River Park West Lebanon

River Park West Lebanon was a LifeSci-anchored mixed-use development proposed by David Clem of Lyme Properties, "The Man Who Built Kendall Square – and Walked Away"  (Banker & Tradesman, June 26, 2022). His work transforming Kendall Square from brownfields to biotech led to receiving the Commonwealth Catalyst Award from MassEcon at Gillette Stadium. 

In 2007, after selling the Kendall Square portfolio, David Clem purchased a 37-acre property alongside the Connecticut River that was home to a former auto-body shop (and de facto junkyard, 15 dumpsters worth of vehicle debris removed!), a neighboring farmhouse, and acreage that had served a variety of agricultural, commercial, and residential uses over the years, including as a Tree Farm for red pine trees. Then he went to the neighbors and asked for their input, told them the type of projects he built, earned their support, and won 74% of a citizen-initiated public zoning referendum to re-zone the property for the project that had become known as River Park West Lebanon. 

In 2011, after those two years of the proactive Neighborhood Planning Process and over five years of bureaucratic approvals, River Park was approved as multi-phased center for life science research in close proximity to Dartmouth College and its graduate programs in Business, Engineering, and Medicine. Just as importantly, it was positioned as a catalyst for (and new tax base to fund)  long-standing revitalization goals in Old West Lebanon

It took until 2015 to get the NHDOT to sign-off, and then the City of Lebanon stalled the 2016 groundbreaking and the 2018 installation of City-mandated utilities at private-cost. In 2019 we got approved (after 4 hearings over 11 months) to expedite housing, and I returned to Lyme Properties for the third attempted start of the project. We were underway on infrastructure for 1 River Park and the adjacent 125-unit residential development when Covid hit and the Governor's Executive Order in March, 2020 halted everything. 

While the project was stopped by Covid, I moved back to the Upper Valley and spent 2020-2022 aligning the project with broader regional planning goals, as well as Federal funding opportunities coming out of the Biden Whitehouse and Buttigieg infrastructure plan. developing the West Leb Greenway vision and coalition, wrote the Action Plan for West Leb as Vice Chair of the WLRAC, and built and maintained a public engagement and communication platform to build enthusiasm and tangible, actionable, short-term change to West Leb that built toward long-term goals.

What happens when a Real Estate Developer dares to ask the neighborhood what they want to see on the site of a former auto-parts store?

In the case of River Park it resulted in a Master Plan with overwhelming public support, a commitment to "green" buildings, and a bold vision for using mixed-use development to help reinvigorate West Lebanon, N.H.

By proactively involving the surrounding community through a series of neighborhood meetings and planning charrettes, the developer Lyme Properties created a vision for something quite special alongside the Connecticut River. The project provides public access to the river, maintains 50% open space, and serves as a keystone parcel to connect regional trail systems.

[Lyme is my family's business, and I have been involved in River Park at various stages (and in various capacities) since 2009.]

River Park is a thoughtful 38-acre mixed use development project along the banks of the Connecticut River, that will include over 850,000 SF of life science office and research space, service retail, restaurants, single family homes and multi-family housing in a pedestrian friendly environment with over 50% open space.