Image courtesy of WinnCompanies

WinnCompanies will break ground early next year on a $34 million residential conversion of Lawrence’s oldest mill building after receiving the final piece of its financing package.

The 176-year-old Stone Mill at 15 Union St. will be converted into 86 apartments available to a range of income categories. The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development awarded federal and state low-income housing tax credits and subsidies to complete the financing package.

Designed by The Architectural Team of Chelsea, the plans will preserve the 4-story, 149,220-square-foot building’s historic elements while installing all-electric building systems. Minority- and women-owned businesses will receive at least 30 percent of the construction work.

The project will reserve 69 apartments for residents earning 60 percent or less of the area median income, with another 11 apartments set aside for households earning a maximum 30 percent of AMI. The remaining 17 apartments will be market-rate.

WinnDevelopment plans to break ground in early 2022.

“We believe the redevelopment of The Stone Mill is a transformational project that will be a key driver for economic development at the eastern end of the Essex Street corridor, which serves as the hub and spoke of downtown Lawrence,” Larry Curtis, president and managing partner of WinnDevelopment, said in a statement.

Abbott Lawrence bought the property on the edge of downtown in 1845 and constructed the Essex Company Machine Shop as the first water-powered factory in the industrial city on the Merrimack River.

WinnCompanies previously converted two former Malden Mills buildings in Lawrence into the 137-unit LoftFive50 complex.