Besides Shaw’s Supermarkets, the newly started Manchester Commons will feature an upscale shopping center and offices on 15 acres off South Willow Street in Manchester, developers said.

Although it is early in the leasing program, a variety of upscale tenants, from women’s clothing stores to restaurants, are considering the site.

“There is an enormous amount of tenant interest,” said Gene Beaudoin, owner and president of Retail Development Corp. of Simsbury, Conn.

A groundbreaking was held April 11, about a week after the purchasers closed on a deal involving 14 separate transactions for both developed and undeveloped properties off South Willow Street, on Lingard, Loring and Upton streets. Terms were undisclosed.

K&S Manchester Commons LLC, an affiliate of the Kalikow Group of Westbury, N.Y., in a joint venture with developers Feldco Development Corp., of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., and Retail Development Corp., of Simsbury, Conn., said yesterday the 160,000-square-foot, eight-building community shopping center will have 662 parking spaces and “exquisitely landscaped” commons areas. “We would expect to be open in the first or second quarter of 2003,” Beaudoin said.

The Colonial-style buildings will have pitched roofs and clapboard siding. Some will be two-story, with retail and office space on the second floors. There also will be an entrance onto South Beech Street.

“Manchester Commons offers excellent opportunities for high-end retailers of all sizes to capitalize on the demographics and growth potential of this burgeoning market,” said Edward Kalikow, a principal of K&S Manchester Commons LLC, along with Eugene Shalik and other investors.

Shaw’s Supermarket, which will anchor the Manchester Commons shopping center, will be 70,000 square feet, one of the largest in the company’s chain of more than 185 stores in six New England states.

The Shaw’s will include a large take-out food selection and a Wild Harvest mini-store, featuring organic foods, as well as traditional meat, fish, delicatessen and flower departments, a bakery and a pharmacy, Beaudoin said.

To make way for Manchester Commons, developers acquired several houses and commercial buildings, including those housing Sterling Auto and Precision Imports, Donovan Spring Co., Queen City Cycle, American Towing, American Tire and Battery and Gelinas Motors, Beaudoin said.

Sterling Auto and Precision Imports will relocate just south of the n The Kalikow Group, based in Westbury, N.Y., invests in and develops commercial and residential real estate projects around the country for its own account and in joint venture agreements.

Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in New England, consisting of more than 185 stores located throughout Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont, employing nearly 30,000 people and serving more than 2 million customers each week.

The new Shaw’s will face competition from a Stop & Shop Supermarket planned for the former Bradlees building, further south on South Willow Street. Bradlees closed in December 2000. Max Sink, deputy building commissioner, said Stop & Shop’s plans call for a new storefront and inside remodeling. City Planning Director Robert S. MacKenzie said last night, “They can just get their building permits when their building plans are done.”

MacKenzie said the planning department staff reviewed the plans and Stop & Shop had made minor changes to the design. He said full site approval isn’t needed.

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New Hampshire Union Leader
by Denis Paiste

(Staff reporter Mike Cousineau contributed to this report.)