HAVERHILL — The centerpiece is in place — a cluster of restaurants, lounges and shops that anchor the new downtown.
Hundreds of new apartments and condominiums are moving into old shoe factories around those businesses. A parking garage will be built to give downtown visitors a place to park without fighting for spaces as they do now.
The mix is bringing the heart of Haverhill a reputation as a place to go for dinner or drinks or to browse for gifts.
But what about the neighborhoods around the downtown, the so-called "gateways'' that can serve to welcome visitors or turn them off to the community?
The city will target those older urban neighborhoods in hopes of improving the image of homes and storefronts, preventing buildings from being abandoned and helping homeowners whose property is at risk of foreclosure.
Haverhill has received $75,000 from the state to hire a planner who, for one year, will develop ways to improve those neighborhoods — from designing new storefronts to helping homeowners in financial difficulty to even drawing up new designs for commercial areas like old squares.
The city applied for the state grant from a program designed to support such projects. Gov. Deval Patrick gave $1.3 million in total to Haverhill and 17 other cities, including Methuen, Lawrence and Lowell. Andrew Herlihy, aide to Mayor James Fiorentini, and Christopher D'Aveta of the city's community Development Department applied for the grant.
Herlihy said among the areas targeted by the planner will be Route 97 near LaFayette Square, Essex Street, and the lower sections of the Acre and Mount Washington neighborhoods such as Winter, White, Locust, Locke and High streets.
"We're not talking about areas that would be thought of as part of the downtown, but they lead to the downtown'' Herlihy said. "It's critical to create the impression of open, vibrant areas with good clean streets and sidewalks, a place that people will want to come to visit. You want to put a good face forward.''
He said an example of the kind of design to be done is what's now happening in Olympia Square just north of downtown. The square, the longtime home of the Bannon's Spa which is now closed, has had problems with its old urban image and crime. But the city is working with a development group that has bought much of the square and plans to convert it to a retail area.
Starting early next year, Herlihy said, the planner will focus on other areas on the periphery of downtown and try to make similar improvements. He will do it by encouraging private investment, designing new facades for buildings and helping property owners in financial difficulty from losing their buildings to foreclosure and the possibility of becoming abandoned.
Herlihy said he expects the planner to be chosen by the state. Once improvements to particular areas are designed, the city and property owners can seek grant money or private financing to make the improvements.
For several years, Haverhill has worked to make the downtown, which decades ago was the home to thriving shoe factories, more attractive. The factories died out and are being replaced by apartments and condos. Several new restaurants and lounges have opened. Haverhill plans to link its commuter rail stop to a parking garage which will be built with federal money, creating a transportation center.
City planners said they want to keep the downtown success from being stifled and boxed in by urban blight that exists in some of the gateway areas.
"We have a lot going on downtown. This (the gateway changes) means to build off that,'' said William Pillsbury, the city's director of economic development and planning. "How do you transition these neighborhoods to build off the good energy downtown?''
