It's full speed ahead for planned 'live-work community' in Keene

Oct. 4—Fifty-seven apartments are slated for 310 Marlboro St. in Keene as part of an effort to turn an old paintbrush factory into a mixed-use building with maximum energy efficiency.

The project has won zoning and planning approvals as well as grant funding. Building permits are to be sought by the end of this year, and construction could conclude as soon as 2024.

Plans call for three more stories to be added to the 80,000-square-foot, two-story building constructed in 1947, architect and developer Randall Walter of Westmoreland said Tuesday. The additional stories will be set back from Marlboro Street.

The former Precitech site had housed River Valley Community College and Monadnock Family Services, but was turned into a micro-business incubator space years ago. Forty commercial tenants are now in the building.

Walter's vision is a structure that will produce enough renewable energy to meet its power demands, while providing opportunities for employees of the building's tenants to also reside there.

"The goal of adding housing to this existing and increasingly vital building is to create what a lot of times is referred to as a live-work community," Walter said. "It's critical that people who work in the building now can afford the apartments that will be up above."

The building addition will be constructed with its future in mind, said Hilary Harris, another architect on the project.

"Both sustainability and long-term resilience are of paramount importance to us in this project," she said. "We don't want to be cutting corners and costs in the upfront construction of the building. That only leads to problems in the long term."

Residents will be able to have a kind of urban lifestyle that could include using an athletic facility in the building, taking a dance class or grabbing some baked goods or coffee, without ever having to venture out.

And, when they do want to leave, the building is on a bus route, adjacent to the Cheshire Rail Trail and a 10-minute walk to Keene State College and the downtown area, Walter said.

"There's a number of reasons why this can be a different style of living," he said. "Even though it's a rural setting, it can be less vehicle-dependent."

Nineteen apartments are planned on each of the three new floors. One-third of the apartments will have two bedrooms and the rest will be a mix of one-bedrooms and studios.

Developers are seeking a $3 million grant for the project through InvestNH, a $100 million program Gov. Chris Sununu announced in April to spur residential construction at a time when the statewide vacancy rate is under 1 percent.

The grant would require reduced rent on 15 of the units for those who qualify by earning 80 percent or less of median income. In Cheshire County, this equates to about $48,000 annually for a single person.

In June, the N.H. Executive Council approved a $300,000 grant for an energy-efficient biomass boiler system now being installed, which, along with heat pumps, will replace a system of oil and propane heat. Solar panels and extensive insulation will also help with energy efficiency.

LED lighting that turns off when people leave a room and windows with high insulation values are also planned.

Last month, the project also won a $200,000 grant from Rural Energy for America, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to spur the use of renewable energy.

Also in September, Keene's zoning board approved a variance to allow the three additional stories, which will be supported by the sturdy steel frame in the original structure, Walter said. The planning board has also provided conditional approval.

In addition to being friendly to the environment, the fact that the building will be extremely energy efficient will be friendly to tenants' pocketbooks, Walter said.

The alternative, he said, would be to spend less money on energy efficiency up front, but saddle future residents with higher utility bills.

Construction could begin as early as next summer with completion the following year, according to Walter, who said prefab construction done off site should speed the process. All told, the project is likely to cost more than $10 million, he said.

Current commercial tenants have businesses in accounting, architecture, athletics and baking. Other tenants include a tooling company, a dance company, contractors and tradespeople. Making Community Connections (MC2) Charter School is also there.

The development is being done by 310 Marlboro Street LLC, managed by Walter, an adjunct architecture professor at Keene State College. In one of his previous projects, he helped turn a 1960s bank on Main Street in Keene into a nanobrewery, Modestman Brewing.

Walter's company bought the 310 Marlboro St. property from RK Parisi Enterprises Inc. for $2.9 million in 2021, according to city property records.

The site is in a business growth and reuse zone, a former industrial area where the city wants to encourage opportunities for redevelopment and revitalization.

Rick Green can be reached at rgreen@keenesentinel.com or 603-355-8567.