A new courthouse, Marriot Hotel, restaurant, health club, supermarket and retail stores are scheduled to be built by next winter -- and they will all stand on property the College is selling.
The new buildings are slated for the Centerra Resource Park, a parcel of College-owned land across Route 120 from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
Marriot International, the Hanover Co-Op Food Store, the state of New Hampshire and the River Valley Fitness Center have all committed to establishing facilities in the park, according to College Real Estate Director Paul Olsen.
The College has already begun site work on a retail center, which Olsen said will be named Centerra Market. The Hanover Co-Op Food Store will build a 35,000 square supermarket, nearly double the size of the society's South Park Street location.
Another 19,000 square feet of retail space will be used for six smaller tenants, including Systems Plus Computers and Lake Sunapee Bank. Discussions are underway to fill the remaining stores, but Olsen declined to reveal the names of the participants.
Working with a local developer, the College has finalized plans for a 150-seat lunch and dinner restaurant. The College has also signed a "ground lease" with Marriott International that gives them ownership of the property for 75 years. In 2072, the land will revert to the College.
A separate industrial sector of the property will include primarily "light industrial" facilities. An office sector will house various tenants, including large, individual corporations and multi-tenant office buildings to accomodate the needs of smaller, more individualized businesses, he said.
Since 1990, the United States Postal Service, Fluent, Inc., the Hitchcock Clinic and Geographic Data Technologies have purchased or leased lots in the Centerra development.
The Hitchcock Clinic purchased another large lot on the northern edge of the park. Fluent, Inc. acquired three lots, while Geographic Data Technologies has built a 20,000 square foot office facility and recently purchased the empty neighboring lot.
Two additional lots have been sold to developers for the creation of multi-tenant office buildings, which Olsen said serve the needs of smaller, individual parties, in comparison to larger interests and companies.
These facilities join a list of tenants and landowners which has grown steadily since a 1989 joint venture united the College's property in the area with land owned by the Hanover-based Bayson Company, Real Estate Manager Woody Simonds said.
