{"id":9892,"date":"2024-01-20T14:44:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T14:44:46","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Arts-Alley-heads-for-construction-after-planning-board-vote-53742469\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=9892","title":{"rendered":"Friendly Toast, Arts Alley construction could start in March"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Renderings
Renderings from a new proposal for the Arts Alley development show the reduced size of its building on South Main Street \u2014 down to two floors with a roof deck \u2014 and the addition of a restored antique, galley-style diner to its footprint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Renderings
Renderings from a new proposal for the Arts Alley development show the reduced size of its building on South Main Street \u2014 down to two floors with a roof deck \u2014 and the addition of a restored antique, galley-style diner to its footprint.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

Work to bring a Friendly Toast restaurant to the city\u2019s main drag will get cooking this spring after the Concord Planning Board renewed approvals for a major downtown development.<\/p>\n

The regional retro brunch favorite is the flagship of Arts Alley, the proposed makeover of the property between the Concord Food Co-op and the Bank of NH Stage on South Main Street. Work on the project is expected to start in March, according to developer Steve Duprey,<\/p>\n

The planning board approved a four-story design for the Friendly Toast building last May, with the events space on the top floor and market-rate apartments aimed at students sandwiched in the middle two floors. Duprey asked for the board\u2019s sign-off on a new, two-story design that, because of construction costs, no longer included housing. The board provided it enthusiastically on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually like this better than a five-story,\u201d Board Member Jeffrey Santacruce said, with Chair Richard Woodfin agreeing and remarking that it felt \u201cmore intimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The downsized design still boasts an events space and adds a seasonal rooftop bar. Plans to renovate \u2014 and paint purple \u2014 a carriage house out back into a live-music-focused bar and restaurant also got board backing Wednesday. The main artery and namesake of the project is the alleyway along the Bank of New Hampshire Stage building, which will pull pedestrian traffic into a courtyard between the two restaurant buildings and art installations, Duprey said.<\/p>\n

The green light from the board overrode a recommendation from its design committee that the new proposal be tweaked to make the project\u2019s components more aesthetically cohesive. But a lack of cohesion was exactly the point, Duprey told the board, so each business will have a distinct identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comments were \u2018This doesn\u2019t tie together.\u2019 We said \u2018Great, that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re trying to do,\u2019 \u201d Duprey said.<\/p>\n

Despite months-long efforts to relocate it, the Norris House, the 1860 mansion currently on the site, will likely need to be demolished to make way for the development, Duprey said earlier this week.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Work to bring a Friendly Toast restaurant to the city\u2019s main drag will get cooking this spring after the Concord Planning Board renewed approvals for a major downtown development.The regional retro brunch favorite is the flagship of Arts Alley, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":9893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=93]Catherine McLaughlin[\/Author] Monitor staff","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,512],"tags":[94,24,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[553],"class_list":["post-9892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-homebox5-cm","tag-concord-nh","tag-facebook","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42707854-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9894,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892\/revisions\/9894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9892"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=9892"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}