Category Archives: commercial development

Selectmen review Salt Box plans

Posted on September 12, 2011 by

The Board of Selectmen met last Thursday with the new owners of the Salt Box property and reviewed proposed conceptual renderings for a commercial redevelopment of the familiar site at 626 Main Street. The new site plan identifies the project … Continue reading →

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Planning Board: Salt Box concept would require zoning change

Posted on June 23, 2011 by

The new owners of the Salt Box complex came before the Planning Board on Wednesday evening with a conceptual sketch of ideas for the redevelopment of the property. The sketch, shown below, is the same as the one shown briefly … Continue reading →

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Salt Box replacement in the works

Posted on May 13, 2011 by

Concept plans (above) for the redevelopment of the Salt Box property at 626 Main Street were informally presented at Wednesday night’s Planning Board meeting by Tom Geagan, a consultant working with the new owners. The short presentation occurred in the … Continue reading →

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Stats: that elusive commercial tax dollar

Posted on April 27, 2011 by

At the last Economic Development Committee meeting, the topic of the relationship between residential and commercial taxes came up again. The EDC has been gradually backing off of earlier assertions that an increase in the commercial tax base would have … Continue reading →

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Survey says: no major changes to center of town

Posted on April 7, 2011 by

On Monday evening the Economic Development Committee reported the results of their recent town-wide survey. This is an effort we’ve been following because the survey focuses considerable attention on Main Street and the town center. I’m posting the presentation here … Continue reading →

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Salt Box redevelopment

Posted on February 11, 2011 by

The mostly vacant Salt Box building may be “demised,” a consultant representing the new owners told the Planning Board at an introductory meeting on January 26. The complex was auctioned last November under foreclosure. The consultant, Tom Geagan of Regional … Continue reading →

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Great Expectations

Posted on January 17, 2011 by

When Chris Nash of Topsfield Associates—the most recent prospective developer of the Smith property—appeared before the Planning Board last month, he described a project that included a chain pharmacy of 13,000 square feet, a retail/office building of 20,000 square feet, … Continue reading →

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Salt Box auctioned

Posted on November 10, 2010 by

This time it happened. Today’s rescheduled foreclosure auction of the familiar Salt Box building and the four lots associated with it concluded with an emphatic “Sold!” from the auctioneer. The previous attempt at auctioning the property, in August, had been … Continue reading →

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Planning Board kicks off mixed-use/design guideline study

Posted on September 23, 2010 by

There was a fundamental question raised at last night’s Planning Board meeting: should we encourage or allow new commercial development in the town center at all? The Planning Board kicked off its mixed-use/design guideline study last night in a well-attended … Continue reading →

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A cautionary tale

Posted on September 9, 2010 by

The following is the prologue from the book Preserving Community Character by Alfred J. Lima, published in 2009, and reprinted here with permission. Lima will be speaking at the Bolton Public Library on September 14 at 7 p.m. References to … Continue reading →

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