People and Property: Real Estate and Construction News From Around NH

Easterseals NH breaking ground on veterans center

Easterseals NH has long provided services to veterans and their families and is now taking a major step forward in serving those who served us by establishing a first-of-its-kind military and veterans campus in NH. 

Easterseals NH will be breaking ground on the new 15-acre campus, located along the Merrimack River and Rail Trail in Franklin, in late September. The project, which is being designed and built by PROCON in Hooksett, will include 30 units of affordable rental housing for veterans, a hub of services to co-locate multiple military service organizations, recreation and a retreat center with meeting and event space. 

The project received $23 million in funding from the state through the American Rescue Plan Act State Fiscal Recovery Funds. The campus will be developed in phases, with the affordable housing, hub of services and portions of the retreat center slated to be complete by the end of 2024.  

Additional funds will be raised to complete the retreat center, which will have 20 short-term rental bedrooms (some with kitchenettes), build the multipurpose therapeutic recreation building, military-themed playground and outdoor performance stage.

To develop the project, Easterseals NH convened a taskforce made up of representatives from the military and veteran community. 

Interim planning director hired to fill role permanently

Kathy Menici (Photo by Catherine McLaughlin/The Laconia Daily Sun photo)

At the end of a three-month-long process, Kathy Menici was hired as the new Laconia city planner. Menici has occupied the post on an interim basis since the end of May.

She has more than 35 years of experience as a municipal planner spent in the city of Portsmouth and the towns of Alton, Farmington and Wakefield. 

“I was very pleased with what she’s been able to accomplish as the interim planning director, and I think we’re going to see her be able to expand what she was able to do for us in this permanent role,” City Manager Kirk Beattie said. “She does have a long history here in the state doing land use regulations and enforcement. Her knowledge base seems very deep, and I think that’s going to be a big benefit to the city.”

Menici, chosen from a field of six candidates, holds a master’s degree in urban affairs planning and community development from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree in science with a concentration in local and regional planning from Plymouth State University. Assuming the permanent position Sept. 18, Menici will be paid an annual salary of $107,000, according to a press release.

The planning department is currently short-staffed, Menici said, and in need of an assistant planner and a conservation planner. She spent much of her summer more involved in facilitating the everyday permitting process than a director normally would be, and is looking to quickly fill those open positions. 

Once the department is back to a full roster, she’s looking forward to working with other city leaders to consider ways to improve affordable housing development in the city, to update the city’s master plan and to navigate the development of the former Laconia State School property.

“When I was in Portsmouth, I had the opportunity to work on a couple of major redevelopment projects,” Menici said. “Our role as planners will be to guide them through the process to get all of their necessary approvals. So they can go out and start building … there’s just so much that goes into a redevelopment project of that magnitude.” 

“We’ve got a number of challenges in front of us and in this city” from a planning standpoint, Hosmer said. In addition to the immense amount of planning work involved in the proposed State School development, Laconia faces a growing demand for affordable housing. — CATHERINE MCLAUGHLIN/THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

Ground broken on Future-Forward School

Balloons, celebration, rain and eager anticipation highlighted the groundbreaking ceremony at SAU 43 School District’s new CTE (Career Technical Education) building on Monday, Sept. 18.

The $15.4 million facility replaces the current CTE building after 30 years and will improve every program the school offers, officials said.

Superintendent Donna Magoon said, “The community voted to have a new CTE center, and we were able to get funding from the state.”

“Because the cost of everything is going up, we ended up not having enough money,” she said. “We sent something to the state saying because of inflation and the cost of goods, it cost us more than we anticipated, and the state gave us more money.”

CTE Principal and Director Eric Perry said the new building integrates both agricultural programs into one space, allowing more inter-program collaboration.

“It will offer a larger space for our small machinery maintenance and forestry programs,” he said. “There will be a new greenhouse to replace our aging greenhouse and offer modern mechanics to operate.”

Perry also said the new CTE will have an animal grooming lab, which they currently don’t have, and additional classroom space for animal and plant sciences.

The new CTE courses will offer significant career opportunities, he said, especially in its forestry and natural resources programs, and will span conservation law and arborists working with tree companies.

“They often work alongside power companies and land management,” Perry said. “In agriculture, there will be food and animal management; just about every career we can think of is touched by agriculture.”

Local agricultural businesses will have a more prepared workforce thanks to the new building, too.

Magoon said the district plans to offer students plenty of internships inside and outside the area, providing them opportunities to enter the workforce immediately.

“We also offer the program to eighth graders. Some of our eighth graders are coming into our programs, seeing what’s out there and getting a little taste of that,” she said. “When they go into high school, they can choose one or two areas they like. They may like animal science or welding. It gives them a little taste to help move them forward.”

Visit sau43.org for the latest information on the project. — CHRIS FROST/EAGLE TIMES

First phase of Tetreault Park playscape in Rindge nearly complete

Multiple features for a new natural playscape park at the entrance to Tetreault Park in Rindge have been installed, and the park is expected to be complete by the end of October.

The park was installed mostly with funds from donations and some grants. Dan Bemis, the Rindge recreation director, said the department has raised about half of the funds for the $125,000 project, allowing the department to move forward with phase one: the installation of the playscape itself.

Recreation Director Dan Bemis spreads wood chips at the Tetreault Park playscape during a work day on Saturday. (Photo by Ashley Saari)

The playscape uses features with natural materials like wood, and the features at the Rindge park include a wooden tipi, wooden posts that will be threaded with rope to create a spiderweb for climbing, a rock wall for climbing built into a rise that will lead to a slide built into the sloping hill on the other side, a gaga ball pit and a log walk for balancing.

“It’s not meant to be your typical setup with a metal slide and swings. It’s meant to be for kids to be more exploratory and they can play with it in multiple different ways and be more in nature,” Bemis said Saturday, during a work day to spread wood chips throughout the playscape. “This is obviously the perfect spot for that — it’s secluded, on a quieter road, and it’s meant to be a different experience for the kids.”

The Recreation Department has, in conjunction with the Conservation Commission, been in talks to install a playscape at the park for four years, and Bemis said some of the features were purchased as early as 2021.

Phase one of the project included a partnership with the Conservation Commission to improve the parking area for Tetreault Park.

Tetreault Park was purchased from the Tetreault family in 2005 and is part of Rindge’s managed conservation lands. It has a series of logging trails, which connect to trails in the Rindge Town Forest, which connects to the parcel. The entrance to the park is located off of Rand Road.

Fundraising for the second half of the project will continue this fall and winter, with hopes to be able to begin the work next fall, Bemis said. Phase two will include building a pavilion and creating a rest area with picnic tables and transforming the existing cabin on the property into a nature center. — ASHLEY SAARI, MONADNOCK-LEDGER TRANSCRIPT