Housing and rental costs have started to level out in some parts of the country, but prices – and demand – remain record-breaking in central New Hampshire.
In Concord, city leaders have spent the last few years pointing to development as a top priority to ease prices and expand the tax base, and a master plan overhaul is in its early stages. Housing construction has rolled out in fits and starts.
As of April – the most up-to-date count available from Concord City Hall – there were just over 2,000 units in the works citywide: 283 units under construction, 599 units with approvals awaiting construction and 1,126 units in the planning and permitting process.
Since, a small wave of new proposals have gotten the OK from city boards. Many of them were eased along by new housing rules from the state and city, such as those relaxing parking requirements or allowing residential projects in commercial areas.
Here’s a roundup of notable projects pitched or updated in the city over the summer:
100+ unit developments
The unit count in Concord’s housing pipeline has been bolstered by massive, multi-hundred-unit projects pitched within the city. Some of those, like the Steeplegate Mall and its 600 promised units, continue to plug along in the planning process. Others, like a 370-unit proposal on Pembroke Road, have stalled out entirely.
Steeplegate developers told the Planning Board this month that they plan to get the ball rolling first on an 110-unit apartment building on the northeast corner of the property. Part of the reason is that it doesn’t require any demolition of the current mall. Onyx Partners’ lawsuit from JCPenney remains unresolved in court, even as the developer moves ahead with plans.
A hearing on the project and its first housing component is expected at the October Planning Board meeting.
In a new proposal, the Hodges Development Corporation is also making use of relaxed rules on housing projects. Hodges, a long-established fixture in Concord, plans to build 120 units in four buildings on Pembroke Road, not far from Route 106. New laws allowing residential construction in commercial zones with adequate infrastructure helped clear the way, reducing the development’s need for variances.
Hodges is a major landlord in Concord, owning several large apartment communities and commercial buildings across the city, including Alton Woods and Salisbury Green on the Heights.
Mid-size apartment buildings
On North State Street, what used to be an office building for the social service organization Waypoint is set to be renovated into 21 apartments. The project, by well-known downtown developer Remi Hinxhia, is an example of how a new state law limiting parking requirements can lead to higher density.
Under old city rules, a 21-unit apartment building would have needed to provide two parking spaces per unit. Under a new state law, only one per unit is required. The old Waypoint property would likely have been an impossible fit for 42 parking spaces. As it is, 21 spaces were a squeeze.
On Fisherville Road, CATCH Neighborhood Housing has increased the size of a project previously pitched as 22 units to 34, a move that got approval from city boards in May and July.
The plan would build 34 income-restricted apartments in a three-story building on a lot just under two acres, neighboring the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail and the Freedom Village Cooperative manufactured home park. CATCH is working with the Concord Housing Authority on the plan.
Tom Furtado, the President and CEO of CATCH, told the Zoning Board in May that rising prices meant the project was no longer feasible at 22 units. Increasing it to 34 would bring the project to a financially feasible scale.
“Rental revenue on 22 units just doesn’t work with construction costs where they are today,” he said.
Duplexes
Two-unit buildings, especially through renovations or conversions, are often celebrated by housing advocates as an ideal way for communities to gently up the density of their residential neighborhoods.
Concord city leaders are still mulling over a rule change that would make it easier to build duplexes on smaller lots. Still, proposals to do just that have gotten green lights from city boards.
Notably, a pitch on Spruce Street in the South End got variances from the Zoning Board after city leaders hit the brakes on the rule change in June. The developer had previously told the Monitor he would switch to plans for a single-family home, but instead stuck to the original proposal for two, three-bedroom units.
A home on Penacook Street previously seized by the city for unpaid taxes is set to be demolished and rebuilt as a duplex.
Knight Brothers Development, another company with multiple residential properties in the city, bought the quarter-acre lot near the backside of Kimball Park in March. The home had been seized by the city for unpaid taxes in October before its owner exercised first rights to buy it back in January. Knight Brothers purchased it in March for $125,000.
The single-family home on the lot has been deemed uninhabitable by city code, according to Zoning Board records, and Chris Knight and his company got sign-off this month to tear it down and build a duplex.
The city is in the process of selling the old Penacook Library building, originally built as a police station, to a man with plans to put a duplex inside.
The old library, in the heart of Penacook Village, falls within a downtown district requiring three or more housing units. The Zoning Board agreed to allow just two in the space because of its limited size.
