SWANSEA -- Developers of the Swansea Mall property are looking for the perfect tenant to fill 95,000 square feet: the town of Swansea.
Dick Anagnost, owner of Manchester, New Hampshire-based Anagnost Companies, and other project leaders met with selectmen on Tuesday and want town departments to consider renting mall space as their new home.
Selectmen welcomed the idea and encouraged Anagost to begin speaking with department heads about their space needs.
Selectman Steven Kitchin told Anagost and company it would take a fall Town Meeting for developers to get an answer.
Anagost said he and project members have already had dialogue with department heads and are comfortable with the time frame.
According to the developers' estimates, it would cost $8 million to convert the space to fulfill the town departments' needs.
According to the developer's estimates, the Town Hall, Highway Department, Council on Aging and library buildings are in need of renovation or replacement. To build new buildings would cost more than double, Anagost said, stressing $8 million is all that would be needed to convert mall space for those departments.
Anagost and Selectmen Chairman Christopher Carreiro both referenced previous plans for a new highway department and Town Hall building. Both said the total square footage would have been half of the 95,000 square feet proposed by mall developers.
Anagost said that borrowing rates are at record lows, also a boon for the town, if it was to move forward.
Anagost said the arrangement would also be beneficial to the developers, who are looking to develop a public-private project. Based on that concept, locals -- some living in apartments on site-- can pay their tax bills, go shopping and then to the gym under one roof.
Developers told selectmen they hope to have tenants move into the 144-unit residential complex by the end of the year.
The group is breaking ground on a 95,000 square foot storage facility, once the site of an Apex department store.
"If you have all your services under one roof, it would be more cost effective and convenient," Anagost said. “It will create the anchor that we need to move forward."
Anagost used the popular "build it and they will come" phrase to describe this sales model, which he says was pioneered by Walmart and has been a success elsewhere.