By DEVON CORMIER
Staff Writer

BIG PLANS – A retail plaza much like the one at Exit 10 could soon be built on Hooksett Road in Hooksett across from Hooksett Kawasaki. While no tenants have been signed up, plans call for a grocery store, home improvement center, specialty retail and more. (Courtesy Graphic)

Manchester Sand, Gravel and Cement Co., Inc., owner of about a third of the land in Hooksett, has big retail plans for its current office space and scale house on Hooksett Road just north of the Granite State Marketplace.

There has been no formal proposal, but a lawyer for Manchester Sand, David Campbell, said the company will propose approximately 300,000 square feet of retail space at the site of its scale house and office space on Route 3.

The formal proposal to the planning board is expected to happen around the first of next year, after traffic studies have been completed. The land is zoned for retail/commercial development.

“We think there is a real demand here,” said Campbell. “We are really over-designing it to alleviate any traffic problems in the future.”

The plan includes generic box stores, including grocery store, a home improvement store, a specialty retail store and between two and five buildings for restaurants, a bank and possibly a pharmacy. Campbell said Manchester Sand will seek approval for the retail plan and road improvements before finding specific tenants for the buildings.

“Not having specific tenants will encourage this to happen more quickly,” Campbell said. “With the road design there’s just too many unknowns. We are removing the uncertainties and getting tenants an exact dollar figure.”

The plan includes major road improvements that will be paid for by the developer, JMD Realty Inc. The road improvements would include widening Route 3 to a possible 10 lanes at the intersection of the proposed retail space. The site is across the street from Hooksett Kawasaki, about a quarter mile north of Lindsey Drive.

The road improvements may also include constructing part of the parkway that has been in Hooksett’s master plan for more than 30 years.

The parkway is expected to connect from Exit 9 off of Interstate 93 to Route 3/28. The road will have limited access points and should alleviate commuter traffic running through Hooksett at peak times.

The parkway isn’t expected to be built for another 30 years, but Manchester Sand may begin work on the portion of the parkway on its land, while widening Route 3.

“That parkway ties into this project for one reason,” Campbell said. “The road improvements are being designed, and at some points overdesigned, to pick up the parkway that will eventually run through this intersection.”

WHERE’S IT ALL GOING? Above, Manchester Sand, Gravel and Cement has planned a retail center in the orange area. The yellow line shows where a future parkway is planned to run. Below is the plan showing road changes and location of the new buildings. (Courtesy Graphics)

The plan may benefit Hooksett, said Town Planner Charles Watson, but there may be some problems to consider when it comes to the planning board.

Watson said any proposal has the potential of increasing traffic, and although widening Route 3 may alleviate that, three other residential projects that are starting in the area may lead to a traffic overload in the future.

“It will have benefits to the town,” Watson said. “They will pay for the road work, but, of course, they will be the principal beneficiary of the project. There will be some congestion during construction, but that’s to be expected.

This project will tie into a state project about one mile south on Route 3/28 at the intersection of Bypass 28, across from the Ninety-Nine Restaurant. That project is expected to be completed next May. Planners say it will reduce traffic at that bottleneck.

The project will also increase the tax base, Watson said. The road work will not raise taxes, and new retail should generate a strong tax base.

Watson said growth in commercial and retail development may affect the community in more abstract ways than clogging up town roads and affecting the tax base.

“The question I consider is: Can we handle the traffic?” Watson said. “But, if your children grow up in Hooksett and want a job, what job in retail would you want them to have? There aren’t that many management positions. Are we producing good-paying jobs?”

Also, Manchester Sand’s marketing team decided the demand for retail in Hooksett is strong, and Watson said he would have to agree with them. However, there is the possibility of retail waning in the future, which may leave property vacant, Watson said, but he isn’t too concerned.

More on the plans should be revealed early next year.