With an 8-0 vote Tuesday, Manchester’s board of directors approved both a development and tax assessment agreement for a $140 million project to turn the vacant Parkade lot into a commercial and residential hub.
The board unanimously voted to approve the plan for the developer, Manchester Parkade 1 LLC, to revitalize the site and get it back on the town’s tax roll. Members of the development team spoke with the board Tuesday to give them a detailed rundown of what the three-phase project will look like.
According to the plans, the new 14-building Parkade development will have 480 apartments, a 120-room hotel, and thousands of square feet of office space and retail space spread across 23 acres. The $50 million phase I of the project, which could start building construction in the spring, would be finished over two years. The first phase would include a microgrid, infrastructure, 198 residential units, and 38,000 square feet of office, retail, and other live/work units.
Michael Licamele, one of the principals at Manchester Parkade 1 LLC, also talked about his firm’s focus on sustainability and renewable energy at the site, such as the microgrid that uses fuel cells, solar panels, and other energy-efficient measures.
Harry Freeman, another partner with Manchester Parkade 1 LLC, said the development will help encourage a walkable community with several public spaces throughout. A stretch of a walkway along the river will help connect the Parkade side to the town’s existing greenway path.
He said there will be a beer garden in one of the two community greens with outdoor seating. Freeman said his team was trying to recreate some of the innovative ways European countries use their outdoor spaces in the Parkade site.
“We’re hoping that those greens really become some place where people can go out, grab lunch, spend some time getting to know people,” Freeman said.
Gary Anderson, the town’s director of planning and economic development, went into some details about the actual agreement. He said the project would create hundreds of both temporary and permanent jobs over the course of its development and increase the town’s grand list when it was fully on the tax roll.
The tax agreement would give the developers a 100 percent tax break for the first year of each phase of the project, with the percentage decreasing each subsequent year until it is at the full level. The phase I agreement gradually increases the tax payment over seven years, the phase II agreement is over six years, and the phase III agreement scales up over five years.
“The project would not be viable without such a tax abatement,” Anderson said Tuesday of the developer agreement.
Town staff and other officials expressed their pleasure in finally having an approved plan for the long-vacant Parkade shopping center on Tuesday.
The town bought the property in 2011, but the site was empty and declining in quality for years before that. After other developers came and went, Manchester Parkade 1 LLC struck a tentative agreement with town officials to work on the site in 2019 and the two parties have been working together since.
Ahead of the vote, Mayor Jay Moran said praised the work of the developer and town staff in getting a development agreement worked out.
“This is a huge milestone,” Moran said.
