Seven-figure buyout ends Steeplegate neighbor dispute

Onyx Partners, which plans to demolish most of the massive former shopping complex and transform it into a mix of housing and retail, purchased the half-acre parcel on which TD Bank is located for $2.5 million.

Developers seeking to convert the former Steeplegate Shopping Center into 600 homes mixed with large-scale retail have bought out a neighboring property owner who had blocked the project.

Onyx Partners, which plans to demolish most of the massive former shopping complex and transform it into a mix of housing and retail, purchased the half-acre parcel on which TD Bank is located for $2.5 million. City land records show it was assessed at $1.1 million earlier this year.

“They opposed any form of relief, largely for leverage,” Ari Pollack, an attorney for the developer, told the Planning Board at its December meeting. “It stalled until we could come to a mutual resolution…and ultimately, Onyx purchased the neighboring property to neutralize these objections.”

From now on, Onyx will continue to seek approval for its projects. Onyx received all necessary approvals from the Zoning Board and executed plans updated by the Planning Board for comment last week. A formal public hearing and vote will take place in the coming months.

While Onyx received city approval to demolish most of the mall due to trespassing and vandalism concerns, Susan Silverman, now former owner of the property on which the bank is located, sued city ​​in court over these approvals. Purchasing the property effectively ends the lawsuit.

Silverman’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

With the bank parcel now in hand, Onyx dropped $25.4 million to purchase the nearly 60-acre property. The mall property cost $18 million and the Regal Cinemas $5 million, both purchased in 2023.

The TD Bank currently on the Sheep Davis Road parcel will remain in place. The Applebee’s restaurant along Loudon Road will also remain.

The JCPenney that is currently part of the mall will remain in place as a standalone building and the Zoo Health Club will move to a space next to the Altitude Trampoline Park. The remaining 425,000 square feet of the 550,000-square-foot mall would be demolished in the spring, according to current plans.

The project would consist of three apartment buildings of four and five floors with underground parking. Sixty of those apartments would be designated workforce housing, Pollack said.

Workforce housing is a fluid term with no legal standard. It is often used to describe places accessible to households earning between 60% and 120% of the local median household income. In Concord, the median is about $78,000 per year. Using this definition, units with total monthly costs between approximately $1,200 and $2,300 can be considered “workforce housing.” In comparison, affordable housing costs are regulated: total expenses are legally capped at 30% of the tenant’s income.

During a review of the project, planning committee members shared concerns about bicycle safety and a road that would pass through gaps in one of the buildings to access parking. They also insisted that there be as much natural space and landscaping as possible. In reviewing a traffic study, some board members said they hoped project leaders would encourage and prepare for traffic on Sheep Davis Road, rather than Loudon Road.

Ultimately, Chairman Richard Woodfin reiterated the city’s general praise of the project, calling it “a spark for future development.”

Pollack also reiterated, on behalf of Onyx, that the city’s zoning rules need to be modernized and that they hinder the projects city leaders claim they want.

Over the last year, he said the project faced a zoning ordinance that was “dated,” too detailed and “too rigid.” He also said the current rules rely too heavily on variances and allow “opportunities” for “blocking projects” that the community might otherwise want.

The city pushed back somewhat on Pollack’s suggestion that blocking the city’s zoning update was partly to blame for Onyx’s legal troubles.

“State law allows neighboring property owners to challenge decisions of the zoning board and planning board,” Tim Thompson, the city’s deputy community director, said in a statement. “Although the City has reviewed changes to its zoning ordinance, an updated zoning ordinance will not necessarily prevent a neighboring property owner from filing an appeal of a land use decision.”

In 2018, Concord began revising its zoning ordinances and produced a plan in 2022 under the banner of its Concord Next initiative. But the efforts have stalled and city leaders now say they are delaying zoning changes until the City Council updates the city’s master plan, which is expected to take at least three years.

Catherine McLaughlin can be contacted at [email protected]. You can follow her on X @cat_mclaugh and subscribe to her Concord The City Beat newsletter at concordmonitor.com.

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