Playland for kids, restaurant, housing: Big plans for old Somersworth police station

SOMERSWORTH — Matthew Hawkins said he plans to redevelop the old city police station building the same way he approaches all properties he acquires — improving it and making the community proud.

"We focus on properties that when purchased and invested in can create affordable housing options," said Hawkins, who has reached an agreement with the city to buy the vacant property for $205,000. "We never go into a project and kick out tenants. While the money has to make sense, it's far from the leading metric."

Hawkins said that will be the same at 5 Main St., which has been vacant since 2014.

"I have had a plan for a property like this for a while now," he said. "We want to meet what the market needs, in this case what is good for Somersworth. Working with housing authorities in Somersworth, Dover and Portsmouth, we have seen a significant increase of out-of-state landlords coming in, buying property and jacking up rents, or all new construction, where the developers have to meet market pricing and the costs of building, also significantly higher now."

He pointed to the high cost of rent in the Seacoast area, where prices exceed $2,000 per month in many rentals.

"So, we look to create clean, safe, affordable and updated living spaces," Hawkins said. "If we have a good tenant, we want to be their landlord for now and for their next place. We have a number of tenants who move building to building as they move up in their careers."

Playland, restaurant, housing envisioned at old police station

At 5 Main St., Hawkins would like to bring in a good restaurant, a business called Playland where kids and families can gather, about four market-rate apartments on a second floor and possibly two more affordable, ADA-compliant apartments on the first floor.

"It is an ambitious project, but the city seems to want to work with people like me, to make things happen," Hawkins said. "Somersworth would benefit from another good quality restaurant, having a place where municipal workers, business owners can walk down the block and get a good meal."

He said the idea for Playland arose from conversations with his wife, Ashley.

"We want a place where kids and families can go during the crushing weeks of winter, or where there is an option for kids out on summer vacation, for parents who still need to work," he said. "We will welcome babysitters' day-care field trips. We know you can't send a 3-year-old out to play in the winter. In nine minutes, they are cold. We know child care is a challenge. ... We want to offer the ability for kids to go out, to stretch their legs on jungle gyms, rope climbing, trampolines and slides."

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Hawkins said he thinks there is a market for Playland in the Tri-City area.

When could development project start?

Hawkins will need to go through city land use boards for approvals and needed variances before developing these projects.

"We have a purchase and sales agreement but still need to close," he said. "There is still some remediation needed."

He has a timetable in mind, but it's not certain.

"I want to move forward as soon as we can," he said. "I hope to close by the third week of July, do any needed remediation, abatements, hire architects, bid out the work and possibly be finished by the spring of 2024. I know that might change. The goal is always as soon as possible. The challenge becomes the process, supply chain issues, workers and the as yet unknowns."

Hawkins says family inspires his approach to business

Hawkins, a resident of Dover, said his wife Ashley and their three children, Sam, 5, Brynn, 4, and Elianna, 2, are the reason and the inspiration for the business. He said Elianna recently beat the odds after she was diagnosed with a malignant rhabdoid tumor, a rare, aggressive type of cancer that generally affects babies and young children.

He said in April 2021, doctors found "an extremely aggressive stage 4 tumor. She was given an 8% chance to live four months. Our world flipped upside down. We both had jobs. Ashley, a nurse, stepped down to care for her, and I cared for the two oldest. It was during COVID, and we were in hyper quarantine because of the need to protect her and her white blood cells."

Real estate development, which started as a hobby of sorts, has grown into a major business, Hawkins said.

"I own 137 units now, in Dover, Somersworth and Rollinsford," he said. "We bought a lot of these in the last couple of years, a number of them during the pandemic. Our focus is acquiring buildings that have not been kept up. Twenty-two years ago, I bought my first property. I house hacked, meaning I rented it to a friend. He paid rent and I paid the mortgage, selling it eventually. I used the house hacking plan for nine properties over 13 years."

In Somersworth, Hawkins bought 15 Rocky Hill Road from the city. He said it was not in good shape, a single-family home. He rented it to a family for a year and when they decided to move, he sold it, in much better condition than when he bought it.

He bought 36 Winter St., another single family home on a foreclosure. He said it had been abandoned when he bought it from the bank and refurbished it, again renting to a family and then selling it.

"A lot of investors do not buy single-family homes because there is not usually a good return," he said. "We try to give the properties to low-income people, when they are clean and safe."

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Playland, restaurant, housing: Somersworth NH development plan