Completing a development, without all the red tape: Stonewall Corners coming together in the Weirs

WEIRS BEACH — The real estate business in the city is booming, and a new development next to High Octane Saloon is one example of a project that's changed hands at least once since its inception.

Kevin Lacasse of New England Family Housing is working his way through a new condominium development called Stonewall Corners. It’s located near the intersection of Route 3 and Rollercoaster Road, and its $499,000 base units are already attracting buyers.

They’re townhouse-style condos, with an open concept, two or three bedrooms and two or 3.5 bathrooms each. The units, all new construction, have attached garages and can be customized to the specifications of a buyer.

“What we have here is 52 units,” Lacasse said while walking the site. They’re planning on completing the job in three phases, and — sales depending — could have them all sold around two years down the line.

“We’re expecting a younger crowd here,” he said, pointing across the lot toward High Octane, and noting Funspot isn’t far away. It’s close to both the boardwalk and Meredith Village.

“Here, it’s a straight shot to both locations,” said Jeremy Avery, principal broker at Lacasse & Avery Real Estate Brokerage.

Lacasse and Avery formed Lacasse & Avery Real Estate Brokerage in 2018, and they’re handling the sales side of the project. Avery is the principal broker. He’s not an owner of the property, but he’s a former Roche Realty professional.

The build started in September. It’s Project Manager Tony Smith who’s in charge of bringing it all together.

“We’ve still got a lot of site work to do,” Smith said, while traversing the frozen landscape. “The snow and the cold — it’s mostly the snow and the cold.”

Through winter, they’ve been productive, putting foundations in. Passersby along Route 3 will see the exterior of the buildings, papered-in for winter, standing tall at the site.

That project is located within the commercial resort zoning district, lending itself to the use of short-term rental housing and, naturally, vacation homes. Lacasse and Avery said they anticipate much of their market may comprise first-time second-home buyers who want to be close to the Weirs. It may also appeal to those who make the annual pilgrimage to Lakeside Avenue for Laconia Motorcycle Week.

Stonewall Corners is fully approved — it achieved that milestone in July, and Lacasse purchased the project in August. They’ll have to complete paving along Hayes Road, and they’ll need to construct sidewalks, too.

There’s a sort of cottage industry in the Lakes Region, and likely beyond, where one developer or development group will create a project, push it through the administrative side, then sell it as a package to a builder who intends on taking the project to the finish line.

“Laconia has been wonderful to work with,” he said about the process. 

Through the process, developers needed to get zoning variances for height and for density. Lacasse said that, in considering the “highest and best use of the property,” and confronting realities of finances and construction costs, increasing density makes a project “pencil a lot easier.” The structures, when all is said and done, will rise about 48 feet high against the blue backdrop of the summer sky.

And by the spring, they’ll have product available. Lacasse said the goal is to have people living there by the time the motorcycle rally comes around.

Avery is available to talk about the project at 603-481-2657. They’ve got a showroom in Meredith, where agents can discuss the various options available.  

“If you’re a buyer coming into this, you have to have some kind of vision,” Avery said while walking through one unit that, while not yet complete, was already spoken for. 

“I love the Weirs,” he said. “I grew up around here.”