The expansion of the Merchants Way development alongside Exit 17 of I-93 is set to continue with another standalone restaurant and retail space.

The proposed 5,500-square-foot restaurant and associated 2,000-square-foot retail building would be built along Merchants Way in Penacook. The proposal will be discussed Wednesday by the Concord Planning Board, with a public hearing slated for a later meeting.

Together the restaurant and store are the fourth stage of expansion of the development, which is being phased in over many years.  

The first two phases, which opened in 2022, created the existing retail, including Market Basket, Home Goods and state liquor store. The third phase, including a walk-in Concord Hospital clinic, a Starbucks and a health club, is under construction.  Details for the proposed fourth and fifth stages, including industrial space, have not yet been released.

Merchants Way has had a long and sometimes bumpy history of getting going. A retail development has been sought on the site for more than a decade but the plan stalled over attempts to get a grocery store built closer to the center of Penacook. For many years only a Dunkin Donuts and a gas station were on the site.

Owners Laurie and David Rauseo finally got the city’s permission to go ahead with the full development only to be stalled by debate about whether the state or city would pay to improve traffic patterns in and around the intersection of Hoit and Whitney roads, and then pandemic supply-chain issues which got in the way of completion.

David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com.