Salem Planning Board Reviews Tuscan Village Plan Adding 392 Apartments, 72 Workforce Units

Planning Board · Meeting of July 28, 2026

Salem, N.H. Planning Board took up a revised master plan for Tuscan Village that swaps a never-built 1.2-million-square-foot life science campus for a West Village District adding 392 market-rate apartments, 72 workforce housing units, a 120-room hotel, and mixed office and restaurant uses. Developer Mark Gross of Tuscan Village Development told the board the West Village program would generate approximately $3.7 million in impact fees — about $2.4 million more than the life science campus would have produced — and project annual gross tax revenue for the full 170-acre site at roughly $21.4 million.

Planner Jacob LaFontaine noted that outside reviews by traffic consultant Steve Pernau, design consultant Viewshed, and fiscal analyst RKG Associates are still pending and recommended continuation. Board members Damon Norcross and Jim Harvey both said they were "very disappointed" to see the plan drop 133 for-sale condominium units in favor of rentals, with Harvey saying the loss of homeownership opportunity represented "a huge loss to society." The board voted unanimously to continue the conceptual discussion to a future date and separately granted a unanimous conditional use permit to Wonder restaurant at 125 South Broadway for a second wall sign totaling 98.72 square feet across two facades.

In the full story:

• Zoning Amendments Public Hearing
• Minutes Review
• Wonder Restaurant Conditional Use Permit — 125 South Broadway
• Tuscan Village Master Development Site Plan — Conceptual Discussion
• Public Matters
• Who Was There
• The complete report — 3,673 words

Source: the Planning Board meeting of July 28, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.