There are a lot of loft units in Lowell that have high ceiling post and beam big windowed construction, but not all of them are in old 'mill buildings'. For example, the lofts in downtown around Merrimack, Middle, and the north side of Market street were originally office buildings. Canal Place on the south side of Market were originally mills. Some buildings are more centrally located and walkable than the larger mill buildings near the river. Some buildings have far fewer units than the mill buildings and have sidewalk level shops, restaurants, etc.. Some of the larger mill buildings are very isolated from sidewalk life. Check out the block where Athenian Corner Restaurant is located for a taste of 'sidewalk life' in Lowell (and visit the National Park orientation center across the street). The character of downtown Lowell varies from block to block, day of the week, and hour of the day, so pick your building carefully.

The occupants of the buildings depend on many factors, and there is a big range of demographics. You will find what you're looking for in some buildings, but not in others. There are people like you who're very happy living in downtown Lowell. Some blocks have near perfect 'walkability scores'. This is one of the principal advantages. For example https://www.walkscore.com/score/207-market-st-lowell-ma-01852 The canal and river walks let me walk, get away from cars, and not have to cross many streets. It's really a walker's paradise. I rarely use my car anymore.

Google maps is your friend. Pick a location and do a search for like 'restaurants near here'.
https://www.millcityproperties.com/ specialize in rentals. Some buildings have a mix of rental and condo units. The developers gradually sell off a few rental units as condos. Some buildings are all condos. This allows you to 'try before you buy'. There are also condos available for rent that are owned by individuals.
Downtown Lowell is economically and ethnically diverse down to the block level. Whether that is a pro or con is a matter of individual preference. I think it is a big plus.

Hello, I dont know much about the mill apts, but I can say the rent is typically too high for students to afford, so that shouldnt be an issue

I lived in the Jackson street lofts (loft 27) for 3 years (2018-2021). The maintenance/leasing staff were super friendly and quick to respond to any issues. I never met my neighbors in 3 years and the close proximity to downtown was awesome for walking to get dinner/coffee /drinks etc.

Would definitely live there again if I moved back to the area. Rents have gone up a ton since I moved out in 2021 though.

The three Canal Place Buildings at 200 Market St and Renaissance by the River are all condos that were Mill buildings and not offices. There are a few others but the names escape me (John st maybe). Many of the other mill buildings are apartments.

If you’re prepared for condo living all of the buildings can be nice. Renaissance by the river has open floor plans, exposed brick and has that look we expect in a converted mill. Canal Place 1 is an older conversion and most of the units are two floors with the upper and lower floors sharing the same large window. It’s a love it or hate it situation. Canal Place 2 has some very interesting units in it, some if which are three stories and others with skylights and roof decks. It abuts a canal so half the building can see water all the time. Canal Place 3 is all one or two bedroom, single story units. It is newer than most. This buildings units are all finished, meaning very little or no exposed brick or original ceilings.

You’ll probably feel welcome at any of the condo buildings as empty nesters. If you have never owned a condo be sure to review the MA gov page about condos and always read the condo docs fully so you are not surprised after moving in.

Not many students in Canal Place 1. I’d say the average age of the building skews towards 40s-50s.

I have lived in 240 Jackson St (Mill No 5) and 161 Jackson St. Both are mill style buildings.

• There's not a lot of students, because it's both a bit pricier than other options in the area and it's fairly far from UML.
• There's a variety of people living in these buildings. I'm 30 years old and my neighbors are an old couple in their 50's and early 20-something white collar workers.
• Anything in Jackson St is great, being in/so close to Mill No 5 is great! Lots of stuff to do and farmer's market on Sundays means groceries are super easy. The other ones downtown are fine too but are less nice than the ones in the Jackson St area. 240 Jackson St is all 2-BR condos! 3rd floor units are bigger but 6th floor has central air so pick your poison

I have a lot of experience with Lowell's old mill buildings, being an artist studio renter and a loft tenant for over 15 years. Here's my take on them, the good the bad and the ugly (without naming names)

There are some places that are advertised as lofts but they're not lofts. At all. They are very cramped dimly lit 2-story dens that are very expensive (well, now... not when they opened) for what you get. But their location is great, you can walk to everything.

There are some lofts that are moderately to very new and are actual lofts with nice amenities (or at least were nice about 8-15 years ago when they were new), and some even advertise themselves as "luxury lofts", but the complexes are so enormous and have so many units that nobody has any sense of responsibility or community to one another and people are noisy, violent at times, litter everywhere, make messes in stairwells and so on. Some of these places are headed towards being horrible places to live within the next 10 years. Be on the lookout for how the grounds are kept. Are the sidewalks clear of ice? Is there dog poop anywhere? Do people loiter outside and disregard "no smoking signs" because there is no consequence? I would consider these red flags... while not indicative of an actual ongoing problem, they signal a slew of potential problems if not rectified or solved.

There are some lofts that have no Section 8 housing agreements (lower income) and so you could consider these places somewhat more discriminatory in that in order to move in you pretty much need to have a job that makes the kind of money where you can afford it. In some way, this does help with some of the problems you see in the types of places I mentioned in the paragraph before. However you still have other problems. These units tend to be very large "giant boxes" so-to-speak, and so, sure, they are more "pricy". They also have cracked concrete floors and ceilings in some cases. These are very low-frills places to live. However, you will not find a better deal per square foot in Lowell or even the greater Merrimack River Valley area as far as I can tell. Think about it like this: if 700-1200 sq ft. apartments in Lowell are renting for $1200-1600 a month, you can get 1600 sq ft. for a couple hundred bucks more at this place. That's a hell of a lot of space which you can do whatever you want with. You will not find that much square footage in a relatively safe place near amazing amenities as far as I can tell. The only requirement is that because one of these places I'm talking about is owned by a major Boston-based arts non-profit, you have to be in the arts/creative (including music, architecture, dance, performance, theater, etc.) industry of some kind. But there are some which have extra rooms, better amenities, nice wooden beams, awesome parking, but they cost a lot more per square foot.

That said, almost all of these kinds of places I've talked about have significant to serious noise issues. Developers will go on record and tell you that "they were all built at least to Massachusetts at minimum sound-reduction requirements". However, those minimum requirements, i suspect, were determined based on structures that were intended to be housing. And not former mills where the 1st floor's ceiling is, literally, the 2nd floor's floor. That means if you live below someone, you will hear their high heels, chopping vegetables, and I kid you not... sweeping. Because sound travels better through solid objects. The mills weren't built with sound isolation between floors so you no matter how much dampening you put in the drywall between units, you will still get a ton of contact noise traveling from 2nd to 1st floor.... and sometimes even across units because of metal beams that go through dozens of units.

Lived in 305 Dutton for a bit. Way to expensive for students but it was pretty much all young professionals and families. They allowed two pets of any variety with no fee. It was great to be able to walk downtown and they gave up to two parking spots in their lot as well. Their tow guys were also amazing, I've legit seen them tow a car into the visitor spot instead of taking it.

All I'd say is I 100% saw mice on the first floor / basement when taking the elevator. I lived on the 3rd and never saw bugs or mice in my apartment (I also have cats though). They do treat for them though yearly.

People also hand out the key to the front door way to easily for delivery drivers / friends to expect any kind of security. Thankfully packages always go to another locked door (but at Christmas it gets over flooded and a bunch won't make it).

I lived in the Boott Mills apartments for about 3 years. It is a nice, quiet part of downtown with the Summer Music Series closely accessible with Boardinghouse Park being on the premises. Super walkable to downtown. Plus, there is the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is really nice if you have a dog or if you want some greenspace to have a picnic at for a little bit of a backyard-ish space to spread out. It was mostly families and young/older professionals, not many students.

Dutton ST condos are nice, I did work in a few of them. These are in the building that used to be the Lowell Textile Museum. The problem with units built into brick buildings are heating/cooling and sound. The units are leaky. If your upstairs neighbor has pets or children you will hear all of it all of the time.