110 Grill Eatery, Starbucks Drive-Thru Downtown Concord Bound?

CONCORD, NH — The owner of the Capital Shopping Center has petitioned the city of Concord for zoning variances in an effort to add new buildings to its 80 Storrs St. property. At the city's February Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting, Brixmor Capitol unveiled a plan to build two new buildings in the middle of the shopping center across the street from the Storrs Street Garage. If the company gets its variances, one building will house a new 110 Grill restaurant, an American casual dining chain. A Starbucks with a drive-thru as well as "spec tenants" will be in the second building.

The Starbucks expects to have outdoor seating and a wall would be constructed along Storrs Street.

One of the variances is a required 977 parking spaces for the center. Right now, there are 885 spaces, with some leased to the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce. About 90 spaces would be lost with the new development. The company hopes to lower the requirement to 754 spaces.

Another variance involves a restaurant with a drive-thru to be built on the parcel where that current usage isn't allowed.

Attorneys for the company said they expected the drive-thru at Starbucks to lessen the parking impact a café would have without a drive-thru. They also expected all the businesses to draw a lot of foot traffic from Downtown Concord.

Tim Sink, the president of the chamber, was the only one to speak at the meeting and said he supported the variances. The chamber, he noted, had a long relationship with the company, the spaces the chamber uses are on the far side of the lot, and there were always empty meter spaces on Storrs Street.

Many of the ZBA members liked the proposal but questioned the variance for a drive-thru. They also said they wanted more input city officials about how this development fits in with its master plan, the 2020 Vision, how changes could potential harm the desire to connect the city's downtown to the Merrimack River, and the future opportunity corridor just north of the property on Stickney Avenue.

The proposal was tabled to a later date.

110 Grill describes itself as "comfortable, but yet upscale-casual atmosphere, complete with open kitchens, large horseshoe-shaped bars and outdoor patios with fire pits, creates the ideal dining environment for any occasion." Its seasonal menus can be enjoyed with "business colleagues dressed in suits" or burgers and beers shorts and a T-shirt at the bar, the company said on its website. The restaurant has 30 locations in Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire eateries in Manchester, Nashua, Rochester, Stratham, and West Lebanon.

The company stated online it planned on having a location in Concord by fall 2020. Locations are also planned for North Conway and Portsmouth, too.

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