Queen City Center will be ‘pivotal’ addition to downtown Manchester

WATCH: First look at Queen City Center, a work in progress. Video by The HYN Group.

MANCHESTER, NH – The Queen City Center project started as a solution for housing a burgeoning video production company, but has become a development with the “potential to significantly improve the economic vitality” of downtown Manchester.

The redevelopment of 215 Canal St. is pivotal on several fronts, Jodie Nazaka, director of the Manchester Economic Development Office, said. Kyle and Travis York, of York Real Estate, are transforming what has long been an oasis of unused potential in the heart of downtown into a community-focused multi-business center that will combine food and beverage, sports and fitness, arts and entertainment, and retail.

“The project has the potential to significantly improve the economic vitality of the downtown and surrounding area by overhauling an underutilized building to a productive use,” Nazaka told InkLink. She said the strategic location of the 30,000-square-foot building at the gateway to downtown and the Millyard, “both of which are already undergoing remarkable transformations,” combined with the fact it’s near the developing Gaslight District, is key.

It will also complement the 250-unit residential development under construction nearby at the intersection of Canal and West Auburn streets by Jones Street Development, Nazaka said.

“The project also plays a pivotal role in our efforts to attract a new workforce to the city,” she added, “Offering a compelling blend of amenities, opportunities, and enhancements in the quality of life that will make Manchester an appealing place to live, work, and play.”

It may seem like a lot, even for a 30,000-square-foot building, but the Yorks are ready to take it on.

“We are creating a community where creative folks and local businesses can have opportunities,” Travis York told Manchester Ink Link. “Because we have this outdoor space, and all these brands are open to collaboration working together with people, any and all ideas, we’re open ears to.”

The concept of this type of development “has always been loosely in the back of our minds,” York said. “But I don’t think we thought the concept would come to life with this particular property.”

The project came together through a little bit of happenstance, some on-point decision making and some vision.

The building is next door 175 Canal St., which the Yorks own and operate their businesses out of.

“We’d been eyeing this, kind of nondescript, industrial building for a while. Didn’t necessarily have any ideas for it, needs for it.” But it was there, next door. “It was like, oh that could be something interesting to explore at some point.”

The penny dropped, though, when York needed space for his television and video production company,  an offshoot of his advertising and marketing agency, GYK Antler, which operates out of 175 Canal. They’d been commuting to a content studio in western Massachusetts, but the two-hour distance became more of an issue. On top of it, the studio was more for content than the high-end production that the business had started doing more of.

When COVID hit, the lease on the studio came up. They had to make a decision about where they wanted to be. “The decision we made proved to be fortuitous,” he said. The manufacturer that was in 215 Canal was outgrowing the space, and the opportunity for the Yorks to buy the building presented itself.

York thought it’d be a great space for the television and video production studio, but that wouldn’t use up a fraction of it.

“The reality is, the building is much larger than it appears,” he said. “It’s a pretty large cavernous space.” In addition, “It’s a building that’s got good bones. It’s a really well-built building.”

That raised the question, “What the hell else do we put in here?”

The building has temperature-controlled rooms, and the fact it is industrial led to a natural conclusion:  brewing beer.

“And that’s where that germ of an idea started and the rest kind of snowballed from there,” York said.

When Queen City Center is fully up and running later this year, besides Big Brick Productions, York’s full-service video production and commercial content studio, the tenants will include:

• Harpoon Brewery, which will have a “fun, modern gathering place” that includes an experimental brewery, scratch kitchen, and taproom with indoor, outdoor, and event space.
• City Club Golf, a members-only club with 24/7 simulated golfing a lounge, led by Lauren Ryan and Patrick Gocklin.
• Union Coffee, a coffee house and roaster, owned by David Cianci.
• Barre Life, a fitness studio owned by Ashley Oberg.
• Wicked Joyful, an ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s pop-culture retail shop, nostalgia gallery, and apparel brand, owned by musician and comedian Nick Lavallee.

It will also have a 2,000-plus-square-foot event space in the Harpoon area, that will be occasionally used as a music and entertainment venue for ticketed events. There will also be an outdoor community gathering area that will have vendors and food.

The Yorks didn’t advertise for tenants, they recruited ones that matched the emerging vision, starting with Harpoon. “We thought it would be a really good fit,” York said. Harpoon is employee-owned, community-oriented, and has locations in Vermont and Boston, making Manchester a mid-way spot. “And they weren’t sitting still,” York said.

He said signing Harpoon led to “some obvious options” through people he’d worked with and knew “and we just filled it out.”

The tenants have signed 10-year leases, longer than the standard commercial lease, because of the build-out and change of use required for the tenants. “Also, we wanted to get commitment from like-minded companies and brands, to over the long term really change this area, frankly,” he said. Since there were prior relationships and experiences between the tenants and developers “there was a lot of trust,” he said.

Constructed in 1955, 215 Canal St. was originally a commercial printing company and, before the Yorks bought it, a defense contractor. The brothers bought it from 215 Canal St. LLC in December 2021 for $2.3 million.

On Jan. 18, the planning board approved a lot line adjustment of the discontinued portion of West Central Street, where the outdoor gathering space will be. The proposal will fully incorporate the discontinued area, which is in between 175 and 215 Canal. The other part of West Central Street was discontinued years ago, when the Center of New Hampshire was built.

York said the parking garage will still be accessible, and the reconfigured area will have minimal impact on the way traffic moves around that area, “but connects our collective properties in a much more significant way.”

Site plan approval is needed for that space, and that’s going before the planning board Feb. 1.

“We are planning to make that area common to both buildings such that it can be used by the owners and tenants in both buildings for fun events and gatherings,” said Don Eaton, managing director of Colliers. The real estate firm is handling lease negotiations with the tenants, Colliers Construction Division is overseeing all the building and tenant improvements at the property, and Colliers Financial Services is coordinating financing for the project.

York said the outside area will have a lot of green space and be “almost a campus-like environment” between the two buildings.

The building’s exterior is being “entirely redone,” including windows, doors, landscaping and signs. “Basically, everything’s getting redone and getting a facelift,” he said.

While it will still have an industrial look, York said the building will lean toward an “industrial-chic vibe.”

“It’ll be more modern and cool, for sure, than it currently is,” he said.

Plans are for a soft opening this summer, with everything up and running in the fall.

Once it’s in operation, Nazaka said, Queen City Center “will be more than just a place for shops and businesses.”

“Queen City Center will be where people come together, help our city’s economy grow, and add to what makes Manchester so exciting and fun,” she said.

The community aspect of the project is one of the things York is most excited about.

“It’s been really cool, the inquiries we’ve gotten and the ideas people have brought forward,” he said. “There’s so much cool potential with this project.”

Below: Galery by The HYM Group