I admire your passion and time and effort put into your proposal. However and as someone who owns a large commercial building in downtown Laconia it is far too ambitious.
I am all for a revitalization of the area but not on such a large scale. Your cost projection of 7 million is definitely too low (I have been in the construction business as well as a CPA for over 30 years). I would use a 10+ million dollar number which the city would never recuperate.
I do disagree with Tilton, there are many businesses doing well downtown but as in any city there are others holding on by a thread and a revitalization would certainly help but in the hands of a city that has overspent on the Colonial Theatre and does not seem to want to move into the 21st century this could be a financial disaster.
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