What's Been Going On With River Park?
Welcome to an exciting new chapter for River Park, the start of construction!
I am pleased to announce that Maggie Hassan, Governor of New Hampshire, will be the featured speaker at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for River Park on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 10:00 AM. The public is invited to this event and it will begin three days of activities associated with the first phase of River Park.
Lyme has been busy this past year in modifying our Site Plan and Sub-division Plan approvals to reflect the changes mandated by the NH Department of Transportation for Route 10 and the conditions requested by the City of Lebanon regarding Crafts Avenue sewer improvements and streetscape changes. The Lebanon Planning Board endorsed all of these changes unanimously after the requisite public hearings. Final constructions plans have been prepared by our engineering team and presented to the appropriate municipal departments and to the NH DOT, which will allow the official recording of the Site Plan and Sub-division Plan documents by mid-October as required.
After seven years of neighborhood planning, creation of the River Park Master Plan, rezoning of the former Bailey Brothers site, and submission to and subsequent approvals by the Lebanon Planning Board of the Site Plan and Sub-division Plan, Lyme Properties focused its attention on implementing the vision of River Park. This vision is shared by our West Lebanon neighbors and is consistent with Lebanon’s Master Plan, incorporating smart growth, sensitive land use, and sustainable building and open space design principles.
Lyme has updated our website to reflect all of the changes and to allow on-going interaction with our neighbors. I invite you to check it out and give us feedback on our marketing efforts.
There is also exciting news about Friends of River Park. River Park will grant a conservation easement to Upper Valley Land Trust regarding the open space parcel adjacent to the Connecticut River that will guarantee public access to the river. Lyme voluntarily committed to public access as part of the site plan and sub-division plan approval process and this easement will go into effect once the project documents are formally filed at the Grafton County Registry of Deeds. To solidify our long-time promise to our West Lebanon neighbors, Lyme has created Friends of River Park, a N.H. not-for-profit organization, that will assume ownership and maintenance of the open space park on the river. More information will be announced at the Groundbreaking Ceremony and published on the website afterwards.
Our goal is that Friends of River Park (FORP) will become a creative and important partner for recreational activities at River Park and will stimulate discussion about how River Park can leverage other efforts in the immediate area and beyond. To this end, Lyme Properties has launched a Landscape Design Competition for River Park and selected five well regarded firms to submit design concepts for the open space along the river, the village green in the River Park Master Plan, and the phase one building site at the primary entry to River Park. On Saturday, September 26, 2015, commencing at 10:00 AM at Wilder Center, each firm will make their presentations to a professional Design Jury. The public is invited to this all day event and the presentation boards of each entry will be displayed at the Kilton Library in West Lebanon, commencing September 22, 2015 and comments are invited. The presentations will also be featured on our website. We welcome feedback from the public, but the Design Jury will select the winning entry.
On September 25, 2015, Lyme Properties will co-sponsor with Dartmouth Entrepreneurship Network an event entitled: "Dartmouth Life Sciences & Entrepreneurship Symposium: Energizing the Upper Valley as a Nexus for Venture Development.” This event is targeted to the emerging life science research cluster associated with the College, Geisel School of Medicine, Thayer School of Engineering, Tuck School of Business, and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, the primary “engines” of life science research near River Park. If you would like to learn more about this event, please contact me at the Lyme office at 603 676-7800 x1, or RSVP online here.
Lyme Properties will now actively market the first phase of the River Park development, a mixed use building with service retail, including restaurants, office space, medical office space and other permitted uses. Elkus-Manfredi Architects of Boston was selected as architect and the schematic designs will be shown at the Groundbreaking Ceremony. More details can be found in the Now Leasing section of the website and Lyme is already engaged in negotiations with prospective tenants, anticipating a January 2017 occupancy date. We are excited about the design and the role of the first phase in establishing the standard for architectural quality at River Park.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me personally with questions or comments.
Sincerely,
David Clem
Lyme Properties 2, LLC
dclem@lymeproperties.com
