The town of Kittery has approved a plan to demolish an under-utilized outlet shopping center to make room for a new hotel, restaurant and housing near the Kittery Trading Post on Route 1.
The plans call for a 119-room hotel and 107 new apartments, including 11 that are considered affordable, at the site of the Outlets of Kittery plaza.
The town's planning board approved the project late last week. Chairman Dutch Dunkleberger said the town has been exploring the possibility of redeveloping the under-utilized retail space for several years, particularly as some outlet stores began to leave.
"What do you do with all that space? We started noticing some vacancies and thought about how can we make use of that?" he said. "We have, in the past, approached the various owners about the potential for developing it into a mixed use space."
The project will be built in three phases, starting with the hotel, according to the developer, the New Hampshire real estate company Two International Group.
During phase two, the existing retail space would be razed to make room for the construction of the new apartments closer to I-95. A potential restaurant would be built next to the Trading Post during the project's third phase.
"It will be a good move for Kittery," Dunkleberger said. "It's not huge; it's not overwhelming."
He said the town needs more housing, particularly for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees and retail workers. And he believes the new apartments will bring more stable traffic to the remaining outlet malls during the winter, when fewer people travel from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to shop.
Dunkleberger said he's hopeful the three stores that remain at the shopping center will consider moving to other available retail space on Route 1, instead of leaving the area entirely.
