Seabrook Commons retail plaza sold for $30.4M ending long saga-filled ownership

SEABROOK — Seabrook Commons, the largest Seacoast shopping center south of Portsmouth, has changed hands, selling for nearly $30.4 million.

According to Seabrook Town Assessor Angela Silva, her office received word recently of the sale of DDR Seabrook LLC, owned by the formerly named DDR Corp. of Ohio, to B33 Seabrook Commons II of Nevada.

The shopping center, located at 712 Lafayette Road (Route 1), includes some 32 units for almost 181,000-square-feet of retail space, including restaurants. The sale does not include the 186,000 square feet of the Walmart building or the land beneath it, she said, for Walmart owns both.

Silva was pleased the property sold for about the same value as the town has it assessed, which is good for town coffers. Another plus, she said, is the real estate transfer tax on the sale brought $455,850 to Rockingham County.

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B33 Seabrook Commons II LLC is registered with the New Hampshire secretary of state’s office as a “foreign limited liability company,” meaning it is incorporated outside the Granite State. The address listed is 9330 West Sahara Ave., Suite 270, Las Vegas, Nevada. The registered agent is C T Corporation System, according to the secretary of state’s website.

Dispute with owner years ago

The sale brings to an end the long saga of the shopping center’s establishment in Seabrook by the Ohio mall developer formerly known as DDR Corp. The company changed its name in late 2018 to SITE Centers, and spun off a real estate investment trust, known as Retail Value Inc. Both are publicly traded.

The previously named DDR Corp amassed approximately 50 acres of land in Seabrook clustered just beyond the Route 1 and Route 107 intersection, not far from Interstate 95 and the Massachusetts border. In 2006, the company made an application to the town's Planning Board to build what was then billed as a nearly half-million-square-foot shopping center, with Target and Best Buy proposed as anchor stores.

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However, the project stalled when the real estate market collapsed due to the Great Recession, as well as debate over the traffic the retail center would bring to town. The Planning Board denied the application in 2009.

The reason for the denial was DDR’s refusal to pay for off-site road improvements to Routes 1 and 107 that the Planning Board considered vital in accommodating the expected increase of 1,500 to 2,000 more cars per hour to the intersection, which was already stressed during the summer months.

Having received permission from the state Department of Transportation to locate on Route 1, which is a state road, DDR’s attorney Malcolm McNeill Jr, of Dover, filed an appeal with Rockingham Superior Court. The court found in favor of DDR, leading the Board of Selectmen to challenge the lower court’s ruling at the Supreme Court level.

The case drew attention by planning agencies and municipalities statewide.

At stake was the authority of Seabrook, or any Granite State community, to approve or deny developments based on traffic to their roadways, even roadways owned by the state, as in the case of Route 1 and 107. Seabrook was challenging the pre-emptive authority of the NHDOT to supersede local planning board decisions on projects proposed for state roads.

In the end, following a deal brokered by then-state Sen. Maggie Hassan, who is now a U.S. senator, the town dropped its suit. In the agreement, DDR, NHDOT and the town of Seabrook agreed to considerable road improvements for Route 1, 107 and Provident Way, with payment for the work split between all three. The town used no taxpayer dollars for its share, but money from its exaction account which was funded by fees paid by Route 1 developers for improvement to the roadway.

That agreement eventually led to the widening to five lanes and improved traffic flow along Route 107, as well as Route 1 from the front entrance of Seabrook Commons to Railroad Ave.

According to Silva, DDR began site work on the land and buildings of Seabrook Commons around 2012 and 2013, but by that time Target and Best Buy were no longer in the mix.

By 2015, DDR’s Seabrook Commons opened with far less than nearly half a million square feet. However, it added new names to the region’s retail selection with brands like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Michael’s, Yankee Candle, Petsmart, 5 Below, Ulta Beauty, Kay Jewelers, Lane Bryant, Outback Steakhouse and Panera Bread.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seabrook NH Commons plaza sold to B33 Seabrook Commons II of Nevada