On March 24, the Union Leader will be hosting a virtual Women in Engineering Symposium. During this event, panelists will discuss their own experiences and provide tips for other women to succeed in 2021. This is the second year TFM will be a corporate sponsor for this event. Panelists include Kristin Smith, Ph. D., MPH Research Associate Professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College; Nikki Delude Roy, PG Vice President of GeoInsight, Inc.; Laurie Perkins, PE Associate Vice President, of Wright-Pierce; and Heidi L. Caprood, PE Project Manager, of Sanborn Head & Associates, Inc..
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New Project Featured in the New Hampshire Union Leader
The Union Leader took notice of TFMoran’s work at Market and Main Street, the Macy’s redevelopment, in a recent news article. The Plaza has seen a lot of growth since Macy’s closed its doors in the fall of 2015. Construction crews have been hard at work on Trader Joe’s and The Friendly Toast and have completed the construction on a parking structure for the new additions. There will also be a new 4 story parking garage, to accompany a movie theater and an REI, mentioned in the article. The parking garage will be partially visible from I-293, however much of the building will be hidden by the REI and movie theater. The structure was designed with nature in mind, with architectural features including “…staggered horizontal details that are intended to interpret the ripples seen on a river.” Red Heat Tavern, Pressed Cafe, and Charles Schwab have also announced that they have signed leases. Other additions to the former Macy’s site are expected to include Athleta, Cycle Bar, European Wax Center, and MidiCi. To view the full article from the Union Leader, open the PDF UL Market and Main Redevelopment, or read the text below.
By KIMBERLY HOUGHTON Union Leader Correspondent Dec6, 2018
BEDFORD – The architectural design for a four-story parking garage at the Market and Man project has been approved by town planners, and an undisclosed cinema chain is in the process of being finalized for the development. “We do have a cinema with a letter of intent right now, so we are working on that portion of the project,” Laura Homich, project architect, told the Bedford Planning Board this week. On Monday, the board approved the architectural design for a four story, open parking garage that will be attached to the rear of the cinema building.
The 179,000-square-foot parking garage will house nearly 470 vehicles in the new mixed-use development being constructed at the former Macy’s site at 125 South River Road.
“we have minimized the structure to the extent that we can … there will be some detail and character to it,” Homich said of the parking garage.
Attached to the precast concrete parking garage will be a 2000-square-foot REI store and a 90000-square-foot cinema, restaurant and retail space, according to Homich. The building is one of several that will be constructed on the parcel. Two buildings are already in the process of being constructed, including trader joes and the friendly toast, as well as a smaller parking deck.
“Being suburban, rural community, we don’t see a lot of parking garages,’ said Becky Herbert, planning director for the town. “it is a large structure, and it will be viewed from (Interstate) 293 until the office building is constructed.
In a letter to Herbert, Homich explains that the garage will include staggered horizontal detail that is intended to interpret the reflective ripples seen on a river, which was the inspiration for the façade of the marquee building. She said the majority of the garage will be covered by the cinema and retail building, although most of the top level will be visible as well as other areas of the structure. The fourth level of the garage will not have a roof, and some screening panels will be strategically placed throughout the perimeter of the structure, according to the design plans.
“You might catch the roofline of the car, but the concrete structure comes up above the bumper on all levels,” said Chris Rice, an engineer with T.F. Moran.
To date, Pressed Café, Charles Schwab, Trader Joes, The Friendly Toast, Rei, and the Red Heat Tavern all announced that they have signed leases for the new Market and Main development. Other business intended for the site include Athleta, Cycle Bar, European Wax, and MidiCi. No new announcements have been made regarding the additional tenants that will be occupying Market and Main, a 355,708-square-foot complex.
Although an official groundbreaking is being planned, the date has not yet been publicized. In September 22016, the Planning Board granted the conditional site plan for Encore Retail and its mixed-use development that will include a cinema, hotel, medical office, restaurants, and retail space.
New Hampshire Union Leader features TFMoran Projects in “Engineers Week 2017”
On Monday, February 20, 2017 in the New Hampshire Union Leader’s “Monday’s Business” section, is a special section “Engineers Week 2017” which features an article by TFMoran’s president Robert Duval, PE. The article entitled ‘Market and Main’ shows new trend in commercial land development appears on Page C6. ‘Market and Main’ is the large mixed-use development that will be constructed at the former Macy’s site on South River Road (US Route 3) in Bedford, NH. To view the article click New_Hampshire_Union_Leader_02-20-2017_PgC6 or read text below.
‘Market and Main’ shows new trend in commercial land development
Over the past few years, TFMoran has been tasked to design several large development projects with major retail and other commercial components based on the “mixed-use development” (MUD) model, rather than the more traditional “shopping center” or “office park” formats. The difference is significant. Mixed-use developments feature a blend of distinct functions, often including — besides office or retail — residential, institutional, cultural, and industrial components, that are physically and functionally integrated, along with effective pedestrian connections.
The key concept here is the combination of multiple functions that complement each other and are linked with effective pedestrian connections. From an engineering perspective, if the various functions are truly complementary and have effective pedestrian connections, you can expect to see substantial benefits for a MUD over conventional developments.
For example, traffic volumes developed by shopping centers or office parks are fairly well understood, and can be easily determined by calculations based on the total square footage of floor space. On the other hand, calculating traffi c for mixed-use centers involves a second step that considers interaction between pairs of related uses — for example restaurants and cinemas, cinemas and apartments, apartments and offices, offices and restaurants, and so on, based on the concept that one vehicle trip may have multiple purposes, and these trips are shared among the various uses, rather than totaled up.
These multi-purpose trips can often reduce total trip generation by a third or more, thus significantly reducing offsite traffic impacts and costs of mitigation. Similar analyses of parking demand will also show reductions in parking demand, often in the range of 5% to 10%. These parking reductions can reduce costs and increase efficiency beyond just the pavement savings; as impervious surface area decreases, so too does the cost and extent of stormwater infrastructure to capture, detain, and treat all that unnecessary pavement.
Also, by integrating multiple uses into a single property or adjacent properties, sites can be masterplanned in a way that can ignore lot lines, thus greater land use density by avoiding internal lot line setbacks, inefficient parking layouts, as well as unnecessary driveways and utility connections.
At the former Macy’s site in Bedford, TFMoran has designed a large mixed-use development that is preparing to start construction of a 350,000sf mixed-use retail, office and entertainment development named “Market and Main.” Market and Main is designed to be a walkable, pedestrian-friendly place with a village green and pocket parks throughout. Proposed plans include a 600-seat deluxe cinema, an office building, a hotel, a premium entertainment venue, a variety of higherend restaurants and retail, and a 3-story parking garage.
The Market and Main development is located just south of the new Goffe Mill Plaza (former Wayfarer hotel), which contains a 40,000 sf Whole Foods Market, two restaurants, a bank, and is planning to develop additional retail space and up 150 apartment units. The proximity of these two sites enabled TFMoran to design a more dense and efficient layout for both sites by taking advantage of the traffic, parking, and drainage benefits of mixed-use developments, providing safe pedestrian connections between the major uses.
Although in some communities, mixed-use developments may be prohibited by conventional, exclusionary zoning ordinances, the reception of mixed-use projects from planners and regulators is generally positive, as mixed-use development can provide increased tax revenue and employment opportunities with few negative impacts, and more efficient use of existing infrastructure.
As a result, many communities already allow for this type of development in their zoning codes, and others are working on it. As a result, we can expect mixed-use developments to become an important part of the revitalization of cities and towns throughout New Hampshire.
Robert E. Duval, PE, LEED AP, is president and chief engineer at TFMoran, Inc. in Bedford. Founded in 1968, TFMoran is a regionally recognized survey, civil, structural, traffic and landscape architecture firm serving private and public clients inside and outside of New Hampshire.