URBAN DESIGN ASSOCIATES
site. When market forces dictate redevel-
opment of the site, the City should part-
ner with Citizen's bank to create a legacy
project.
The public outreach process and the
market study both conclude that this site
would be best developed as a mix of uses,
including a ground floor bank, and
anchored by an institutional use such as a
a downtown campus for an area college.
Such a use would bring a diverse group
of people into the area at all hours,
enforcing the desire of developing
Nashua as a “24-hour city”.
As an educational building, class-
rooms would occupy the upper floors of
the buildings with Main Street retail at
the ground level. This configuration
allows for active, pedestrian-oriented
uses on the street to add to the already
healthy street-life on Main Street North.
Also, providing for retail uses on the
ground level allows for businesses and
restaurants to be open and active after
office hours.
The site north of the Citizen’s Bank
site can also be integrated into an
Nashua Downtown Master Plan
amenity for Main Street. The potential 57
relocation of Saint Patrick’s gymnasium
to Spring Street provides a proper civic
greenspace for the City of Nashua. The
desire for outdoor, public space is great in
the City, and this resource would provide
a new “Commons” for Nashua.
Southeast Comer of Hollis Street and
Main Street
To truly create a 100% corner at Hollis
and Main, the southeast corner of the
intersection should also be a redevelop-
ment opportunity. At present, this site
houses a service station, a drugstore, a
few miscellaneous businesses and restau-
rants, and surface parking for Southeast
New Hampshire Medical Center
(SENHMC). Constitution Plaza occu-
pies the other corner of the site, that of
Main and Kinsley Streets, though few
would know it is there amidst the unco-
ordinated land uses. The proposed build-
ing configurations will not only define
the corner of Hollis and Main Streets as
a gateway, but with ground floor retail
uses they will encourage pedestrian-ori-
ented street-life.
Citizen's Bank Site,
Short Term Vision: A
bank with a drive
through facility. (left}
Citizen's Bank Site,
Long Term Vision:
Redevelopment as an
Educational Complex
with ground floor retail
and Main Street
Commons (right)
