If you know the northwest corner of Manchester, you know Hackett Hill: a big, mostly wooded stretch that people have been trying to find a use for for years. Now a tech entrepreneur turned venture capitalist wants to build a neighborhood on it.
Mark Hayward of NH Business Review reported this week, in a story shared by Manchester Ink Link, that Jeremy Hitchcock is one of the partners eyeing about 250 acres there for something called Freedom Village. Hitchcock co-founded Dyn Inc. and moved into venture capital after selling the company. The idea is a place where tech- and startup-minded people would live and work.
What's on the drawing board
Under a preliminary plan submitted to the city, Phase One would include as many as 240 homes in a mix of apartments, townhouse condominiums and stand-alone houses. Alongside the housing, the plan calls for flexible office space, a research lab, maker space and a clubhouse.
According to material provided to the city, the village would cater to founders, techno-optimists, engineers, researchers and their families. In a letter of intent to Manchester officials, Hitchcock wrote that "by pairing flexible workforce housing directly with cutting-edge research and lab facilities, Freedom Village will create an innovation hub that attracts and retains both private capital and skilled talent from the Queen City, across the region and nationally."
Hitchcock wrote that the project would feature green roofs, open spaces, a public train network and a protective buffer along the Cedar Swamp Preserve. The Nature Conservancy owns that preserve, which sits right next to the land. The Riverwoods retirement community is nearby, along with apartments and other homes.
City land, city say
Here's the part that matters for timing: the project involves five parcels owned by the city. That means Manchester's elected officials will eventually have to agree to sell the land before anybody unloads an excavator.
Hitchcock was expected to go before the city's Land and Building committee on Tuesday, Oct. 20, though much of that conversation could happen behind closed doors. State law lets city officials meet outside public view to discuss land sales.
He was also expected to argue that Freedom Village fits the city's 2021 master plan, which calls for an "innovation village" on Hackett Hill. That concept pictures office, industrial and education-oriented employers on the site, plus supporting businesses like food service. The zone allows residential development and encourages green features such as bioretention systems, solar arrays and wind turbines.
A long list of past ideas
Over the years the property has been eyed for a UNH-Manchester campus, a corporate research park and even a privately operated prison.
The land also comes with a couple of quirks any site contractor will want to know about: a narrow, steep access road and a phantom parking lot, built for a university campus that ended up choosing the Manchester Millyard instead.
Interest, and an aggressive clock
Raechel Lambert, a Portsmouth resident who has launched several companies and works in marketing, said early signs point to strong demand. In August, the Freedom Summit in Manchester, which closed with a presentation on Freedom Village, drew 200 people. A Freedom Village membership, which gets you a newsletter and updates, has brought in $10,000 in fees, she said.
"It's hard for — I'll say it bluntly — local older people to understand the desire for the project and our ability to drum up interest," Lambert said.
If all goes well, she said, site work could begin in the spring, and people could be moving in by the summer of 2027. She admits that timetable is optimistic.
Why it matters for Contractors
A first phase of up to 240 homes in three different product types, plus lab, office and maker space, would mean work for just about every trade, from site and utility crews to framers, finish carpenters and mechanical subs. Green roofs and bioretention call for specialty skills not every outfit has on the bench.
But nothing is locked in yet. The city still has to agree to sell its parcels, a good share of the early talk may happen in closed session, and the backers themselves call their schedule optimistic. That steep, narrow access road will also shape how any job there gets staged and priced. If you work in the Queen City, keep an eye on the Land and Building committee. A spring start is possible, but contractors would be smart to treat it as a maybe until the land deal is done.