NASHUA, NH – Among the four proposals received for the redevelopment of the Elm Street Middle School property, Lansing Melbourne Group and Pennrose were chosen as the final two, and presented their housing redevelopment plans to the community on Thursday night.
They will present and take feedback again during the second session on Saturday, April 12 at 1 p.m. in the City Hall auditorium. All designs are in early stages and are subject to change as they receive response from the community.
Those who attend can verbally offer feedback and ask questions during a Question-and-Answer period after each presentation or write down their comments. At the end, community members can also vote for which plan they like best.
Lansing Melbourne Group
Lansing Melbourne Group have experience in Nashua, having worked on The Flats on High Street which were completed last year. For the redevelopment of the Elm Street Middle School site, they worked with Neighbor works for the affordable housing aspect.
In their design, they considered the history of the site. Formerly South Common, and then a school, the site has always been centered around community and connectivity, something they strove to achieve in their design.
The driving concepts of their plan were walkability, using the Keefe Auditorium as anchor to build off of, and having green space at the heart of the design.
After tearing down the existing building, their current plan proposes a total of 296 units, with 59 affordable units at 60 percent area median income, and 237 at market rate with a mix of multifamily units and for-sale town homes. The plan includes 413 parking spaces.
The design includes a village area in the center with green space for activities for residents and the community at large with a road for traffic to travel through.
Other plans include a child care facility, and commercial spaces that could include maker spaces, office spaces, a demonstration kitchen, or whatever the community would like to see occupy the space.
Pennrose
Pennrose’s design focuses on preserving history, fostering connections, and creating housing that is accessible to all Nashua residents, using the site’s history as South Common for inspiration.
Part of preserving the history means redeveloping the existing school building. Pennrose has experience converting school buildings into housing, one example being the Mary D. Stone Apartments in Auburn, Massachusetts.
However, not all parts of the building are suitable for housing, and those parts will be demolished. This will be phase one, followed by phase two, which will be renovating the school. Phase three will include the addition to the building for more units, which they are currently considering two options for. Both options consist of a midrise addition and mixed-income housing, with both apartments and townhouses.
The first option, “Scheme A” keeps the existing gymnasium. The purpose and use of the gym has yet to be decided, but could become an activity space or remain a gym to be used by interested stakeholders. This option includes 168 units with 230 parking spaces.
The second option “Scheme B,” demolishes the gym to create more housing. This would create more green space for a larger interior courtyard and also allow for more parking with 262 spaces and 184 units.
The affordability of all the units has not yet been decided, but 10% of the units will be at the 10% AMI tier. The average of all the affordable units will be below 60% AMI.
The space in front of the school will be open green space with canopy trees for a “park like” atmosphere. The internal spaces will be more residential to function more as “backyard” areas.
There will be a public courtyard behind the existing building to allow access to the site, as the entrance to the building won’t be through the current main entrance, but in the back.
Other plans include a playground and a box office for the Keefe Auditorium.
“This is exactly what I envisioned for our city,” one person said.
“[With this design], I actually could live in my own city which feels pretty good to me,” said another.