Businesses hope antique center purchase could alleviate Canal Street congestion

LACONIA — If the city’s purchase of the Laconia Antique Center moves forward, Canal Street business owners could look forward to improved access to their storefronts.

City council voted to approve the purchase of the back two-thirds of the Laconia Antique Center from State Rep. Charlie St. Clair (D). Melissa Darling and Tyler Hooff would purchase the front third of the parcel and open an Italian-American restaurant named the darling. The city and the restaurateurs would split the cost of a fire wall to divide the parcel. 

The city would spend $700,000 on the purchase and Darling and Hooff would spend $500,000 for theirs. The parties would split the $100,000 price tag to divide the parcel.

The purchase, which is contingent on the results of a building inspection conducted at the end of last month, would afford the Colonial Theatre space to expand. As it stands, large productions use the Canal Street entrance to load and unload equipment and and to park tour buses. The arrangement has caused traffic congestion and can limit access to Canal Street businesses.

By gaining control of the adjacent building, buses would be able to park along nearby Hanover Street to load and unload, leaving Canal businesses unimpeded. 

Canal Street is home to numerous storefronts which could be impacted by the purchase as traffic congestion is eased and parking space available during theater productions. 

Hannah Rush, who owns Trillium Farm to Table restaurant on the corner of Canal and Beacon streets, said shows and other events held at the Colonial are great for her business. She said she’s aware other businesses on the street have had parking issues she hasn’t experienced herself. 

“We do really well, we get busy,” she said. “That’s the main reason I stay open at night, was knowing that there was going to be Colonial shows, otherwise I’d probably just be a lunch business.”

When an event is held at the Colonial, Rush said customers walk into the restaurant off the street or stop by for a drink and a bite before a show.

“We get a lot of the people who work for the shows, we get a lot of the talent who come in, and then at night we get all the people coming to the show,” she said. “They’re great for business.”

But the benefits in terms of foot traffic should be weighed with the overall cost to the city, she said.

“My one complaint is that they really didn’t put on a lot of shows the past year. There was like one or two a month, especially during the winter when there’s nothing to do, we would have really benefited from that,” she said. “For the city to spend money on something if they’re not going to put on more shows, to me, seems pointless. If they’re saying, ‘We can’t get acts because they don’t want to come, they don’t have a space to get ready and we need this space to get more acts,’ I’m totally for it.”

Meghan Daubenspeck, manager of Piedmont Print and Frame located further toward Main Street on Canal, said traffic congestion during shows at the Colonial does impede their business at times.

“Sometimes when the big trailers are parked on the street it’s a little harder for clients to find parking, so they have to find a spot in the lot and carry their big frames in,” she said. 

Loading and unloading equipment on Hanover Street “would make a big difference, I know that they were talking about some sort of loading dock over there,” she said. “I think that that would make a huge difference for us for events.”

Daubenspeck said shows at the theater do not generally bring additional customers into the storefront, aside from one instance where a performer stopped by.

“We had a comedian that was performing over there one time, and he was going about all the different businesses downtown. And he popped in for a little while and signed some stuff for us, it was really fun,” she said. “As far as new clientele, not really. Maybe if it was a Saturday afternoon, possibly, but not too much of an uptick.”

Reorganizing the logistics for shows to use an entrance on Hanover Street should benefit the businesses along Canal, she said.

“I think honestly just them having the access over there would just about do it,” she said.

Jim Daubsenspeck, father of Meghan Daubenspeck and owner of Daub’s Cobbler Shop on Canal, said traffic and parking congestion has impacted his business — at times to a severe degree.

“It definitely impedes things but you reach a point that complaining doesn’t help anymore,” he said. “Looking strictly at what’s happened here, they wind up blocking when they need to and having the buses, having the trailers and everything out here impedes businesses. But we’ve gotten to the point that we just put up a sign on the sidewalk that says, ‘Act like it’s the city. Park and toot your horn, we’ll bring it out to you.’”

Jim noted the door used to ferry equipment on Hanover Street may not be sufficient to alleviate all congestion. He also expressed concerns regarding theater employees themselves taking up parking spaces for long periods of time while the theater is busy.

“There’s a door  — you can’t roll staging in, you can’t roll the heavy equipment cases in, it’s not going to help anything there. They’re still going to come in here,” he said. “Now the hope is that, from what I understand, that they won’t just take all the parking spots. That maybe they’ll take them for a couple hours, offload, and then a couple of hours before the show. But the Colonial staff is still going to park right here and take up all the parking spaces — they’re not going to change what they’re doing.”

City Manager Kirk Beattie said the two-hour parking spaces on Canal Street are subject to parking enforcement, the same as two-hour slots available anywhere downtown and throughout the city. That rule applies to employees of the Colonial Theatre the same way it applies to anybody else parking downtown.

For visitors or employees of downtown businesses who expect to need parking for more than two hours, the city-owned parking lot at City Hall is available. The parking spaces nearest Beacon Street are two-hour slots, but the rest of the lot is not, and visitors are encouraged to park there. 

Jim said while the Colonial generally has been a plus for downtown, there are specific instances where more compromise is needed.

“I’m pleasantly surprised at how well things are going with the Colonial and the traffic that it’s bringing in,” he said. “I think the biggest problem was one of the performers last year at Pumpkinfest parked right here in front of our shop and ran her diesel generators all day to the point we couldn’t open our doors. If the doors aren’t open, they don’t feel welcome, and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it — I had to shut down my business on Pumpkinfest, one of the potential busiest days we’ve ever had. It was a beautiful day, like today,” he said.

Two-hour parking zones downtown are meant not to impede foot traffic into businesses, he said. But when those limits are violated, businesses are, too.

“That’s why we have two-hour parking downtown, and two-hour parking doesn’t apply to the Colonial Theatre,” he said. “I think that it’s going to make a difference for the theater to have dressing rooms and other facilities over there. I think the jury’s still out as to whether the performers will utilize that or utilize this side. We can invest and do everything, which I think we need to, but is it going to help us? I certainly hope so.”

He said much of the problem may be possible to resolve through improved communication and compromise between downtown businesses and Colonial management.

“We still need local traffic, we still need the local customers. What’s that demographic? It’s anybody who wears shoes,” he said. “We’re glad they’re here, we want to see them successful, but we want them to be neighborly, as we’re trying to be neighborly too.”

Dan Berube, marketing manager for Spectacle Live, issued a written statement in response to such concerns.

“We’re very happy to be a part of a vibrant community and look forward to continuing to work with all local stakeholders to contribute to the success of downtown Laconia. Furthermore, we are excited by the city’s potential purchase of the Laconia Antique Center at 601 Main St. and plan to incorporate a portion of the building into the Colonial, which would facilitate the use of more areas of the downtown for activities of the theater and other businesses.”