Business & Tech

Another Plan Floated for Long-Vacant Warren Mill

The new owners of the former American Tourister complex present a concept that includes 200 apartments and 90,000 square feet of commercial space.

Hundreds of apartment renters and numerous business operators could be living and working in the long-vacant former American Tourister mill in Warren in about two years.

That’s the plan laid out for the Warren Planning Board on Monday night, Oct. 7, by the new owners of the mill on the Warren River waterfront -- Brady Sullivan Properties of Manchester, NH, and Starr Development Partners of Belmont, Mass.

The owners bought the mill earlier this year for $2.6 million. Representatives of the owners appeared for the first time in front of the Planning Board Monday night. They still must file an application to develop the property, said Town Planner Caroline Wells. 

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“They wanted to come in and introduce the concept this way first,” she said.

An application for 200 apartments and 90,000 square feet of commercial space could make it on the docket of the next Planning Board meeting in November, said Wells. But it’s more likely that the application will be handled at the December meeting.

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The new owners can take advantage of the master-plan approval already on the books – but with plenty of amendments that would need approval.

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

Wells said all of the commercial space will be on the first floor to avoid any flooding concerns. The 200 apartments would be built on the second floor and on a third floor to be added to the building. 

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

The project will be built 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. 


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