The Seacoast Landing retail and commercial development project underway in Newington could include a large medical facility that developer Jay Bisognano described as “a game changer for this region.”
Were the facility to become a reality, Bisognano described a type of commercial village that could grow around it to include restaurants, cafes, even a hotel.
“We’re really, really far down the line with a flagship medical use, which I think will be fantastic for the region. There’s nothing out there like it,” Bisognan said. “It’ll necessitate convenience type retail, like pharmacies and places to get coffee and cafes and lunch places and dinner places. It may also necessitate a hotel.”
The medical facility itself would be between 75,000 and 100,000 square feet, and would be the third major occupant of the 82-acre Seacoast Landing project along with a Costco and a second major retailer that Bisognano said he could not name yet but described as someone “you’d all recognize.”
Bisognano is CEO of Torrington Properties, owner of what was the Mall at Fox Run and some adjacent properties. He outlined Torrington’s vision for Seacoast Landing during a Sept. 2 meeting of the Portsmouth Economic Development Commission.
At the outset of his presentation, he explained that nondisclosure agreements prevent him from naming the second retailer and the medical facility that are interested in locating at “the Landing,” his shorthand for the new development.
Retail stores, cafes and restaurants were part of the initial vision; the addition of a hotel has been added to that vision with the recent talk about the medical facility.
“People, in theory, will be here for various different medical procedures, treatments, and they’re going to be at Seacoast Landing, not for a couple of hours, but maybe multiple days,” he said. “If that happens — and you know I can’t discuss who — it’s a game changer for this region. And the way I view it is: You no longer have to drive into Boston for something complicated. It’ll be in your back door.”
He said interest from the medical concern “came late in the game. And, as we’re negotiating with them, we’re thinking about what that means for the rest of the retail.”
Bisognano discussed a village concept for the site, accessed by a tree-lined, four-lane looped road that feeds traffic into parking lots for the tenants.
He likened it to the MarketStreet development in Lynnfield, Mass., which has about 700,000 square feet of mixed use space, about 475,000 square feet of it for retail and restaurants. Among its tenants are Whole Foods, Apple, lululemon, Anthropologie and Nike. There are also apartments, medical/general office space, a village green, and community event spaces.
Seacoast Landing does not include housing, something that new state law allows in commercial zones, but is resisted by officials in Newington, where the site — sandwiched between the Spaulding Turnpike and Woodbury Avenue — is being built and permitted.
It was an issue Torrington chose not to pursue, according to Bisognano.
“Housing is sort of a non-starter in this particular community, and I don’t really need to get into why, but that’s the way it is,” he said. “You have a choice to either work with the community in which you own a big piece of real estate, or you could fight. And I think fighting is far too risky, it’s no fun, and it could take the next decade getting something that nobody actually wants within that particular community.”
What’s seen for Seacoast Landing, he said, made economic sense to his company and “checked a few boxes” for the town of Newington.
In May 2026, Newington voters approved the town’s first-ever tax increment financing (TIF) district to support the redevelopment project.
With the TIF district, Torrington will continue to pay property taxes based on current property values as a baseline. Those taxes will be put into a special fund to start paying for the infrastructure improvements at Seacoast Landing.
As the development proceeds, as buildings are constructed, the property values rise as does the tax on those properties. Ultimately, the TIF will raise more than $9 million over the next nine years for Torrington to fund 85% of the total infrastructure costs. The town could reap upwards of $500,000 more in annual tax revenue from the development once it’s fully completed.
As part of the infrastructure redevelopment, according to the town, a new tree-lined road, named Seacoast Boulevard, will be constructed. Seacoast Boulevard will connect to the two existing traffic signals on Woodbury Avenue. The boulevard will have sidewalks and all new utilities (water, sewer, stormwater, electric and data/communications). Stormwater management will also be updated.
Demolition crews are eating through the Fox Run buildings. Bisognano said they’re about half way done.
The first tenant to go public about its presence at the site — Costco — expects to be up and running by Thanksgiving 2027.
A Costco could be a big attraction to the Landing, according to Bisognan.
“We’ll get people from Maine. We’ll get people from Massachusetts. We’ll get people from New Hampshire. They’ll drive 45 minutes an hour,” Bisognan said. “They will come to this community, and the whole notion is, they’ll spend half a day at Costco, and then it’s: Oh by the way, I’m going to hang out, I’m going to get a burger, I’m going to get a beer, I’m going to you know get my nails done, whatever. And so we’re trying to use Costco’s presence as a driver of traffic, and then from there be able to support what anyone else may need or want.”
The second large retailer, he added, “then reached out and said: Hey, we want to be here too.” One traffic driver — Chick-fil-A — already exists at the site.
The medical facility, too, would generate consumer traffic to the immediate area.
“They’re going to get a medical procedure. They’re running to Costco. They’re going to get lunch at Tavern Square, and then, I think that if we do our job, they may stay here. They may go downtown (Portsmouth). They may walk around. They may even get a hotel room,” he said.
Bosignano described these consumers as a “captive audience” that may benefit the entire region.
“You’ve got Costco on one end driving eight or 10,000 cars a day, and then this other retailer, maybe doing a little bit less. But when you mush them together, all of a sudden you’ve created a captive audience,” he said.
With the expected completion of the Costco by Thanksgiving 2027, Bosignan expects the full buildout to take about three years at a development cost of about $400 million.
“We’re making a huge bet, but we’re comfortable doing so because we think it’ll be successful,” he said.
Plans for Seacoast Landing call for a mix of stand-alone buildings with three anchor stores, pads for six retail/commercial interests, medical building and a retail/office collection of six more buildings.
The Seacoast Landing retail and commercial development project underway in Newington could include a large medical facility that would be between 75,000 and 100,000 square feet, and would be the third major occupant of the 82-acre project along with a Costco and a second major retailer.
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