Portsmouth developer the Kane Company and co-developer Tidemark have formally filed plans with local officials in Hampton that would replace a former corporate campus with apartments. 

The Hampton Planning Board will continue its review of the project March 5.  

Plans Kane and Tidemark presented on Feb. 5 show the 100,000-square-foot former Fisher Scientific headquarters, built in a Colonial Revival style in 1975, would be converted into housing. 

In addition, two new apartment buildings would be built on site for a total of 248 units. Unit mix is planned as 11 percent studios, 43 percent one-bedroom, 43 percent two-bedroom and 2 percent three-bedroom units. 

Plans call for 10,000 square feet of amenity space, including a fitness center, pool, barbecues, lounge and library. Developers’ representatives told town officials Feb. 5 that the intent is to create a “village” atmosphere on the site near the Route 101-Interstate 95 interchange. 

Developers’ representatives pitched the development to town officials as “missing middle” housing, available to renters making between $67,000 and $100,000 per year. The new apartments will more or less make up for the 270 homes the town lost between 2010 and 2020, project attorney John Bosen said. 

The all-housing plans replace a mixed-use concept originally pursued by Tidemark and Kane that included roughly the same number of housing units but added 205,000 square feet of commercial-flex space and retail space. That proposal is “not economically viable” now, Tidemark representative John Stebbins told Hampton officials. 

President Donald Trump’s plans to levy tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese imports could still derail the project.  

“We worry very much about the tariffs, most of the wood and steel for this project will likely come from Canada. So, this last week was very scary for us,” Stebbins said at the Feb. 5 meeting. 

The property already has zoning approval and wetlands approvals, but must still secure site plan approval.