The conceptual design for a private driveway connection to Pillsbury Road and redesign of the Nashua Road Market Basket site marks the launch of the Woodmont Commons build out, Pillsbury Realty Development Attorney Ari Pollack was excited to report to the Planning Board last week.
“All the work and conceptualizing in the master planning process is about to come to fruition, and that’s very exciting for us,” he said at the Board’s May 6 meeting.
The 600-plus-acre project was tied up for almost a year by disputes and court battles related to the access road from Nashua Road (Route 102) to Pillsbury Road, which Project Engineer Jimmy D’Angelo said is to feature an adjacent walking path along which a utilities corridor will be installed for the sewer connection that needs to be made from Pillsbury to connect to Route 102.
The Londonderry Planning Board had approved DeMoulas Super Markets’ proposed site plan for a new Market Basket store in the fall of 2013 with the agreement that the company would work with Pillsbury Realty to coordinate the appropriate means of providing future access to the former Woodmont Orchards parcel and Pillsbury Road through an easement or other legal agreement to be worked out between the parties.
Following the Market Basket ownership takeover, Pillsbury Realty Development, LLC filed a lawsuit in Merrimack Superior Court on March 28 accusing DeMoulas Super Markets of alleged breach of contract and purposeful, deliberate, and continued delay in fulfilling its obligations under an Access Agreement signed in May 2011, thereby blocking the realty company’s ability to move forward with its development plans.
A court date was set for Sept. 18, but court action was stayed until early 2015 when it appeared Arthur T. DeMoulas would have the opportunity to buy out the remaining shares in the company and resume direction of Market Basket stores. Pillsbury Realty and the Town of Londonderry proceeded with engineering on the access road while litigation was pending, and with the issues resolved, the developer is ready to move forward with construction.
Pollack said the access is being called a private driveway because they don’t plan to petition for the Town to accept the service lane, but it will be built out and paved for public use. The drive features a four-lane and a two-lane portion. The only thing standing in the way of construction is the demolition of the former Market Basket. Adjacent retail spaces will also be cleared to make way for the driveway, according to Pollack.
The site plan also proposes construction of a 42,170-square-foot retail space, on which Pollack said they are communicating with an interested party. The liquor retail and card store located in the retail space next to the former Market Basket will relocate to the 29,410-sqaure-foot retail space next to the new Market Basket.
Pillsbury Realty Principal Mike Kettenbach said the plan may evolve moving forward, and Pollack encouraged members of the Board to visit the site to see a vision of what could happen there. Moving forward, Kettenbach said they need to clear the thoroughfare for the access road and bring down the old Market Basket.
“We need to get it down as soon as we can, because we can’t move forward without it,” he said.