Reversal of fortune: Steeplegate mall plans revived

The owners of the Steeplegate Mall have resolved a lease dispute with JC Penney that had log-jammed plans to demolish and redevelop the property, city officials announced Thursday.

Developers have returned to the negotiating table with the city in the hopes of a public investment in their plans for a mixed-use space, including hundreds of housing units and new retail stores.

“The mall project has returned,” City Manager Tom Aspell said. “They’ve worked out a deal with JCPenney and… we’re waiting to see how all that’s going to play out.”

Aspell’s announcement came during State of the City remarks by the longtime city manager and Mayor Byron Champlin, largely giving a rundown of housing developments and city projects in the works.

The mall plans had stalled in the second half of last year amid what was then an impasse with JCPenney, a longtime presence at Steeplegate. The department store had sued, leveraging language in its lease, set to run through 2030, that states the mall would remain a mall. The mayor described that lease as a “poison pill.” The developer, Onyx Partners, put out a call for retail tenants at the site in the fall and listed the former Regal Cinemas up for sale.

Those listings remain active online while court records still list the lawsuit as open and pending. However, multiple city officials said Thursday that the dispute had been resolved and that negotiations with Onyx over potential city support for its plans had resumed in early March. The retailer’s immediate future at the mall is unclear.

Lawyers for JCPenney and Onyx did not immediately respond to Monitor inquiries on Thursday.

Per Aspell’s description, the mall redevelopment would proceed as previously pitched: with 600 units of apartments in mixed-use, multi-floor buildings alongside a Costco, Whole Foods, and other retail.

The developer received an extension on its variances from the city zoning board in March. Ari Pollack, a lawyer for the project, said plans were “in the midst of a number of redesigns.”

Negotiations over a taxpayer investment continue behind closed doors, and the city has blocked access to public records related to the talks – including a third-party report examining whether Onyx’s initial asks were needed and reasonable.

As with each of the past few years, Champlin and Aspell focused their annual update on city business around steps towards housing growth and city projects making progress.

“On everyone’s mind these days is housing,” Champlin said. “And on everyone’s mind last year was housing, and on everyone’s mind the year before that was housing.”

The Lofts at 93 North, a Brady Sullivan project retrofitting the former Department of Transportation facility near the Concord Coach bus station, have started taking tenants.

For a one-bedroom unit, Champlin said, monthly rent starts at $2,200. Two-bedrooms go for $3,600.

“Although it kind of shocks me to talk about these numbers,” Champlin said, “this is what the market is right now.”

Other projects under construction near downtown include 14 apartments and two storefronts on Depot Street in the former Castro’s Back Room location and a 12-unit project at 59 South Main Street with a restaurant venue on the first floor by local developer Remi Hinxia.

Overall, as of this month, the city has 283 units under construction, 599 units with approvals awaiting construction and 1,126 units proposed but still in planning and permitting.

As of 2025, the city had 19,859 units of housing, 774 of which had been added since 2020, the mayor reported. City officials project another 2,000 more to come online in the next four years, which they estimate would nudge the city population over 50,000 people. Between 2010 and 2020, per census data, the city’s housing supply grew by a net of just 233 units.  

Whether that growth materializes or not, the city has embarked on multiple capital projects.

While a formal groundbreaking is scheduled for next week, construction is well underway at the site of the city’s new police station, where a 1960s office building is being retrofitted and expanded. Foundations are being poured at the new clubhouse at Beaver Meadow Golf Course, with opening day on the links set for Friday. Both are expected to go online next year.

Plans to reconstruct the Loudon Road bridge over the Merrimack River are nearing the end of the design phase, awaiting review from the state DOT. Work would widen it to provide more space for pedestrians and a bike path.

The price tag has gone up to $34 million – a roughly $10 million jump over the last few years – 80% of which is covered by federal funds administered by the state. A city bridge reserve fund will also be used to cover costs.

Sewer improvements on the Heights are underway, a $25 million endeavor approved by the city council two years ago. A rebuild at the city’s overburdened wastewater treatment plant will also come due in the next few years.

A few projects made it to the finish line this past year, including a new, accessible playground at White Park. Others, like the overhaul at Memorial Field, are still in the discussion phase. The City Council on Monday will consider the Concord school board’s request for that project to be scaled back to only focus on emergency needs.