Malden Wins $30K For Courthouse Arts Center Project

MALDEN, MA — Malden will get a boost in its plans to redevelop the currently vacant Malden District Courthouse thanks to a state grant announced last week.

The state is giving $30,000 in real estate services technical assistance to help fund a re-use study and operator request for proposals for what Malden officials hope will be a new community arts center in the courthouse.

The upcoming study will look to identify needed improvements at the existing building while also helping determine a financially feasible operating model for the envisioned arts center, according to a state description of the project.

The courthouse on Summer Street in Malden closed in 2019. Initially described as a temporary closure, the building has remained shuttered since, with the state since looking to offload its roughly 100-year-old building. Malden District Court is now housed alongside Cambridge District Court in a building on Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford.

Renovation work had been ongoing back at the Summer Street site prior to the move. The Boston Globe reported the decision to relocate ultimately followed complaints from employees about a variety of environmental issues with dust, chemicals and other irritants that surfaced during renovations.

The city of Malden moved to buy the courthouse from the state after news that the courthouse would not reopen, winning approval from the state legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this year. Officials said in August that they anticipated closing on their acquisition at some point this fall.

City officials shared a concept plan for the site in August, showcasing options for a variety of community art amenities under the banner of the Malden Center for Arts and Culture.

The city’s proposed model would see it bring in a nonprofit operator to manage the new courthouse arts center.

Uncertainties remained even after Malden’s August plan, though, with officials acknowledging that that they would need to wait until they own the building to confirm certain needed changes and details of an art center business model for the space.

“Developing the courthouse into the Malden Center for Arts and Culture will require significant financial investment to acquire and renovate the building,” the city’s concept plan said. “Financially, decisions will need to account for the cost of acquisition and redevelopment and identify potential business models whose sustainable revenue streams can support the work of the Center and meet the needs of the community.”

As Malden won money for ongoing courthouse work, the city also secured two other grants worth $45,050 and $50,000 respectively from the state last week.

The $45,050 was marked as a Community Planning Grant. The $50,000 came through the state Housing Choice Grant Program.

Contacted on Monday, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson told Patch that the $45,050 will be used to enhance the city's ongoing complete streets initiative, which aims to improve roadway safety in Malden. This money will help identify a new batch of intersections to reconstruct over the next five years with safety in mind, Christenson said.

The $50,000 grant will back a study of multi-family zoning opportunities around the Malden Center and Oak Grove MBTA stations, according to Christenson. The study comes as the state implements new requirements mandating multi-family zoning around rapid transit stations in Massachusetts.

The state issued final guidance on its transit zoning requirements in August. Communities now have until the end of January, 2023 to finalize action plans to get into compliance, as noted by the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

The state announced its latest batch of grants last week under the umbrella Community One Stop for Growth initiative. One Stop encompasses 12 individual grant programs, doling out $143 million to support 337 projects across 169 communities with this round of funding.

“This funding will allow us to advance many of our priority projects in the city,” Christenson on Monday regarding One Stop. “With this grant funding, we will make our streets safer, continue working to make sure our residents can afford to stay in our community, and advance our work to create a cultural center in the former Malden District Courthouse.”