Warren Waits for Formal Application for Former Tourister Maill

The application for the latest plan for the former American Tourister mill in Warren is not on the agenda for the planning board’s special meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 6.

At the earliest, the proposal from Brady Sullivan Properties of Manchester, NH, and Starr Development Partners of Belmont, Mass., could be taken up at a planning board meeting on Nov. 19, said Caroline Wells, the town planner and community development director.

The owners bought the mill on the Warren waterfront earlier this year and introduced their concept for it on Oct. 7. The concept calls for about 200 apartments on the top two floors and approximately 90,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor. 

The owners can take advantage of the master plan already approved for the building. But plenty of amendments to that plan will need to be approved, she said.

The new developers also plan to use historic tax credits along with private funding to create the combination residential and commercial structure, said Wells. And they plan to manage the property after it is completed. 

The developers have laid out a very ambitious plan for the project. They told the planning board in early October that apartment renters and businesses could be living and working in the renovated old mill in about two years.

The mill will be rebuilt in several phases and will involve the razing of a building to the east of the main building that has seen serious decay over the years, Wells said.  

There will be no affordable housing, she said. All of the apartments will be rented at market rates.