Foster's Daily Democratic - Dover, New Hampshire
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070615/FOSTERS01/106150391

Dover's former Masonic Temple building to house new apartments

Traffic to be slightly affected

Friday, June 15, 2007

By JIM HADDADIN
Democrat Staff Writer
jhaddadin@fosters.com

DOVER — Traffic on Locust Street will be slightly affected starting on Monday as a rehabilitation project at the site of the former Masonic Temple gets under way.

The one-way portion of Locust Street near the intersection of Washington Street will be reduced from two lanes of traffic to one while construction crews cut holes into the brick exterior of the building next to the First Street parking lot.

According to city planner Chris Parker, the new traffic pattern may result in slightly longer queues leading up to the stoplight on Washington Street.

"Overall, we don't envision a large impact on the traffic flow," he said.

Five to six parking spaces on Locust Street will also be blocked off and pedestrian traffic will be re-routed to the other side of the street to make room for masons working from a boom truck, according to Christina Sandock of California Property Management.

Sandock anticipates that work on the Locust Street side of the building will last seven to 10 days.

After crews finish placing new windows into the fourth and fifth floors, they will repeat the process on the Washington Street and Central Avenue sides of the roughly 100-year-old-building.

Vehicular traffic will not be impacted during these phases of the project, but some parking spaces on the two streets will be blocked off to allow pedestrians passage around the construction equipment.

Rehabilitation work on the Washington Street and Central Avenue sides of the building is also expected to last seven to 10 days for each.

The rehabilitation project will cost over $1 million and will create 15 new, luxury apartment units on the fourth and fifth floors of the building. The rental price of the studio, one, and two-bedroom, town-house style dwellings has not yet been determined.

Earlier work done on the third floor of the building also created eight new business spaces, according to a manager from CPM, and tenants have started moving in to some of the spaces.

Customers will still be able to access the Weeks restaurant by entering the building from Washington Street or Central Avenue while construction work is under way on Locust Street, Sandock said.