Malden Mills owner Aaron Feuerstein sealed a deal Tuesday with a Boston-based developer that could allow him to buy back his textile company as it emerges from bankruptcy.

Under the agreement, WinnCompanies would build 600 units of rental housing in 1 million square feet of surplus mill property in Lawrence and Methuen, and take an ownership stake in Malden Mills.

Feuerstein said he and Winn would have “equal, shared control” of the company but he would maintain a higher equity stake. He declined to provide further details.

“I’m dealing with somebody who has the same mission as I do,” Feuerstein said of Winn.

Malden Mills spokesman David Costello described the agreement as the “critical equity portion” of the financing package Feuerstein has been struggling to line up to buy back the company from creditors.

The arrangement would require approval from the company’s board of directors and shareholders after it emerges from bankruptcy, expected any day now. Feuerstein missed an Aug. 26 deadline to exercise the $93 million option, but creditors indicated they might accept it later. To force a buyback, Feuerstein would now have to raise $120 million.

“It takes two to tango for there to be a transaction,” said Andrew Schwartz, an attorney for the unsecured creditors. “Any suggestion that there’s going to be one would be quite premature.”

Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass, said the deal will help address the housing shortage in Merrimack County.

“This will help in terms of putting together a deal that allows Aaron Feuerstein to keep his company, and it will keep hundreds of jobs in Massachusetts,” said Meehan. “And it puts Aaron in a strong position to be able to work out a satisfactory resolution with the creditors.”

Malden Mills gained fame when Feuerstein kept 1,200 workers on the payroll after a devastating 1995 mill fire. But it declared bankruptcy in November 2001 after battling for years against increasingly tough overseas competition and to recover from the blaze.

Feuerstein, whose grandfather founded the company nearly a century ago, has maintained that his regaining control is the only way to ensure the jobs will stay in Lawrence, an economically depressed city 25 miles north of Boston. Much of the company’s competition in the textile industry has followed cheaper labor overseas.

If he failed to raise the money, Feuerstein, 77, would have a board seat, a 5 percent stake in the company and the title of chairman and president. Regaining a controlling interest would give him far more influence over the company, though it appears unlikely he would actually serve as CEO.

“I will hire the best we can get,” said Feuerstein, who said a joint search with creditor GE Capital for a new CEO would be complete in one to four months. “I’m not stuck on the business of CEO. I want to be able to contribute whatever I can and render a business strategy that has a chance of winning.”

Costello said the equity agreement with Winn was the “keystone” of a package that would also rely on government support and loan guarantees from the Export-Import Bank. He called the arrangement to create new housing “part of connection to the community.”

Larry Curtis, managing partner of WinnCompanies, said he’s hopeful the final agreement can be reached with all the shareholders so that “this transaction can take place enabling us to create much needed housing in the Merrimack Valley.”

Feuerstein said he would take the matter to the company’s creditors for formal discussion.

“I’m optimistic, but that is part of my nature,” he said.

Malden Mills manufactures Polartec fleece for commercial customers like Lands End as well as for the Pentagon.

AP-ES-09-30-03 1842EDT