LOWELL — A struggling monument to Lowell’s industrial past is making way for a commercial and residential complex described as a “city within a city” by its new owner.

After years of financial difficulty, the American Textile History Museum on Dutton Street closed last year. Earlier this month, the museum’s board finalized a sale to developer John DeAngelis, who plans to remake the 65,000-square-foot space into an attraction reminiscent of Mill No. 5, a former textile factory on Jackson Street at the edge of downtown that draws crowds with its mix of hip shops, boutiques and markets.

The sale price was less than $2 million, according to DeAngelis.

“It’s going to be a destination,” he said. “People will want to go in, have some dinner, go through the shops … we’re very excited to do this. We’ve got some pre-sales on the residential units already and the (current) residents are very happy. It’s going to stabilize that building.”

The museum opened inside 491 Dutton St., where The Sun is also located, in April 1997 after moving from North Andover. Last May, years of financial decline prompted the board of trustees to vote to close the museum.

The majority of its machinery collection, which has been designated a Landmark of American Mechanical Engineering, has been transferred to the care of the Randolph Heritage Conservancy in North Carolina.

The Sun reported last month that the majority of the museum’s massive library collection is going to Cornell University, and that its huge clothing and artifacts collections are being dispersed to dozens of other institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution.

“As we engage in this painstaking process to transfer our collections, we are seeking organizations that can ensure the greatest continuing public access and benefit,” Todd Smith, the museum’s interim executive director, said in a statement.

Over the last two years, two restaurants in succession have closed in the Dutton Street building, but DeAngelis predicted that the other attractions he plans to bring, combined with the building’s large parking lot and location beneath an existing base of luxury loft owners, will make the space viable.

He envisions renovating the current lobby to make way for a more formal restaurant, perhaps with outdoor patio space.

The current museum space would be transformed to house between 20 and 30 small shops and perhaps a wax museum, he said. Around 8,000 square feet of office space will be rented by a law firm that is moving to Lowell, and the leftover area will be turned into 15 lofts, with rooftop deck access, bringing the total number of residential units in the building up to 60.

The acquisition of the Dutton Street space adds to DeAngelis’ already large portfolio of Lowell properties, including the Market Gallery Condominiums and 15 Kearney Square, the old Sun building on Merrimack Street, which he is currently renovating.

He plans to formally take over the building in August, after the museum’s collection is removed, but will be taking a group of prospective commercial tenants on a tour of the space as early as June.

Follow Todd Feathers on Twitter @ToddFeathers.