Under pressure from residents and local officials, developer Joe Faro has withdrawn plans for a large apartment building from his Tuscan Village megaproject in Salem. 

Faro had sought permission to change the use planned for one parcel from office-lab uses above ground-floor retail to an 8-story, 300-unit apartment building. 

But the proposal, made at a time when requirements for new lab space in the Greater Boston market are rapidly collapsing thanks to a slowdown in venture funding and a huge pulse of spec lab space coming online, met pushback from residents saying it would make Salem “like Boston.” 

In a letter to town officials, Faro said the previously permitted use will stand, but noted that demand for housing is extremely high in New Hampshire. Over 500 apartments have already been completed at Tuscan Village; with proposed or approved buildings added in, that total hits nearly 1,500 units.  

Mark Gross, Faro’s director of permitting for the Tuscan Village project, told the New Hampshire Union Leader that apartments were in part required to attract certain major retail tenants looking for ready access to a captive audience. Gross said the planned life science-focused portion of the development – originally permitted as office space, but later given a biotech focus with the onset of the pandemic – would likely be eliminated with future revisions to the master plan.