Outlets at Kittery to be razed for redevelopment
Portsmouth developer plans apartments, hotel, restaurant
KITTERY, Maine — The Outlets at Kittery will be razed to make way for a new 107-unit apartment building, a 119-room hotel and a 6,000-square-foot commercial space for a restaurant, a multi-phase project set to mark a new chapter for the Route 1 corridor.
Two International Group, a Portsmouth commercial real estate company and the owner of the 283 U.S. Route 1 site next to the Kittery Trading Post, received unanimous final approval from the town Planning Board on Thursday night to demolish the existing Outlets at Kittery, which is one of several shopping centers on Route 1.
First proposed in April, the plan aligns with the town’s adopted 2015-2025 comprehensive master plan, a blueprint calling for the enhancement of the Route 1 corridor with new housing and the redevelopment of longstanding commercial properties, among other priorities.
The developer plans to construct the 119-room hotel first, followed by the five-story apartment complex and then the 6,000-square-foot commercial building. The future tenant of the hotel has not been announced by Two International Group, and the business has yet to determine the occupant of the future restaurant space.
The development is expected to be constructed and occupied in 2025, according to plans filed with the town.
Shipyard factored into plans for hotel
Ryan Plummer, Two International Group’s director of development and construction, told Planning Board members the hotel, which includes an indoor pool, will accommodate extended-stay guests. It was designed with military personnel stationed at Portsmouth Naval
Shipyard and contractor workers in mind.
“It's going to be a mix. It's not going to be 100% shipyard. We'll get some leisure travel, we'll get people coming in for weddings and stuff, but the shipyard was certainly a focus when we were looking at how we were designing this hotel,” he said.
A brief board discussion regarding traffic congestion stemming from the shipyard led Plummer to mention an existing hotel in the area of the outlets that offer a shuttle bus for shipyard employees.
“We're either going to try to use that same one, or we're going to probably add a second one for this (hotel),” he said. “It doesn't get used as much as I like, but we got it for that reason. I imagine some people will take advantage of that and that will help a little bit.”
Affordable housing units included in apartment building
In accordance with town code, the developer has agreed to designate a fraction of the apartment units as affordable housing. Eleven of the approved 107 units will be listed at affordable housing rates.
“The units will be tied to 80% of regional annual median income (AMI),” the development plan states about the apartment building's 11 affordable units.
“The apartment manager will ultimately control that. As of right now, it's probably just going to be (for) the apartments,” Plummer said. “Personally, I'd like to be able to open that up to the hotel, too. I just don't know yet if that's going to be possible.”
In Kittery's Commercial 1 zoning district, where the approved project is located, and other zones in town, housing proposals of five or more units must include at least 10% of units priced at affordable rates. Alternatively, developers can pay a fee to the town's housing reserve fund.
A dog park will also be located on the property.
The site will be accessed by existing driveways on Wilson Road and Old Wilson Road, and a curb cut on the Route 1 Bypass will be closed, the plan states. A total of 316 parking spaces will be provided on-site, 147 allocated for the residential building.
The existing three-building site at 283 U.S. Route 1 was last valued by the town at just under $7 million.