Downtown Penacook has a changing landscape with the site work at the old Tannery site starting, and the removal of the Beede House near the traffic circle.
The Allied Leather Co. tannery site will become 54 mostly low-income apartments along 35 Canal St. Site work continued this week after the city of Concord and Caleb Development Corporation closed on the sale of a 2.5 acre piece of the former Allied Leather site being sold by the city to Caleb for their new housing development.
The city sold the property for $540,000 and will net approximately $496,800 from the sale after real estate broker commissions and other closing costs, according to a report from the City Manager Tom Aspell. The city spent $467,000 improving the site prior to the closing.
The first phase of the development is scheduled for completion in September 2020 and will feature 34 housing units. The project has a total budget of $7.715 million and is being financed in part through N.H. Housing Finance Authority and Peoples United Bank. Phase II of the project is expected to begin in 2021, the city reported.
Nearby, the Beede House was torn down despite efforts to save it due to its historic value. However, the price to preserve and renovate it was too much for the owners, the American Legion. Now that the site is cleared, it will become a parking lot and house an addition to the American Legion Post 31 complex.