Nashua Downtown Master Plan
First, there is an immediate demand
for affordable housing. Downtown
Nashua is the historic center of a fast-
growing and affluent sub-region (con-
sisting of Amherst, Brookline, Hollis,
Hudson, Litchfield, etc.) With its plenti-
ful supply of smaller and older homes,
Downtown Nashua has experienced sig-
nificant growth in the low and moderate
income populations.
Second, there is an immediate
demand for multi-family condominium
housing in Downtown Nashua. Most of
the region’s low-income rental housing is
in Downtown Nashua; as a result,owner-
occupied housing is at a lower percentage
than the rest of Nashua. The introduc-
tion of market rate condominium hous-
ing would bring stability to Downtown's
housing stock and broaden the range of
housing options.
The Master Plan identifies locations
for affordable and market rate housing.
The redevelopment of the publicly-
owned Bronstein Apartments is a perfect
opportunity for a mixed-income, urban
development. Physically obsolete, Bron-
stein Apartments inefficiently and inef-
fectively occupies a key site in
Downtown Nashua. The Master Plan
proposes a redevelopment program of
approximately 100 units (1/3 market-rate
rental housing, 1/3 public housing, and
1/3 low income tax-credit housing). The
new development would be economically 29
and physically integrated with the Tree
Streets neighborhood and with Down-
town Nashua. [f the redevelopment site
includes the County Health and Human
Services Building, the new development
can be built in phases without relocation
of any of the current Bronstein Apart-
ments’ residents.
In addition the the Bronstien Homes
there are other potential sites for afford-
able housing in Downtown Nashua.
Apartment units atop first floor retail on
Main Street as well as selected housing
sites along Main Street South provide
aditional opprotunities for affordable
housing.
New market rate condominium
housing is also proposed in several loca-
tions. Riverfront West presents the
strongest site for new housing. With
ClockTower Place’s conversion to hous-
ing in 1989, the first wave of “pioneers”
settled in Downtown. Buildings in the
Millyard and several Nashua Corpora-
tion buildings can be renovated to create
unique housing opportunities in a unique
urban setting. Overall, the Millyard and
the Nashua Corporation buildings have
the capacity to add up to 500 new units
to Downtown Nashua.