The construction of an affordable residential housing development on top of a former railroad yard in Concord’s South End has been applauded for helping to ease the city’s housing crunch.

“Without repurposing industrial sites like these, they become an eyesore, and it’s better to repurpose them,” said Jeremy Vieira, development director for property owner Dakota Partners. “Housing is incredibly necessary in Concord, and I’m so excited to be repurposing industrialized sites in hopes of decreasing the demand for housing.”

However, the project that is now under construction has left some city residents questioning the environmental safety of the Langdon Avenue site.

When the land was first developed as a rail yard in the late 1800s, the crescent-shaped lot was filled with cargo trains that snaked between industrial buildings, some the length of the site itself. When the business closed in the 1950s, nearly 70 years ago, the buildings were leveled and debris was buried in place.

During the excavation process, crews have unearthed old wooden railroad ties, concrete, oil tanks, brick walls and granite slabs as they prepared the concrete footings for four new buildings.

Environmental concerns

The work led lifelong Concord resident and longtime environmentalist Rob Blakeney to question if the former rail yard site would be safe for future residents.

“Why is any of this site permitted to be developed, in any way, when it still contains known hazardous waste?” he said.

When the site was vacated in the 1950s, it was referred to as an urban landfill because of the debris left behind, said Sean Donnelly, construction project manager for the developer, Dakota Partners.

While excavating over the last four months, construction workers have found debris materials in addition to asbestos-coated piping and a leaking oil tank, which are to be expected on a site like this, Donnelly said. All of the materials were inspected by professional geologist Tim Andrews of the Nobis Group engineering firm in Concord. He routinely monitors the site and excavation work. All hazardous materials have been or will be properly disposed of.

“We are mitigating those risks and remediating and improving the environment by covering the areas with clean materials,” he said during a tour of the site last week.

Though the area has not undergone groundwater or soil testing since 2014 when it was proposed, and denied, as a steam plant, Michael McCluskey, a professional engineer and brownfield program coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, said that because the site has remained vacant since then, the state did not see a need for additional testing.

“Original decisions and site investigations were done there, and we haven’t found anything overly concerning from the hazardous waste perspective,” McCluskey said. “We’re not aware of any ongoing issues based on the data we’ve gotten.”

Still, the site is considered a brownfield, like most industrial zones turned residential, which are seen throughout New England, especially in Manchester and Boston, Andrews said.

“It’s a brownfield in the sense that when trying to be developed, it was awarded brownfield coverage and liability, and it would meet the definition of a brownfield site but it’s not being managed as a brownfield site,” McCluskey said. “It’s not being managed as a hazardous waste site, either.”

Continuing, McCluskey explained that, by definition, a brownfield is the development and reuse of property that could be compromised by a perceived hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the U.S. has about 450,000 brownfield sites, many of which have been repurposed into residential housing, apartment complexes, commercial buildings and schools by developers like Dakota Partners.

“Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land and both improves and protects the environment,” the EPA states.

Federal, state, city and site engineers have all deemed the site safe and do not have any concerns about a future residential use.

The vision

The Rail Yard will be one of the biggest residential developments in the city in years, with 199 rental units strewn between a trio of three-story buildings. The complex will feature affordable apartments, a community clubhouse, a fitness center and two commercial spaces.

A freight train track runs parallel to the property, and a steel scrap yard abuts it.

“There will be a center plaza between buildings that will be used as a type of quad to block out some of the steel dump behind the residential area, and evergreen and vegetation screening will be planted to further block the view,” Vieira said.

When Dakota Partners first bought the property, the ground was uneven with hip-high brush covering the site. Since then, the lot has been entirely cleared and leveled and four foundations have been excavated and poured.

To honor the history of the railroad at the location, the rail yard development will pay homage to its industrial past, Vieira said.

“The railroad is still close by, and we are not shying away from the site’s industrial history,” he continued. “We want to highlight the site’s industrial past in the new design as a nod to old industrialization.”

Updated design plans show multi-colored, three-story buildings with slanted roofs, an inviting courtyard with sidewalks and walkways and a community building set back on the property.

A roadway through the complex, which will begin and end at Langdon Road, will loop around the buildings and provide parking for residents.

Dakota Partners recently completed the construction of a similar housing project in Hudson, bringing the town an affordable housing community geared toward families.

Other projects include a three-story wood frame building containing 17 one-bedroom and 24 two-bedroom units in Bedford called Kensington Woods that was completed in 2017. In Milford, Dakota Partners rehabilitated a historic 1870s mill into a modern 70,000 square-foot mixed-use building with 35 one-bedroom and 15 two-bedroom apartments. Completed in 2014, the project won a Preservation Achievement Award from the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance.

Another proposed project in Goffstown called Woodland Village will be a townhouse development consisting of 76 one- and two-bedroom townhouse units within 13 buildings located on a vacant 37-acre site.

When the Rail Yard project was first presented to the Concord Planning Board in the summer of 2021, Dakota Partners estimated construction could take between 12 and 18 months. City officials expect the first certificates of occupancy could be issued by the fall of 2023.

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