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The Dartmouth
March 28, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

South Block to host local businesses

Construction of the last two parts of the South Block project, Umpleby's and 68 South Main, is ongoing.
Construction of the last two parts of the South Block project, Umpleby's and 68 South Main, is ongoing.

With three properties already completed and two more remaining, the construction on Hanover's South Block is nearly finished. Dartmouth's Real Estate Office has completed the first phase of the construction, which includes the buildings for Ramuntos, Hanover Hardware, Systems & Computer Store and 12 residential apartments, and has begun the second and final phase, which focuses on Umpleby's, and 68 South Main, a large outdoor shopping complex.

Umpleby's, a bakery cafe from Bridgewater, Vt., was originally scheduled to open at 3 South St. in early September, but the opening date was delayed to mid-November due to what the project manager said were unforeseen conditions.

"Weather [and] subsurface conditions require you to stop, solve problems, and it happens that we were more aggressive in our schedule than we had originally thought," said John Caulo, the project's manager and Dartmouth's associate director of real estate.

Umpleby's is being constructed on the site of the Gates House, one of the oldest timber-frame structures in Hanover. Rather than tear the structure down entirely, the construction company is incorporating the dimensions and architectural detailing of the house into the new building to honor the history of one of oldest remaining buildings downtown. With 2,630 square feet of rentable floor area upstairs and three more residential apartments available for lease by faculty and graduate students, the College hopes the new apartments and buildings will attract more visiting professors.

"The College has a decent program that leases apartments for visiting professors on a term-to-term basis while they teach," Caulo said. "To extend on it, we're planning to have nine of new our apartments for pure use by visiting professors."

The Mountain Goat, an independently-owned outdoor store from North Hampton Mass., will be the "anchor," or primary tenet, to occupy the corner of 68 South Street. The store will carry outdoor gear and a full line of footwear, which Caulo said was a perfect fit for the Dartmouth community.

C. Beston & Company, an interior design company, and Kleen Dry Cleaning, both located on Lebanon Street, have also decided to relocate to the commercial area on 68 South Main. Negotiations are currently underway with an undisclosed tenant to fill the only remaining commercial area on the first floor.

"In terms of our general marketing, one of our marketing goals is to target locally- or independently-owned retailers, choosing specifically to avoid nationals," Caulo said. "By taking this approach, it takes longer to find the right mix, but we think the community benefits as it enforces Hanover's sense as a unique college town."

Caulo said the finishing touches on the duplex on 68 South Main St. will be finished by next summer and expressed the College's hopes of opening the businesses and apartments by the 2008 summer term.

"Finishing the steel structure on South Street, we'll start framing the upper floors using pre-fabricated work panels," Caulo explained. "The super structures, or outside shell, should be completed by Christmas, although we'll still be conducting work inside till summer."

With 10,500 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and 24 available residential apartments upstairs, 68 South St., the largest commercial building on South Block, will have an elevator service connecting basement parking to all floors within the building.

"Hopefully with the parking lot underground, parking will be better," said Beth White, the finance and administration manager for Kleen Dry Cleaning. "Everybody worries about parking spaces in Hanover. The parking spaces under South Street are still in construction, but select parts are currently in use.