By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Gov. Kelly Ayotte said she believes a lease option rather than a sale of the Hampton Interstate 95 rest areas and liquor stores is a better bet because the state can control a lot more about the messaging rather than selling it outright, and have a long-term source of income.
Executive Councilor Janet Stevens, R-Rye, in whose district Hampton is located, said she and the governor are going to meet next week with Hampton officials who were hoping that a sale would mean $1 million a year in real estate tax revenue, where they get none right now. She noted it was the only rest area/welcome center option for development along the entire I-95 corridor.
She said Hampton officials were initially “devastated” after six years of hard work with four potential bidders and she said the deal was down to the last few weeks before Ayotte pulled the plug abruptly late last week. But Stevens said she thinks that there may be a silver lining in leasing that still brings in revenue to the town, through a state law that allows the lessee to pay a tax bill like a property owner.
In 2018, the legislature directed the state to sell the property and allow the proceeds to pay off liquor store debt. It stated a minimum bid would be $15 million. The liquor commission began with eight interested parties, got four bidders and only one, the Common Man Roadside, was from New Hampshire. It has operated the welcome centers on I-93 in Hooksett the past eight years in a long-term lease agreement.
Three other bidders were Global Montello Group Corporation of Waltham, Mass., Nouria Energy Corporation, of Worcester, Mass and Petrogas Group US Inc. (doing business as Applegreen) in Andover, Mass.
The selection recommendation among those four has not been made public.
Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, called Ayotte’s Hampton decision “monumental” and noting that the state could really use that kind of money right now, wanted to get her rationale.
While he did not get a chance to ask during the meeting, Ayotte said in her office after the meeting:
“That is a very important and valuable piece of property that the state owns off of I-95 and it is in a very strategic and important location that’s basically a gateway,” into New Hampshire.
When the contract to sell came to her desk as governor, she said, “I looked at the proposal and I had two very big concerns number one that I thought and I asked ‘did we consider a leasing situation’ which is what we do in Hooksett, and that analysis had not been done. And I believe that leasing that property given how valuable it is and important is very important when we think about long-term revenue for the state. It also allows the state to have more control over that location and what goes in there. I also don’t want our rest areas to be like the Jersey turnpike, no disrespect to Jersey but we have done this a different way. It’s been very New Hampshire,” she said of Hooksett.
She noted that New Hampshire products are sold there and instead of fast food you get at any rest area, there is more of a local food product in the meals served by the Common Man restaurants.
But also, she said making sure the state has control over it in the long term source of revenue from it.
“For me, that is the consideration and that is why I pulled…” she said. “This had been in progress obviously before I was governor and then when I looked at it I didn’t think it was a New Hampshire solution.”
Asked if a lease/purchase option might be offered, Ayotte said no, she does not support the sale.
It will go out to bid for a lease she said, through a request for proposals, and anyone can bid on it.
“I don’t know what the whole history of this is,” she said. “You have to look at this as a long-term view…it’s a tourism opportunity for us, too. We have set ourselves apart in the way we do our rest areas by being a little different than other states and I really respect that. Anyone will be able to bid on it so this is not directed at a particular vendor. It is really just making sure that it is a very New Hampshire rest area.”
The governor was asked if the state could weigh proposals to give more points to a New Hampshire vendor, she said the state does not do that.
“What we do is we will put out the RFP and anyone can bid whether you are in New Hampshire or out of New Hampshire. It is my hope, I want it to be a fair process….It needs to be a lease. It needs to be a New Hampshire solution in terms of what is put at that rest area and they have to be willing to do it in a way that reflects the beauty of our state, our quality and our uniqueness.”