Manchester's Planning Board did not decide Oct. 1 on a 16-story building with 196 apartments proposed for the city-owned Hartnett parking lot at 99 Lowell St. Board members voted to keep the public hearing open until their Nov. 5 meeting so the developers can come back with more information, the Union Leader and Manchester Ink Link reported.
The board wants more detail on how the building would fit the surrounding neighborhood, plus more data from the Department of Public Works, Manchester Ink Link reported.
The city's revised agenda lists the application as SP2026-019, a site plan to redevelop the municipal lot into a mixed-use building with up to 7,325 square feet of first-floor commercial space and a 330-space, three-story parking garage. Fuss & O'Neill filed it for the City of Manchester. The developer is Lansing Melbourne Group, which signed a master development agreement with the city in 2022 covering the Hartnett and Pearl Street lots, the Union Leader reported.
Dozens of people spoke at the hearing, the Union Leader reported. Opponents, including the Rev. Jason Y. Jalbert of Saint Joseph Cathedral and Jeffrey J. Myrdek, president of the Manchester Historic Association's board of trustees, cited parking, shadows on nearby churches and the building's scale, according to the paper. "This building would be perfect in another place," Jalbert said, according to the Union Leader. Jodie Nazaka, the city's economic development director, spoke in support, the paper reported.
The developer's representatives told the board that construction would not begin until late 2027, after a garage at the Pearl Street development is expected to open, Ink Link reported.
Sources:
Manchester Planning Board agenda, Oct. 1, 2026 (revised)
City of Manchester meeting listing
Also reported by Paul Feely
Oct. 4, 2026, and Andrew Sylvia
Oct. 3, 2026.