City of Harmony may perhaps spend $1 million to purchase old, dilapidated DOT buildings in close proximity to downtown

Several of those dilapidated properties in between Storrs Street and the interstate that Concord has very long wished to redevelop could last but not least grow to be city house.

The Town Council on Monday authorized the metropolis supervisor to match a $1 million bid for 5 point out-owned structures upcoming to the Park & Ride close to the Harmony Coach bus terminal that have been extensive used by the New Hampshire Office of Transportation in advance of staying shut in 2006. The buildings at 11 Stickney Travel, some of which date to 1926, and six acres of land have extensive been component of Concord’s vision of growing the downtown company district and improving the look of the Exit 14 gateway into the city.

“There have been a litany of plans about the decades. …. All of them incorporate some type of master approach redevelopment task for the area … to maximize the tax base,” stated Deputy Metropolis Manager Carlos Baia.

In October, the Division of Transportation advised Harmony that it had listed the residence for sale and received a $1 million bid. Concord has the appropriate of initial refusal on the house, and the state gave the city the choice of matching the bid as extended as it agreed to preserve the historical aspects of two of the oldest structures, carve off an present parking whole lot for overflow from the Park & Journey, and consider on any environmental cleanup.

That latter problem is a prospective stumbling block for the reason that for decades the place was utilised as a paint store for condition autos. Paint disposal procedures in advance of the days of environmental regulation normally led to soil or groundwater pollution that is hard to thoroughly clean up. An example can be observed in the town Milford, where by a former paint store became a Superfund web page that pressured the closure of 1 of the town wells.

Baia claimed pinpointing the extent of cleanup will be an vital portion of negotiations. Any sale would have to permitted by the town council right after a public hearing, as very well as the governor and Executive Council.

More than the many years Harmony has purchased some small parcels of land in and all over the region, partly with the goal of extending Storrs Avenue to the north so that it will tactic Route 202 and generate a far better parallel to Most important Street. The former DOT structures are among Storrs Avenue and Stickney Avenue.

According to the New Hampshire Division of Historic Sources, the initially freeway garage was created in 1926 with properties additional in 1941, 1948 and 1962, moreover additions and expansions in a lot of other yrs. It was shut in 2006 after the Office of Transportation shifted functions to Hazen Travel.

The 5 properties are now made use of only for some storage by condition companies. A single of them was temporarily employed as a condition run screening station for COVID-19, but Concord’s screening web site has considering that been moved to Terrill Park Drive.

(David Brooks can be achieved at 369-3313 or [email protected] or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)