Nancy Meersman Union Leader Staff New Hampshire has not seen any speculative commercial construction projects since the real estate market imploded in the late 1980s. But they're beginning to crop up on the landscape again. Developers say, the tenants are, indeed, coming.
Banks are still skittish, to say the least.
For that reason many of the projects are being privately financed or getting incremental infusions from banks as the project goes along. Slattery sees far more renovation of existing buildings to fit individual clients' needs because, among other reasons, empty parcels are scarce. Fratello's Restaurant developers, for instance, took a huge risk when they renovated about 85,000 square feet of a shoe manufacturing building in the Manchester's millyard, but the risk paid off, Slattery said, as most of the space has been sold. Ron Boufford of Global Commercial Corp. said he wishes there were more spec buildings in the works. Space is so tight that the millyard is nearly full now.