Londonderry Development - Woodmont Commons

This project will be responding to pre-existing market demand, according to the developer. There are millions of dollars in leaked from the town to surrounding areas for retail etc. that this would potentially capture. That being said, you are right that this could either speed up or go bust.
 
When you say money leaked, are you referring to people going to nearby locations to shop?
 
Exactly. It's like how Manchester leaks workers to Boston, or Portland's airport leaks passengers to Manchester-Boston regional. The statistics may or may not be right, but that is how the issue is being discussed.
 
When you say Manch workers to Boston, I assume you mean people living in Manchester work in Boston because of not enough opportunities in Manch. The difference I see with the whole shopping issue in Londonderry is that Manch is a city, and Londonderry is a bordering town. Like Newton and Boston. I see no problem with Londonderry people going into Manchester for any reason. Cities are there to help supplement surrounding towns and they offer more.

I do not see the problem you are really referring to I guess.


I see this piece of development aiding in Londonderry as a town center like talked about. But there are still some really good large stores only found in more major towns/cities, Batteries plus, petco, shaws, and some nice resturaunts not found in Londonderry.

So of course people are still going to leave Londonderry to go to neighboring towns and cities. But I do see the development aiding in making Londonderry look more attractive, attracting new people to the residential developments. This in turn will stimulate surrounding growth as well.

I see potential for possibly manch Transit Authority or a separate bus making a line from this development in Londonderry to center of Manch and possibly Salem. Making it rmoe accessible form both ways.
 
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I was using Manchester workers leaving for opportunities for employment in greater boston to illustrate the concept of leakage. Manchester has the people, but not the jobs. It has some jobs, but not enough for everyone in town. Some people live there but work elsewhere, when they could be working in the same town they live in. The same is true for Londonderry retail. I agree with your point about people going to central cities nearby to do their shopping, but that is something not everyone seems to do. right now, the demand is in londonderry, and where it is supplied depends. Currently, it appears to be supplied by a multitude of different communities, rather than just downtown manchester (which would be ideal, though), and I think the idea is to concentrate most of it right in londonderry. The point is that this is not a speculative development as some have thought. At least that's the argument that it's not.
 
I see what you are saying. That there is demand in Londonderry.

The Manchester workers, I thought that Manchester had a housing problem and was light on the residential side?
 
Not sure what you are asking in regards to Manchester housing, nor am I sure I would be qualified to answer the question if I did know. Everywhere has a shortage of housing, it seems.
 
I think one thing that might happen with "leakage" in Manchester is a result of it being a bit different than larger cities like Boston or Providence, or even a smaller city like Portland. For the most part, the urban areas of Manchester are not very diverse economically. Boston, Providence, Portland and many other cities have the neighborhoods similar to those in Manchester's city center that are largely poor, but they also have the sort of luxury housing that is just beginning to appear in downtown Manchester. Most importantly, though, they have large neighborhoods full of middle-class or people of diverse incomes. Manchester lacks this, except in the North End and farther reaches of town.

There are all sorts of problems that this creates in terms of making a more livable, diverse city and encouraging neighborhood development (not saying that those in poverty can't have or don't want these things, it's just obviously harder to attain and businesses are less interested in investing in them). It also effects the idea of leakage, though, because with less middle-class, educated workers living in the city, it's hardly surprising that there are less jobs that cater to them in the city. While all the cities I mentioned have a large number of professional type or well-paying jobs outside the city, they also have a lot within the city center and surrounding neighborhoods. Manchester certainly has a good number of these jobs, especially in the Millyard, but my feeling is that a disproportionate number of these jobs are located in the surrounding suburbs (or in Nashua or across the border in norther Mass). This isn't all that surprising given that a disproportionate number of middle-class, educated workers live outside the city and urban neighborhoods.

I hope this changes, and I think it is if only a bit, because Manchester will be a much more vibrant place if it's downtown is surrounded by diverse, attractive neighborhoods and populated by residents as opposed to visitors. It's sort of a chicken and egg thing though--if people live outside the city, why would businesses move from suburban office parks, but if the jobs are in the office parks, why would people move into the city? Obviously, there are other benefits to living in the city and with more people preferring urban living, hopefully there will be less "leakage" from Manchester in terms of middle-class jobs and residents.

I'm not exactly sure how Woodmont works into this, but I think it's certainly better than typical suburban development in that it's basically emulating the sort of things I think a lot of us would like to see in the neighborhoods of central Manchester. It would also be a lot easier to see public transit running from Woodmont to downtown than most suburbs, which would make it a lot more like Newton to Boston than Londonderry to Manchester now.
 
You continue to impress me with your insight into this stuff. The chicken and the egg bit is always true (and always frustrating). Same thing with transportation planning. The DOT says they want to see commitments to dense land use patterns before they switch from sprawl-inducing investments, but why would towns and cities plan for dense land use when there is no transit to serve those patterns of land use? I think if transportation changed, land use would. I also think that if the jobs moved to the city, which would be more efficient given the proximity to things, other businesses, amenities, and infrastructure, then the middle class workers you are talking about would follow.
 
Haha, thanks. This is helpful. But yeah, center of Manch. has some real nice luxury housing, but as I posted in some other post, they def. need A LOT more. I was looking at apartments, and basically every one with the exception of like 3 apartments and a few condos are luxury IMO. All others are low income and lower middle class. And yet more affordable housing is being pushed by the city. Renovated affordable housing.

If there were to be a few other medium - large developments of high end apartments and condos, the city would prosper much more than low income housing, which there is already an abundance of.
 
the affordable nature of housing doesn't make it low income, but that's something people often confuse. Affordable housing will actually do a lot more for the city than luxury units. The city needs places where its workforce can reside. Retirees live in luxury units, and they can be a bit boring. They also bring interesting amenities, though, so a good balance is key.
 
OK well sorry for getting those mixed up. Then Manch. pushes for affordable, not low income. But the affordable housing in the middle of the rougher parts of the city are not going to change anything. And I assume usually attract lower income families. I think the city needs to do a bit more to make some fo those neighborhoods nicer.
 
OK well sorry for getting those mixed up. Then Manch. pushes for affordable, not low income. But the affordable housing in the middle of the rougher parts of the city are not going to change anything. And I assume usually attract lower income families. I think the city needs to do a bit more to make some fo those neighborhoods nicer.

I was writing a response to this, but I think the discussion really belongs on the Manchester thread, so I posted it there.
 
There's a lot going on outside Woodmont (which is probably the least active development area in town), so might as well include those areas too. For example, New Balance just broke ground on their new 100,000 sf factory by the airport.


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...which is going to be right down the street from NH's first Tesla dealership


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