Salem Tuscan Village Site: Pressed Cafe, Medical Building Planned

SALEM, NH — The Planning Board this week reviewed several site plans for projects in the Tuscan Village in Salem, including plans for a five-story medical building with urgent care. Board members also reviewed plans for 750,000 square feet of combined restaurant, hotel, retail, residential and office space with hundreds of parking spaces, as well as site plans for a Pressed Cafe to be located in the area. Approval of these plans are expected at a future meeting, as Selectmen work to finalize the development agreement with the Tuscan Development organization.

The 750,000-square-foot mixed-use space would be located in the South and Central Tuscan Village, in the area of 71 Rockingham Park Boulevard. During Tuesday's meeting, the Planning Board reviewed parking plans. According to Mark Gross of MHF Design Consultants, a shuttle bus is being proposed. During peak shopping days of the year, it is likely that retail employees will have to park offsite about a mile away from work, and then take a shuttle that will run several times a day to drive them to their retail establishments. Three valet service stations are also proposed, in addition to a future parking garage.

Board members also reviewed plans for Pressed Cafe, which would be located at 1 Artisan Dr. The 5,000-square-foot cafe would be located at the corner of Mall Road and Artisan Drive, and the area is intended to be pedestrian-friendly, said Gross. The cafe would also offer outdoor seating.

The Planning Board also reviewed site plans for a new 3,500-square-foot state-of-the-art medical facility, which would offer urgent care, radiology and lab space, clinical space, operation and procedure rooms, office space, and retail support services. This would be a five-story building about 77 feet tall with contemporary architecture, said Gross.

Fire Chief Larry Best said that the facility is expected to bring more demand on the Fire Department, and the way to solve that down the road would be to hire more staff to deal with the demand.

"It is going to have an impact, just like this whole development is going to have an impact for us," said Best.

The Planning Board voted to delay the approval of the three site plans until its meeting in June. Board members did approve a revised signage plan for the Tuscan Village District in their Tuesday meeting. As part of the signage plan, any neon or electric lit-up signs, such as those for a cinema, will have to get approval from the Planning Board.

The Selectmen are soon expected to finalize a legally binding memorandum of understanding with Tuscan Development, which will include Tuscan's financial commitments to mitigate its development impacts on traffic, public safety, infrastructure, and more. According to Selectmen Chairman James Keller, Tuscan Development is expected to contribute about $38.5 million over the next five years in impact fees, road improvements and reconstruction, permit and application fees, and improvements of its portion of the bike-ped corridor. The Selectmen are hoping to sign the final development agreement by next week, he said.