Mixed-Use Development Case Studies

Issues Addressed:
Affordable Housing Housing Costs Housing Options Multigenerational Sustainable Housing

Concord, NH

Concord has undertaken a series of visioning exercises to reimagine areas of the city. Many of these exercises include zoning for mixed-use developments similar to that in Downtown Concord. Bringing these visions into reality would require significant rezoning, including adoption of a draft form-based code, and ultimately piecemeal redevelopment A rendering of the mixed-use vision for Loudon Road in Concord. (Image via the Concord Monitor). 90 Mixed-Use Development by numerous property owners. In contrast, the city is also reviewing a plan for the mixed-use redevelopment of a large industrial site in the city’s Penacook village. The developers’ design includes market-rate and Workforce Housing in apartments and townhomes, as well as retail.
A rendering of the mixed-use vision for Loudon Road in Concord. (Image via the Concord Monitor).

Portwalk Place, Portsmouth, NH

Portwalk Place is a five-acre, 400,000 square foot redevelopment in downtown Portsmouth. The development includes 149 housing units, 50,000 square feet of retail space, and several hotels.
Portwalk Place, a mixed-use project in downtown Portsmouth. (Image via portwalkplace.com)

501 Main, Fairlee, VT

Fairlee, VT is a town of less than 1,000 people on the New Hampshire border. Since 2021, a small real estate developer has been working on a 10-unit development on the town’s Main Street, a mix of commercial uses and housing tucked between I-91 and the Connecticut River. The development will replace a vacant commercial building, and uses a state tax credit for downtown redevelopments. The developer has documented the process online, which provides useful insights into the financial and regulatory landscape for small mixed-use projects in small towns, including zoning rules that are out of scale with the existing built environment and lengthy review processes. The documentation also yields interesting insights on dealing with wastewater disposal through smart site planning and community septic, as well using shared parking strategies to meet zoning requirements.
Mixed-use construction underway on a constrained site on Main Street in Fairlee, VT. (Image via brickandmortar.substack.com)

Mashpee Commons, Mashpee, MA

In 1986, the owners of an aging strip mall on Cape Cod in Massachusetts held a design charrette with the community to determine a direction for the property. Since then, the developers of the site have been realizing their vision of a new mixed-use community following the traditional New England town style. The development currently contains 77 homes, with plans for additional residential development underway, though mired by controversy.
Mashpee Commons’ existing retail/office and 2022 plans for expansions to the neighborhood (Images via Mashpee Commons and capenews.com)

Resources

Related Tools

A diagram of a parcel of land. On the top is a mix of one- to three-story buildings, many with an apparent mix of uses, sitting along the intersection of two roads. This is labeled "Mix of uses using traditional village design." Lines at the edges of this area point draw down, showing this area is at the center of a larger area shown in dark green and apparently undeveloped. It is labeled "80% of rural and conserved in VPA."
Village Plan Alternative (VPA)
A diagram showing drawings connected by arrows. First, a plan view showing a large empty area next to dense urban fabric labeled "Large, complex site with single owner." Second, icons of buildings labeled "Mixed-use potential." Third, icons of a paint brush and magnifying glass labeled "Up-front planning and design." Fourth, icons of people talking labeled "public review and input." Fifth and finally, the initial empty plot of land in plan view, now with a mix of building types, a street network, and open spaces.
Planned Unit Developments (PUDs)
An axonometric diagram of two versions of the same area of land. On the top is a diagram of the area with five two- and three-story buildings, plus large empty lots breaking up the area. An arrow points from the top to bottom. On the bottom, the empty lots now contain additional mixed-use buildings and homes.
Infill Development
A diagram showing an axonometric view of an area with several two- and three-story buildings. An area is demarcated on the land and labeled "Designated Downtown or Village Area." Most of the buildings are grayed out, but one building is shown in color and labeled "Rehabilitated Property." Below the axonometric drawing is the label "Community Revitalization Tax Relief" with a column chart with two bars. The column on the left is labeled "Before rehab" and "Taxed value on property before rehabilitation." That column is small and shown in green. A larger column on the right is labeled "After rehab." The portion of the column equal to the "Before rehab" column is also green. The portion above that is gray and hatched and labeled "Untaxed value on rehabilitation: savings for up to 5 years."
Community Revitalization Tax Relief (79-E)
A diagram of an idealized age-friendly neighborhood. The neighborhood includes a mix of housing types, including detached single-family homes of various sizes, mixed-use buildings, and a cottage court. The diagram includes the following labels pointing to aspects of the drawing: "Nearby retail, community center, and open space;" "Diverse housing options, including apartments and starter homes;" "Single-story housing layouts with shared amenities;" "Sidewalks and other accessible infrastructure;" and "Accessory dwelling units for multi-generational households."
Age Friendly Neighborhoods
A grayscale diagram of a three-story, mixed-use, traditionally styled building with three columns of windows and a cornice. On the left is a diagram of the front facade, on the right is an axonometric diagram of the building on its land parcel. There are unlabeled arrows implying measurements for total height, total living area height, ground floor height, upper floor heights, cornice heights, ground and upper floor fenestration, setbacks, land widths, parcel depths, etc.
Form-Based Codes
A diagram showing the front facades of housing types and given labels: small single-family, townhomes (attached single-family), cottage court (grouped small single-family), duplex, stacked duplex, triplex, stacked triplex, four-plex, six-pack, courtyard apartments.
Missing Middle Housing Types