After years of planning and discussions with town officials in Newington, Torrington Properties is poised to finally begin its massive redevelopment of the now-vacant Mall at Fox Run and the nearby Newington Park Shopping Center.

Torrington is expected to start razing the 43-year-old enclosed mall and other site structures this spring, taking as long as eight months to finish the demolition job.

As it clears the 82-acre site, Torrington hopes to get the town of Newington’s approval of a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) plan that would allow the firm to raise $10 million for necessary infrastructure improvements before construction can begin on its new mixed-use “Seacoast Landing.”

Town officials are tentatively eyeing a special town meeting on May 30 to vote on the TIF plan.

But town officials have insisted they need far more details about the proposed Seacoast Landing project before town residents can vote on any financing agreement.

Torrington has said it will comply with the town’s request and hopes to file more details about the proposed project as soon as possible.

Newington Voters Face High-Stakes Decision

For the town of Newington, the stakes are definitely high.

With a population of only about 900 people, Newington, located northwest of Portsmouth, relies heavily on commercial property taxes to fund town services and to keep its residential rates among the lowest in the state.

Today, the empty Mall at Fox Run, which sits just east of Route 4, is assessed at about $71.3 million, raising about $562,000 a year for a town with an overall annual budget of just $9 million, according to published reports.

After a redevelopment project is finished, the site could be assessed at nearly double its current value, raising nearly double the tax revenue in the process.

“It’s a big deal for this town,” said Bob Blonigen, a Newington selectman. “To hold a vote on a TIF [proposal] that’s actually larger than the town budget, it’s a lot. When you talk in terms of those numbers, it scares some people in a small town.”

But Blonigen, who declined to say if he supports the TIF plan, expressed confidence that Torrington will provide enough details to answer most residents’ questions about the TIF proposal and the overall Seacoast Landing project in general.

The proposed 30-year TIF initiative, which would be the first in the town’s history, effectively would allow Torrington to borrow against future increased property-tax payments to fund key infrastructure improvements needed for its Seacoast Landing.

But an infrastructure for what?

Torrington Properties, which declined comment for this story, has released only general concepts about its plans for new retail and office buildings to replace the Mall at Fox Run and portions of the Newington Park Shopping Center.

“It’s a work in progress and nothing is written in stone,” emphasized one company official, referring to what might be included in a final Seacoast Landing site plan.

Concept Plans Feature ‘Member-Discount Club’

Nevertheless, a tentative plan that’s been floated includes two large anchor buildings – one of them 236,000 square feet and the other 152,000 square feet, perhaps for a “member-discount club” of some kind – and a third “flexible” anchor building of about 24,000 square feet.

Strewn throughout the site, according to early plans, are smaller retail and office buildings, including space for possible medical offices.

The tentative plan also includes site pads where future stand-alone small cafes, restaurants or bank branches might be located.

Atlantic Retail is currently marketing the future Seacoast Landing to potential tenants. Atlantic Retail representatives could not be reached for comment.

A concept plan the company included in marketing materials also shows a mid-sized “lifestyle center” open-air shopping-and-office street, reminiscent of two suburban Boston malls: MarketStreet Lynnfield north of the city and Patriot Place in Foxboro, next to Gillette Stadium.

Lack of Housing a Selling Point

One feature notably absent from the preliminary Seacoast Landing plans: housing.

According to sources, Newington officials stipulated to Torrington that the town didn’t want any housing at the site.

That request appears to follow the statewide trend of local governments opposing major housing developments in their communities.

But Blonigen, the town selectman, said there are a number of reasons for Newington’s opposition to housing at the old Mall at Fox Run.

“There’s a misconception that we’re anti-housing, but it isn’t true,” said Blonigen, noting the town has recently approved two small single-family housing projects elsewhere in Newington.

“We’re actually very pro-housing. But we’re a small town. We can’t afford a big housing boom at [Seacoast Landing].”

He added that the Woodbury Avenue/Fox Run Road area simply isn’t appropriate for housing due to the high concentration of other industrial and commercial properties in the area.

“It’s just not a good mix,” he said. “There’s nowhere over there where housing fits.”

Redevelopment Caps Acquisition Campaign

Over the past five years, Torrington has been steadily acquiring the 80-plus acre site in stages, starting with the purchase of Newington Park Shopping Center in June 2021 for $13.3 million, according to previously released information from the firm.

The former Sears building was purchased in October 2022 for $11.5 million; the Mall at Fox Run in November 2022 for $17 million; the two Macy’s building in March 2024 for $16.25 million; and the JC Penney building in December 2024 for $8 million.

Local commercial real estate experts say Torrington’s tentative plans to redevelop the old Mall at Fox Run is part of a more than decade-long trend of shopping malls struggling to survive and reinvent themselves amid fierce competition from e-commerce firms.

Michael Harrington, CEO of Manchester-based commercial real estate firm Harrington & Company, said a number of New Hampshire shopping malls, as well as stand-alone big-box retail stores, have been redeveloped or repositioned in recent years.

Among them is Bedford’s former Macy’s store, which was recently replaced by the “wildly successful” Market & Main development that includes an REI outlet, Trader Joe’s store and Tavern on the Green.

Meanwhile, the old Sears space at Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua was recently turned into “The Nash Casino,” as part of that site’s repositioning efforts, he noted.

The Latest Mall to Be Redeveloped

Developers are eying major changes at other shopping-mall sites across the state, such as a plan to replace the empty Steeplegate Mall in Concord with a mixed-used development. That plan is currently stalled due to opposition to proposed new housing at the site.

“It’s happening all over the place,” Harrington said of mall re-positioning efforts. “Many malls are being replaced by more mixed-use, open-air, lifestyle developments. Retail sites are getting repurposed.”

Caitlin Burke, a partner at CRE brokerage The Boulos Company, agreed that a massive repositioning of shopping malls is underway across the state and nation – and has been underway for a while now.

The re-positionings often include replacing retail outlets with new restaurants, entertainment venues, supermarkets and service-oriented outlets, such as medical clinics, salons and spas, and fitness centers.

And so far, it all seems to be working, Burke noted

“If you get some good anchor tenants [at a site], the rest of it is going to fall in place.”

If anything, there’s now a shortage of retail space in the South Coast area, both in downtown Portsmouth and along some retail corridors outside the city, she noted.

“In the Portsmouth area, there’s not a lot of [retail] space to show,” said Burke. “Retail is doing surprisingly well.”