use and
multi-tenant community arts, culture, and education center.
The property, located along the banks of the Merrimack River at 50 Island Street- already includes 60
beautifully renovated affordable apartments for families. LCW is now working to complete the last
phase of building renovation and transform the remaining 30,000 SF into a mix of community programs,
services and small business opportunities to enhance the lives of Lawrence’s working families.
With help from Gateway Consulting, LCW is assembling a complementary mix of tenants focused on
bringing arts, culture, and educational programming. The tenant
mix is expected to include:
 @ 25-30 new artist work studios;
 A financial literacy program;
 A computer lab and youth development program;
 A cooperatively-run dance and fitness studio featuring eve-
rything from ballet, salsa and hip-hop, to yoga, zumba and
other group fitness classes;
 A fully-equipped shared-use creative arts maker-space
available for drop-in use, monthly memberships, and clas-
ses;
 A privately run personal training and fitness center;
 A martial arts studio; and
 An internet café.
Once fully occupied, Union Crossing will cre-
ate the equivalent of 25+ new full-time jobs
and bring well over 1,000 visitors to the
building each week, creating a vibrant hub of
community activity, opportunity, and civic
engagement.
Operations are expected to begin in late
spring 2013.
To learn more, contact: Jon Davey- 617-233-9460; jon@abgrealty.net or
Jen Faigel, 857-231-1863; jenfaigel@gmail.com
A project of
Dec 2012

2. Cooperative leasing to maximize local job and business opportunities.
With well over 400,000 SF of commercial space available
in Lawrence, recruiting businesses for Union Crossing
could be quite challenging. Therefore, rather than try to
compete in a flooded market, LCW, with help from
Gateway Consulting, is instead looking to differentiate
the approach by focusing on a collaborative leasing structure and in-
tensive cross-marketing effort that will bring together complementary
uses. The strategy is designed to encourage multiple visits and create
a strong destination and sense of place.
Using a cooperative business model, the Gateway team will recruit
individual teachers, artists, dancers, non-profits, small businesses and
similar to lease time in several open studios and classrooms to run a wide mix of arts, culture, health, and
educational programs. Each user will become a member of the cooperative that leases the space. Each
member will pay a set fee expected to be between $20-50/hour which includes the cost of occupancy plus
pays for a coordinated marketing and web-based enrollment and payment system, and an operations per-
son to manage it all.
This collaborative approach keeps overhead costs low by splitting the
rent and coordination costs across multiple tenants, thus maximizing
opportunities for small and start-up businesses. By having a set fee
structure, it incentivizes users to do their own recruiting and
strengthens the branding and marketing overall. Further, this cooper-
ative approach can bring a wide range of programs that attract a
broad audience, ensuring activity throughout the day, evening and
weekend. For example, a fitness or yoga instructor might lease studio
time in the morning, while a youth organization uses the same studio for an after-school dance class, and a
fitness instructor uses the same space in the evenings.
To maximize opportunities for young people, the team is exploring various program options and/or
lease provisions that would require all tenants to offer a mix of full private pay, subsidized, and free classes
focused on school-age kids and teens during certain hours of operation.

3. The Youth Development Organization encourages young people to be seriously engaged in
their education through enrichment programs in academics and the arts.
YDO maintains strategic partnerships with multiple organizations to maximize resources for Lawrence’s
young people and multiply learning opportunities, including Northern Essex Community College, MIT,
UMass Lowell, Greater Lawrence Community Boating, and Phillips Academy.
YDO’s core programs include: computer design; robotics; dance; theater; a
science Olympiad; journalism & writing; photography & filmmaking; math games;
and music, including choir, piano, and percussion.
At Union Crossing, YDO will locate its computer and robotics lab, plus lease space for
dance/large open use. Since YDO’s programs run primarily between 3-6 p.m. Mon-
day-Thursday plus Saturday mornings, Gateway Consulting is assisting them to sub-
lease the computer lab during off-hours for programs ranging from web design to business accounting and
bookkeeping. www.ydolawrence.org
The Studios at Building #9 will create @ 30-35 new artist work spaces. Studios will
range from @ 200-450 square feet with 12-14 foot high ceilings, and new 8 foot high windows
bringing in great natural light. Studio tenants will benefit from all new heat, air conditioning,
ventilation, and rooftop solar panels.
Through an on-site artisans’ association, tenants will
have use of a shared gallery and lounge for informal
gathering and formal events, access to classrooms for
teaching opportunities, plus a common web-site for
shared marketing and on-line sales. This integrated ap-
proach will provide working artists with multiple oppor-
tunities to generate income and build their business
while simultaneously pursuing their art.
www.studiosatbuilding9.com
Economic stability depends on the capacity of an individual or family to build assets: a
home, a business, education and training, and supportive networks. These assets are a foun-
dation for local economic progress, but too many families in our community lack the opportunity to
create them.
The Lawrence Financial Stability Center will work to provide this opportunity by offering a co-
ordinated range of financial education and asset-building programs to enable community
residents to achieve their full potential. Managed by Lawrence CommunityWorks, the Cen-
ter will offer classes on everything from budgeting and credit repair, to homeownership
and business start-up. The Center will also offer incentivized development accounts
(“IDA’s”) to provide matched savings for families ready to work hard to achieve their dreams.
Union Crossing: Anchor tenants & programming

4. is a family-owned internet café
located in the Allston neighbor-
hood of Boston.
Given the large number of daily visitors expected at Union
Crossing, the Café’s owner, Ahmed Dairy, sees tremendous op-
portunity in opening their 2nd location at 50 Island Street.
With a focus on quality food at an affordable price– including
sandwiches, baked goods, and smoothies great coffee, and ex-
ceptional service, the Café will be a welcome addition to the
Lawrence community.
The UC Dance Center is a cooperatively run
dance, fitness, and rehearsal space that will anchor the
performing arts and fitness programming.
Under a cooperative lease structure, multiple teachers and or-
ganizations will share 2 large classrooms, with each member
paying a set fee of @ $20-40/hour to cover their share of occu-
pancy plus contribute to the coop to manage operations.
Gateway Consulting will take initial responsibility for recruiting teachers to run an array of classes through-
out the day, evening, and weekend focused on participants across all experience levels and age groups.
Classes will range from ballet, salsa, jazz and hip-hop, to yoga, theater, zumba, and group fitness. The Gate-
way team will also assist teachers with initial recruitment, including creating a website with integrated cal-
endar, on-line enrollment, and an on-line payment system. With 8 or more classes running daily in each
studio, the UC Dance Center will offer well over 100 classes/week, creating 12-18 new jobs, and bringing
more than 1,000 people to Union Crossing each week.
If, in an average class, a teacher has 15 students each paying $10, then the teacher will take home @ $125/
session (after paying the coop fee). If they teach just 1 class, 5 days/week, a single teacher can gross
$2,500/month or $30,00year. Thus, not only can this initiative provide a great cultural outlet and fitness
opportunity, it can also create sustainable employment. Further, the incentivized marketing combined with
wide range of class offerings will ensure continued interest and program viability for the long term.
Integrated marketing: To ensure a strong kick-off and broad community awareness and engage-
ment , Gateway Consulting is working with owners of a locally-based Spanish/English media outlet on an
integrated outreach strategy. MàsTV , a digital cable TV station, El Planeta, a Spanish-
language weekly newspaper, and Tu Boston, a website, will all feature the Union Cross-
ing project intensively during the marketing and first few months of operations. They
are also interested in developing a partnership with local groups to create original pro-
gramming and content based on activities at Union Crossing.

5. The Artisans’ Collaborative Lawrence
A shared-use makerspace to create, innovate, educate & inspire
Whether building furniture, screen-printing t-shirts, designing clothing, recycling build-
ing materials, or integrating technology into home products, careers in industrial and
creative arts are seeing a renaissance as consumer demand for locally-made and recy-
cled products grows and computer technology is more widely accessible. Careers in
these fields can offer great opportunities for sustainable employment with relatively
few barriers to entry. However, the high cost of tools and equipment plus cost of se-
curing affordable, adequate work space can make access out of reach for many.
The Artisans’ Collaborative is a simple, highly replicable business concept that addresses
these challenges and creates a model self-sustaining non-profit social enterprise for the
creative economy as a means to:
 Promote entrepreneurship and job creation,
 inspire innovation and foster collaboration, and
 provide hands-on exploration in careers in science, technology, engineer-
ing and math.
Borrowing from traditional business incubators, the Artisans’ Collaborative will create shared-use work
space equipped with 21st
century design and fabrication equipment for use on a membership basis. Work-
shops will be combined with small, open work and storage space to support the needs of a broad range of
working artisans, fabricators, designers, students, and hobbyists. In addition to memberships, the facility
will offer a wide range of classes. Available tools and equipment will focus on woodworking, welding,
glasswork, industrial fabric, screen-printing, robotics, computer-aided design, 3D printing and laser cutting.
Think of it as a gym for people who want to make things.
Through this collaborative approach, no single business has to pay the entire cost of acquisition and
maintenance of equipment or leasing space. The model gives craftspeople access to tools and equipment
they would otherwise not likely afford. It provides the opportunity to experiment with techniques and ma-
terials and test the market for products or services without having to first invest in expensive equipment.
Preparing the next generation of innovators
Additionally, the Artisans’ Collaborative will expose young
people to hands-on learning and experimentation with princi-
ples involved in science, technology, engineering and math
through fun, interactive classes and workshops ranging from
computer-aided design, robotics and electronics, to 3D print-
ing and laser cutting. The program will build skills and prepare
young learners for 21st
century careers.
Also being considered….
“We want young people who can do
more than add a string of numbers and
write a coherent sentence. They must
be able to solve problems, communi-
cate ideas and be sensitive to the
world around them. Participation in
the arts is one of the best ways
to develop these abilities.”
– Clifford Smith, Gen. Electric Foundation
Want to learn more? Contact Jon Davey at- 617-233-9460; jon@abgrealty.net or Jen Faigel, 857-231-1863; jenfaigel@gmail.com