Proposed ICE Warehouse Conversion in Merrimack, N.H., Raises Early Construction Uncertainty

A proposal to transform a big logistics warehouse in Merrimack, N.H., right into a federal immigration processing heart highlights how supply dangers for contractors and designers can emerge nicely earlier than a venture reaches procurement.

Paperwork launched by means of public-records requests present U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, working underneath the Division of Homeland Safety, notified state historic preservation officers on Jan. 9 that it was contemplating plans to “buy, occupy and rehabilitate” a warehouse property at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway for ICE operations. The correspondence initiated federal evaluate underneath Part 106 of the Nationwide Historic Preservation Act however didn’t determine a venture price, contractor, designer or development schedule.

On the municipal degree, officers say they’ve acquired no formal filings tied to the proposal.

“My workplace has not acquired something in any respect,” stated Casey Wolfe-Smith, Merrimack’s planning and zoning administrator, in a cellphone interview with ENR. “We don’t have any sort of allow purposes. There’s nothing on file—no basic contractor or architect hooked up to this. Completely nothing.”

That absence of filings underscores a recurring problem in federally pushed adaptive-reuse tasks: federal businesses can start environmental or historic evaluate whereas native land-use processes—and the development groups that depend on them—stay fully unengaged.

A flooring plan and inside view illustrate the dimensions of the Merrimack, N.H., logistics warehouse, displaying intensive dock frontage and a wide-open inside designed for high-volume distribution reasonably than detention or processing use.

Picture courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

A Class A Logistics Facility

Advertising and marketing supplies for the positioning illustrate the dimensions of the potential conversion. Based on a Cushman & Wakefield brochure, the property totals about 324,000 sq ft, together with roughly 321,000 sq ft of warehouse area and three,400 sq ft of workplace, on a 43-acre website in Merrimack Know-how Park. The Class A facility options 36-ft clear heights, 55 tailboard loading docks, two drive-in doorways, ESFR sprinklers, a 7-in concrete slab and 6,000 amps {of electrical} service.

The constructing was designed for high-volume logistics and superior manufacturing customers, suggesting that any detention or processing use would require intensive inside reconfiguration, a change in occupancy classification, and new safety, life-safety and medical infrastructure.

Division of Homeland Safety correspondence outlines a potential scope that might embrace “inside modifications” for processing and holding areas, administrative places of work, loos, cafeterias and health-care areas, in addition to exterior work similar to fencing, cameras and access-control options.

The New Hampshire Division of Historic Assets finally decided that the proposal would lead to “no opposed impact” on historic properties, clearing an early federal evaluate step. That willpower, nonetheless, doesn’t substitute native approvals tied to zoning, constructing codes, utilities, visitors and emergency companies.

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Native Opposition and Fiscal Considerations

Merrimack officers have made clear that the city opposes institution of an ICE facility with out native session. In a Jan. 23 letter to the Division of Homeland Safety, the city council warned of fiscal and operational impacts if the federal authorities acquires the property.

“If the potential non-verified warehouse is bought by the federal authorities, there can be a $529,000 lower within the tax income,” the letter states. “This may lead to a rise within the tax price for our residents.”

The council additionally cited public security issues, writing that “potential difficulties and civil protest would necessitate Police and Fireplace/Rescue Division companies,” creating “potential monetary impression upon these departments and their budgets.”

Gov. Kelly Ayotte (D) has publicly urged federal officers to seek the advice of with Merrimack leaders, emphasizing that whereas immigration enforcement is a federal accountability, the impacts of enormous amenities are felt regionally.

City officers have stated they first realized of the proposal by means of media stories reasonably than direct federal outreach, including to uncertainty round timing and scope. For now, Merrimack continues to deal with the positioning as a vacant warehouse. Wolfe-Smith stated there have been no pre-application conferences or casual discussions that will point out who would possibly ship the venture.

 “We have now not had any direct contact with DHS,” she stated.

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That lack of engagement leaves contractors and designers with little visibility into procurement timing or supply construction. Nationally, ICE has been exploring warehouse conversions as a part of a broader detention and processing technique, however formal solicitations tied to particular websites haven’t but been issued.

For the development trade, the Merrimack proposal illustrates how adaptive reuse can pace up federal planning on paper however depart native approvals—and development threat—unresolved.