Dec. 23 -- The nonprofit behind plans to build the Mark Stebbins Community Center on the city's West Side will go before the Manchester Planning Board early next year seeking approval for a planned development and site plan for the project.
The applicant -- Mark Stebbins Community Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit -- is proposing to construct an approximately 19,800-square-foot multipurpose social services center, two-story community center and corresponding playground and parking lot within a lease area on the Kelly Falls apartment complex property at 315 Kimball St. owned by the Manchester Housing & Redevelopment Authority.
The project appears on the agenda for the Jan. 2 planning board meeting (6 p.m., City Hall).
Once constructed, the building will be home to several nonprofit organizations that will provide collaborative services under one roof.
The two-story multipurpose social services center would include a youth and child services use occupying about 13,124 square feet, a community center use occupying approximately 1,600 square feet offering community resources, meeting space, and a food pantry, and an outpatient health care practitioners use occupying about 5,120 square feet.
Back in May, the New Hampshire Executive Council approved $1 million in funding to help cover costs associated with construction, anticipated to begin in the spring of 2025.
The center, in the planning stages for years, would be named after Mark Stebbins, CEO of the state's largest architectural construction firm, who died in June 2021 at 67.
After several months of reviewing options and exploring possible sites, the board of directors of the Mark Stebbins Community Center (MSCC) and Board of Commissioners for the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority (MHRA), announced late in December the two entities have signed a 75-year lease to build and operate the new facility at the Kelley Falls housing community on Kimball Street.
Kelley Falls is a 132-unit low-income housing apartment community. Some or all apartments in the complex are rent-subsidized, which means rent is income-based.
MHRA owns the land and has agreed to lease the land to MSCC for what organizers have termed a "nominal amount," and MSCC will raise the funds and build the center.
Organizers say the Boys & Girls Club and Amoskeag Health will provide services for youth and families on the West Side through the new center. Services will include affordable, walkable child care, after-school care, access to affordable health care, community meeting space and additional support services.
Non-profit partners currently involved in the planning are:
The first floor of the building will also contain a community center with a food pantry, community resource center, and community meeting spaces.
The 2.5-acre lease area is within a currently vacant portion of the larger, 19.6-acre property. Currently there are 19 multi-family apartment buildings on the site.
The project will include a 73-vehicle parking lot, bus drop-off for the Boys and Girls Club, van drop-off and pick-up for Amoskeag Health, and connections to the existing sidewalk network within the Kelley Falls apartment complex.
Other amenities include a community garden and outdoor play spaces for the Boys & Girls Club.
In January 2023, the board of directors of the Mark Stebbins Community Center said its members voted unanimously following "several weeks of review, field research and measurements" to seek a new location for the proposed community center rather than proceed at a proposed site on Parkside Avenue and Blucher Street, near Gossler Park Elementary School and Parkside Middle School.
Community center leaders had promised that an existing community food garden and open green space would remain a part of the project if it moved forward. A review of the land determined space to be insufficient, without either scaling back the project or impacting the area's current use.
Stebbins and his wife, Sally, have been well-known for their support of nonprofits in the Granite State, including the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester, Granite United Way, Easterseals, Manchester YMCA, The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester and Waypoint.
Stebbins was chairman and CEO of Procon, a large construction firm in Hooksett. He also owned XSS Hotels, Stebbins Commercial Properties, Monarch Communities and Coolcore.