August 9, 2006
City still has eyes on Stickney Avenue site But I-93 expansion has delayed all plans

By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Monitor staff

Slowly but surely, the trucks, welding materials and workers that once filled the state's Stickney Avenue facility dwindled. By June, the Department of Transportation's fleet of vehicles and mechanics had moved to a new complex on Route 106. The 80-year-old Stickney Avenue property sits vacant, save for the state's fueling stations.

For city officials - who have made no bones about their hopes to acquire the property - the vacancy brings their dream one step closer to reality. "It's the gateway into the downtown," said City Manager Thomas Aspell. "We're still very much interested in the property, and we've let the state know that."

But with the expansion of Interstate 93 looming, all daydreams are on hold. Until the state settles on an expansion plan, no one knows how much of the Stickney Avenue property will remain open for development in the years to come. Expanding or moving the interstate could trim the parcel. A blueprint for the expanded highway is three to five years off, Aspell said.

For now, the state will likely rent out the site, said Bill Boynton, a spokesman for the DOT. "There is quite a bit of interest," he said. One of the potential renters, Boynton said, is Concord Trailways, which has a bus station off Stickney Avenue.

But the state does not intend to sell the property before there's a plan to develop I-93. "We're very much aware" of the city's interest in the site, "and we would certainly work with them on that," Boynton said. "The other stuff is more interim, to try to generate some income from what are empty buildings."

The department's materials and research division, which previously shared the Stickney Avenue site with mechanical services, has since moved to Hazen Drive.

The property's location, just off the highway, is why the site is so highly coveted.

Any new building on the site "will be Concord's architectural 'signature' to the world for generations to come," Niel Cannon, executive director of the Concord Regional Development Council, and Maura Carroll, the group's president, wrote to the city council earlier this year. "One of the possible uses of the property is a multi-modal transportation center, a mix of other uses that may include offices, museum/cultural center, residences, retail stores and, possibly, a hotel."

The site also figures in the city's master plan for the so-called Opportunity Corridor, which runs from Exit 12 to Horseshoe Pond, bound by Main Street on the west and Fort Eddy Road and the Merrimack River on the east. The Stickney Avenue facility could be transformed into a "signature"structure in that area, according to the plan.

In 2000, a deal on the property seemed within reach. The city and CRDC signed an agreement with the state, which outlined how the property could be transferred to the city. The agreement also allowed CRDC to conduct an environmental assessment and investigate the site's redevelopment potential. The agreement later expired, and plans for I-93's expansion gained steam.

Though the city is far from owning the property, the site's future use has already been the subject of city council debate. Last year, developer Stephen Duprey, who owns the Marriott Hotel and Grappone Conference Center, asked the city for the first chance to develop future hotels on Stickney Avenue. The development of a nearby hotel or conference center would imperil Duprey's already-struggling conference center, he said.

Cannon and some city officials worried that granting Duprey's request would scare off other developers. The site's visibility "requires that we attract a world class developer to Concord," Cannon and Carroll wrote to councilors. Duprey eventually negotiated a deal with Cannon that would protect the conference center without warding off development on the Stickney Avenue site. The city or CRDC would have to study the economic effect any new hotel would have on Duprey's conference center before putting the project out to bid.

Even though any acquisition is years off, Aspell remains optimistic. "We understand each other," he said of the city and state.

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By SARAH LIEBOWITZ

Monitor staff

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