Hillsborough enthused with housing/retail complex

Developer Michael Black presented a refined design for his plans to create a shopping center complex and over-55 senior citizen housing to the Hillsborough selectmen on Tuesday. The new layout for the complex, which is proposed to go on the hill just behind the River’s Edge Plaza, was greeted with enthusiasm.
“This is a fantastic marriage,” said Joe Collins of the shopping and housing complex.
“I really think this will help your downtown and make Hillsborough a destination,” said Black.
“You have put a lot of work into this,” Collins added. “You are breaking new ground for the community.”
The proposal in progress, detailed in the attached map, would total 248,000 square feet of commercial retail space. A grocery market would be 63,000 square feet (the smaller red box on the right in the map). A big box would be 138,000 square feet (larger red box on the left). There would be two other retail spaces of 20,000 and 22,700 square feet respectively. A restaurant space would be approximately 4,700 square feet.
Beyond the complex there would be 65 residential units (smaller units present on map). Aside from the convenience of shopping close to home for the over-55 residents, the medical center in the River’s Edge Plaza would be adjacent to the area and easily accessible.
“These are single resident units,” Black explained. “We’ve talked to a lot of people in the community about what the needs are, and that’s where the 55-and-up community came up.”
“I would expect that kind of housing, if it is retirees, would bring people who would shop downtown at the stores which we will have someday,” said Planning Board Chairman Herm Wiegelman. “Also, people who wouldn’t be coming to Hillsborough for any other reason would be coming to Hillsborough. And if ten percent of them trickle down to our downtown then that would draw more businesses to Hillsborough.”
“It’s going to be a major expansion of the town’s tax base, and a major commercial expansion, and a major residential expansion that will not create a burden on the town’s school system,” town planner Matt Taylor said. “And I think many people in town have expressed a desire for more services in town so they don’t have to drive to Concord or Keene.”
Black stressed that the present design, which is concept number 20 on the list of possibilities he and his partner, Alex Vailas, have considered, is in progress. Black has had 10 years experience in developing similar sites, and Vailas about 20 years experience.
The total acreage of the commercial site is 169 acres and belongs to local attorney Douglas Hatfield. As it stands now, there would be 80 acres of space left untouched, providing wildlife corridors.
Clothing, footwear, optical, groceries and a big box store of some sort are all options that Black says he has many businessmen seriously interested in. However, he is not at liberty legally to say what businesses have already committed themselves. The only sort of business that will not be considered is a cinema, because the traffic it would generate would demand a widening of the bridge on Rt. 202.
Although Black has been working on this concept for more than a year, he still has many hurdles to clear.
“He will need to get approval from the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the housing component,” Taylor explained, because the area is zoned only for commercial, not residential. “He’ll need to get subdivision and site plan approval from the Planning Board. With this project, because the housing piece has conservation land, he’ll be working with the Conservation Commission. And obviously the project will need approval from the Department of Transportation.”
A traffic light will be located at the entrance to the complex on Rt. 202, where the road will have to be widened for turning lanes as well. Some refinements may have to be done to the intersection of West Main and Rt. 202 and the intersection of West Main and Rt. 9, where a rotary was proposed when Wal-Mart was being considered. Black has already met with the DOT to discuss the range of scope that must be considered.
Black will also have to meet with the Water and Sewer Commissioners to work out the hook-ups to the town water and sewage system. Fortunately, the townspeople passed a proposal at the last annual meeting to upgrade the Wastewater Treatment Plant capacity from 475,000 gallons per day to 600,000 a day.
“That would be able to handle this and more,” said Wiegelman, who is also a Water and Sewer Commissioner. “That was the whole idea, to increase capacity to handle the influx of commercial activity.”
But most people involved see Black’s proposal as viable, so it appears he will be able to work out his plans on all of these levels.
“The developer has been excellent to work with,” Taylor said of Black’s work with the town so far.