KGI Properties Completes Sale and Lease of 40-acre Haverhill Land Package to Target and Lowe's

KGI Properties, a Boston/Providence-based development company, announced the completion of a 40-acre land sale and lease transaction in Haverhill, Massachusetts that will result in a new Target and a new Lowe’s.

KGI sold 20 acres to Target and leased 20.9 acres to Lowe’s.

KGI purchased the parcel at 25 Computer Drive in late August from Skyworks Solution. KGI completed the subsequent transactions after securing all the necessary easements and permits, and will prepare the land for development.

Target is scheduled to begin initial site work in December and Lowe’s will get underway next spring. Preliminary plans call for the Target to open in the fall of 2007 and Lowe’s soon after.

KGI demolished a vacant building on the site in September and will deliver a “prepared pad” to both Target and Lowe’s. The stores will be located on Computer Drive near Route 97 (Broadway), just off Exit 50 of Route 495 in Haverhill.

KGI worked with the City of Haverhill, state agencies and local residents to complete the permitting process that had begun three years earlier. KGI agreed to install environmental buffers and other protections for area turtles and wetlands, and will also spend about $1 million on traffic improvements, including two new traffic lights and a widening of Computer Drive and Route 97.

“This is an example of our 21st century retail policy at work,” said Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini.

“Two years ago, we changed our zoning policies to adopt what I called a ‘21st century retail policy’ to allow for retail near highways,” he said. “We eliminated the special permit requirement for retail, and made an effort to speed up permitting. As a result, we now have retail stores returning to Haverhill for the first time in decades. Lowe’s, Target and BJ’s Wholesale Club are the three largest retail stores ever to locate in Haverhill.”

KGI applauded the city’s efforts.

“The City of Haverhill has been great to work with,” said Richard Bornstein, principal of KGI. “They made it clear what needed to be done to satisfy the various interests and make this work. It was a very thorough and efficient process.”

KGI Properties (www.kgiproperties.com) acquires and develops retail real estate across he northeastern United States. KGI is vertically integrated with its own construction management and property management divisions. The property management division provides third party services as well, ultimately managing more than 3 million square feet of property in New England with offices in Boston; Providence; Woburn, Massachusetts; and Lebanon, New Hampshire.

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