Image courtesy of Burnell Johnson Architects
The owner of Portsmouth-based restoration company Insurcomm has proposed to build 160 apartments on an increasingly busy corridor in Dover.
An LLC controlled by Neil Robbins has teamed with affordable housing developer Elm Grove Companies to file plans with city officials for a three-building, mixed-use development on a 20.45-acre plot at 99 Knox Marsh Road.
The area is already home to a small business park and multifamily complexes totaling nearly 600 apartments and condominiums, and backs onto farm fields slated for redevelopment into new industrial and business parks.
Plans show two 80-unit apartment buildings and a 25,00-square-foot commercial building, plus 344 surface parking spots.
Amenities called out in the plans include a dog park, playground and a picnic pavilion, plus local bus service to employers in downtown Dover and the University of New Hampshire.
In addition, the rear 7.5 acres of the parcel are proposed to be set aside as a “wildlife conservation area” to avoid building near most of the wetlands on-site and to protect a population of rabbits of concern to New Hampshire Fish & Game, according to the application.
The development team is proposing to set all of the units aside as affordable housing, using NH Housing financing and federal low income housing tax credits. If approved, it would be the largest such development in Dover. Units would be restricted to renters making up to 60 percent of area median income.
The commercial/light industrial building will be developed as a pad site, without a tenant in mind. The building will come with two loading docks, around 6,500 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of commercial manufacturing space.
The project already has zoning variances in hand covering height, setbacks, share of residential development in a mixed-use project and density allowed by its status as an all-affordable building.
Before seeking a building permit, the project needs a conditional use permit from the Dover Planning Board covering the city’s design guidelines, use and fiscal impact.
