New Business Coming to Pease?

Many of the more than 7,800 people who work at companies located at Pease International Tradeport have wanted to gas up their vehicles before they get on the highway for a long time and soon they will get their wish.

David Mullen, executive director of the Pease Development Authority, said Wednesday afternoon that Two International Group is scheduled to break ground on a new 2,400 square foot convenience store and gas station and a new 34,000 square foot office building this spring.

He said the convenience store and gas station would be located on the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and Manchester Square and the new office building will be located at 17 New Hampshire Ave. after a building located there now is demolished. He said that once the new 34,000 square foot office building is finished, tenants located in 29 New Hampshire Ave. and 26 Manchester Square would move into the new building.

He said the buildings at 29 New Hampshire Ave. and 26 Manchester Square would then be torn down to make way for new development.

Mullen said that Two International Group first presented the concept for a gas station/convenience store at Pease International Tradeport three years ago, but the project has finally gotten off the ground as the economy has improved.

He said the new business will not look like a typical convenience store/gas station when it is finished. He said it will have an aesthetic look that will blend in with the businesses located at Manchester Square. He said it will have four gas pumping stations, but the developers have not selected an operator. “They may even run it themselves,” Mullen added.

Mullen anticipates that it will take six to eight months to complete both projects. “I would expect they would have it completed by late fall,” he said.

Mullen does not anticipate that the PDA will approve any other gas stations/convenience store projects. "The land is precious in terms of we don’t have too much left,” he said.

Mullen explained that Pease has about 60 acres left and they want to do projects to create the highest amount of jobs possible.

Besides the new gas station/convenience store, Mullen said Pease has six new construction projects in the works and has seen its vacancy rate decrease from 18 percent in 2009 to 7 percent in 2012.

“Hopefully, this is a good indication of the changing economy,” he said.