Sixth and final section of New Manchester Flats in the works

The 2-acre site is currently a grassy area. (Google Earth)

Sixteen years after its first phase was built, a Manchester development is heading into its final leg. 

Lynx Ventures is planning to build a 127-unit apartment building at 1021 E. Fourth St. that would be the sixth and final section of New Manchester Flats. 

New Manchester Flats kicked off in 2008 when Lynx’s Rick Gregory, who was then with Tom Papa’s Fountainhead Real Estate Development, began renovating a pair of vacant warehouses at 915 E. Fourth St. Subsequent phases across the years included new-construction buildings that added hundreds of apartments on adjacent parcels. The development now spans about 12 acres in southeastern Manchester. 

Bernard Harkless

Lynx principal Bernard Harkless said the most recent completed phase of New Manchester Flats wrapped up in 2020, and the latest building, at the corner of East Fourth Street and Gordon Avenue, will be the last for the development. 

“It’s been cool to see the transformation of everything in Manchester and to see all the growth of the neighborhood,” Harkless said. 

The building is planned to reach four stories, total around 93,000 square feet and include 97 car parking spaces plus 46 bicycle parking spots. It will rise on a 2-acre plot that’s currently a grassy area. 

While the rest of New Manchester Flats is a mix of market-rate and income-restricted units, Harkless said Lynx is planning for all 127 apartments at New Manchester Flats VI to be “affordable” units available only to those earning around 60% of the area median income. 

“We’re still working through some of the financing stuff, but it’ll be a 100% affordable project, for sure,” he said. 

A conceptual rendering of the building. (City documents)

Walter Parks Architects is designing the building. Timmons Group is the project engineer. Harkless said Lynx hasn’t yet selected a general contractor and hopes to begin construction in late 2024 or early 2025. 

Elsewhere in the Southside, Lynx is working on the redevelopment of the former Oak Grove Elementary School at 2200 Ingram Ave. into 255 apartments with rents at or below 60% AMI. Lynx is taking on that project with the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust. Harkless said construction is well underway. 

There’s also been some comings and goings at The Current, a mixed-use development Lynx built in recent years at 400 Hull St.

Last month the Hatch Local food hall that occupied much of The Current’s ground floor closed after two years in business. Harkless said Lynx hopes to announce what’s next for that space soon.

Lynx also recently inked a deal for London-based consulting giant Aon to take about 3,300 square feet of office space at The Current. The complex counts about 75,000 square feet of office space, which Harkless said is over 90% leased.