MANCHESTER, NH – Every once in a while we bring you a feature called Vision for Vacancies, exploring what might be a good fit for vacant shopping plazas and storefronts.
Recently we noticed Dumpsters and construction activity at the ‘Savers Plaza’ on Maple Street, so we popped by to see what was going on.
We found out that Family Dollar will be moving into one of the remaining vacancies at the end of August as a long-term tenant.
The high-profile plaza has been anchored by Savers, the popular second-hand store for several years, but has struggled to maintain long-term tenants. The space where Family Dollar is opening was formerly Saigon Asian Market, which relocated four years ago to Union and Manchester streets.
There is one more vacancy in the plaza – or two, depending on how you slice it. The end unit, 93 S. Maple St., was last occupied by Club Paradym and Club 313 before that. That space is now available for rent once interior reconstruction is completed. The vacancy would be ideal for a restaurant or cafe and/or small retail operation if subdivided into two separate shops according to a property manager on site. The square-footage of the larger space is 3,640 square feet and the smaller is 1,320 square feet, or if someone wants to combine the space it’s a full 4,960 square feet.
Final touches in addition to exterior and interior upgrades will include refurbishing the parking lot.
What is your vision for this vacancy?
We know that empty spaces aren’t a good look for the city, and unfilled, fail to generate much-needed tax revenue.
If you have a property in mind you’d like to see featured in Visions for Vacancies, drop us a line.
Officially, we’ve only featured three properties in the Visions for Vacancies column, although we’ve reported on other empty spaces that have been filled, but we’d love to revive it as a regular feature.
To recap, the first vacancy we featured asked what should become of the old Hoitt Furniture building and, not long after, the building was purchased and turned into what is now home to Hope for NH Recovery, and a FIT/New Horizons outpost providing temporary shelter and CMC services to those in need.
The second property featured was the historic Hill-Lasonde House on Hanover Street, which was purchased, razed and turned into a parking lot despite an 11-hour effort to save it. It is reminiscent of what’s currently happening with the Chandler House, which is vacant and owned by the Diocese of Manchester. The community is lobbying for it to be “saved” from demolition.
The third building was the old Club Liquid which has since been purchased by the Palace Theatres and transformed into the Rex Theatre.
