Umpleby's, a bakery and cafe from Bridgewater, Vt., plans to move into the space currently set to be completed in September.
Charles Umpleby, chef and owner of the bakery, said the College approached him with the offer for the space. Umpleby was motivated to move mainly because Hanover's population is 10 times more than that of Bridgewater, but still with a tight-knit small-town environment, he said.
"You can become very friendly with the customers and develop relationships with them in a town like Hanover," he said.
Umpleby's will occupy 2,700 square feet of commercial space in the building, which will also contain three residential apartments upstairs.
The final building of the South Block project, set to be completed in the summer of 2008, will contain 10,600 commercial square feet and 24 apartments in three upstairs levels, according to Valerie Reece, the project's assistant manager.
The Dartmouth Real Estate office purchased 10 properties in downtown Hanover in 2000 as part of its real estate investment. The office owns 40,000 acres of property, with the majority of that land in New Hampshire, and rents hundreds of properties for investment purposes. Real estate funds and securities account for 7.3 percent of the College's total assets, according to figures from Dec. 31, 2006 provided by Julie Dolan, associate vice president for fiscal affairs.
"We get involved in local, income-producing real estate that ties back to the mission of the school by also providing housing at off-campus locations," John Caulo, the project's manager and Dartmouth's associate director of real estate, said. "Another goal would be downtown revitalization."
The College purchased the downtown properties from the Hanover Investment Corporation, which reconsidered its plans to develop the downtown area.
"We thought that we could do a better job to reflect the spirit of the community," Caulo said.
When developing the downtown area, the real estate office seeks to rent its Hanover space for retail uses currently underserved in Hanover that would appeal to members of both the Hanover and Dartmouth community. In doing so, the office wants to avoid leasing to national retailers like Starbucks.
"That could lead to a homogenization of downtown," Caulo said. "We are trying to attract independently owned retailers because I think that makes Hanover a unique place."
