
UMass Lowell has a surface parking lot problem.
If you zoom way out on Google Maps satellite view of UMass Lowell’s campuses, the problem becomes obvious: the university owns some of the most valuable land in Lowell and a huge portion of it is just surface parking lots.
We’re talking nearly 20 acres of impervious asphalt. These lots contribute to the urban heat island effect, provide zero housing or economic value, and represent a massive missed opportunity.
Massachusetts has a well-documented housing shortage. At the same time, UMass Lowell already has handful of garages. They’ve proven the model works — they replaced the old Riverview surface lot with the South Campus Parking Garage. So why not do more of that?
Here’s the win-win proposal:
Consolidate surface parking into well-designed multi-level garages (freeing up large amounts of land)
Build much-needed housing on the newly available space (the university could earn significant long-term rental income)
Cover the new garages with solar panels, turning them into clean energy generators and helping Massachusetts hit its renewable goals
This is a genuine triple win:
For UMass Lowell: New revenue from housing + potential solar income. A more modern, attractive campus.
For Lowell and the region: More housing supply where people actually want to live, plus a cooler urban environment. If the land is taxed for rental use that is a tax increase for the city. UMass Lowell should be buying anymore land while using so much land inefficiently and environmentally irresponsible
For Massachusetts: Real progress on both the housing crisis and clean energy targets.
Prime riverfront-adjacent land in a city with a housing shortage shouldn’t be sitting as giant parking lots in 2026. We can have parking and housing and solar.
What do you think?