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PAST ISSUES

New housing and shopping center soon to come

by Tom Cooper
Exchange Staff

     Franklin Pierce University will conduct market research all through the spring by talking to students, faculty, and staff, to get ideas for the new "campus village" project.

     They will also talk to Rindge residents to see if they are interested in an over-55 housing community as part of the project. Brian Stuart, Director of Communications, thinks that the research is a huge step in getting the village up and running.

     "By conducting the market research, we will find out exactly what shops and services the faculty, students, and staff would really want involved in the village," said Stuart.

     The "Village" would include retail shops, new student housing, and an "active adult" community, which would be the housing center to the residents ages 55 and older.

     The campus village has been generating some excitement among Franklin Pierce students.

     "I think that this is a great idea. It might also help to get people more involved in the community, because Rindge is not the most exciting place in the world," said junior Roman Addazio.

     The exact location of the village has not yet been decided, as this project is in the preliminary stages of development, and the school owns about 1200 acres of land. However, it is thought that the development will be somewhere off of Route 119.

     Judy Tomlinson, the Business Development and Relations Manager, said that the village will fit in with the general scheme of the college.

     "It will be a New England style retail village with shops and offices," said Tomlinson.

     After the market research is conducted, the goal is to have a formal plan to present to the board of trustees in June. This would include proposals of specific retail shops, as well as the exact location of the village. The Real Estate group is in the process of looking at all the soils and wet lands to see what location would work best.

   Tomlinson believes that this village will serve the needs of the community and the campus.

     "This is a huge win for the University, the town of Rindge, and the development company that we are working with to get this done," said Tomlinson.