State School sale pushed off, likely until November

LACONIA — The $21.5 million sale of the former Laconia State School property was expected to close in September. It has been delayed for at least a month, the governor announced Wednesday. State officials have emphasized their confidence the sale will go through and pointed to November as the current target.  

Title issues and a need to pinpoint the exact location of a snowmobile trail on the property are behind the delay, Gov. Chris Sununu announced and Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Charlie Arlinghaus affirmed, at Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting. 

“They're dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s given the age [of the property] and sometimes lack of information about how certain parts of the parcel were transferred and acquired, which I didn't appreciate,” Sununu said. He noted that he had a “great conversation with the prospective buyer” that included a financial discussion and said “I have absolute, full confidence this is going to close.”

Arlinghaus said the title issues were not unusual for a sale of this size of a property with this much history. 

“If you’re going to own a piece of land, you want to make sure that you own it,” he said, updating the Executive Council, which voted 3-2 to move forward with a sale with Legacy at Laconia in December. 

Arlinghaus said Thursday that he now expects the sale to close in November. 

“It’s a long process, and we’re nearing the end of it,” he said. “We’re not there yet.”

“We would like to close as soon as possible. We definitely would like to close before the end of the year,” said Scott Tranchemontagne, a spokesperson for expected buyer Legacy at Laconia, in an interview. “We gave a 30-day extension to the state to continue to work on resolving those title defects.”

When asked when the Legacy team expected the sale to go through, Tranchemontagne responded, “In a perfect world, late November, early December.”

Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer said he was “disappointed” to learn that the sale had been delayed. 

“I was, maybe mistakenly, under the impression that it was ready to close in early September,” Hosmer said. “I’m disappointed because I think this is an exciting project, with a lot of potential, that’s very complicated. We've talked about it for a long time. I remain hopeful that it's all going to come together, I would just like to see it started.”

“We are in the midst of a housing crisis at the moment,” Hosmer continued. “The faster we can get up quality, affordable housing units, the better off our whole community will be.” 

In December, the city of Laconia questioned whether the state had sufficiently vetted the financial resources and development experience of buyer Robynne Alexander and her Legacy at Laconia team before it chose them as the buyer. 

Tranchemontagne affirmed that Legacy at Laconia is on track financially to complete the $21.5 million sale as soon as it is ready. “We feel confident. We're exploring financing and funding from a number of different sources …when it comes time to close, we'll be ready to do so.”

The Legacy team reworked its development plan early in the summer, decreasing the number of intended housing on the 220-acre property by nearly a third. 

During this year the city began, and continues, regular monthly meetings with the proposed buyer, Hosmer said. 

“The meetings have been productive, [City Manager Kirk Beattie and I have] been impressed with the experience level and the quality of the team that they have brought on board,” Hosmer said. “It’s reassuring.” 

“We've been strongly encouraged by the collaborative approach from the city of Laconia,” Tranchemontage said. “Like all projects this size, there's a myriad of issues to look at. Working with the city has been a real pleasure every step of the way.”

When asked if the later sale date concerned him, Hosmer responded that “I have a great deal of respect for Commissioner Arlinghaus.” Given that the commissioner agreed with the governor that the sale would certainly go through, he continued, “In my experience with Commissioner Arlinghaus, he doesn't make statements like that unless he honestly believes it.”