The former riverfront site of Haverhill Paperboard moved a step closer toward redevelopment at the Haverhill Conservation Commission meeting last week, even as another potential developer seems to have lost interest.
Peter Noyes, who bought the 100 S. Kimball St. property at the end of 2016 for $750,000, won approval to build a five-foot-wide earthen berm—a structure to protect the site from flooding, making it easier to develop in the future, according to Environmental Health Technician and Conservation Commissioner Robert E. Moore Jr. Noyes told WHAV the lot was polluted with a mixture of rubble and asbestos, of which he said he had not been aware before buying. He said he has invested significantly in cleaning the area, though he would not say how much he spent.
“We’re just trying to continue on with what we started years ago, getting all the bad stuff out and bringing clean stuff in,” Noyes said at the meeting.
According to project documents on file, earlier hazardous waste removal caused a portion of the site to fall into a protected resource area. The berm allows the land to be reclaimed for future redevelopment.
Both Noyes and a spokesperson for the Procopio Companies confirmed Procopio’s earlier interest in developing the site, but neither the company nor Noyes would say why it backed out. Procopio is already developing “The Beck,” a 290-unit apartment building including a park, restaurant and retail complex along a section of the Merrimack River in Bradford.
Peter J. Ogren of Hayes Engineering, a firm working for Noyes, asked the Commission to waive a $4,000 filing fee because of Noyes’ significant contribution to the environmental well-being of the city.
“I think the city of Haverhill is benefited by the fact that somebody of sufficient economic strength acquired this property and proceeded with the necessary cleanup,” Ogren said.
Commissioners rejected the request, and Noyes acquiesced, saying he did not want an argument.
Originally opened in 1902, the paperboard factory finally closed Aug. 29, 2008, putting 174 workers out of jobs. According to public records, Haverhill paperboard’s owner, the New Jersey-based Newark Group, sold it at the end of 2011 for $1 to Pentucket, a unit of Barrow Development of Boston. Noyes’100 South Kimball purchased the property in 2016.
Noyes speculated to WHAV the original plan for a mixed-use development will likely prevail. Drawing on previous conversations with city officials, he said a riverfront trail would probably go through the lot, which has a dock he received approval to expand in 2018.