Building 19 site stirs fond memories on Facebook

News that discount store Building 19 will end its 16-year run at 420 Amherst St. next month generated many reader comments about the history and future of the location.

In particular, readers remembered Kealey Farms, an independent grocery store that gave the location a shot.

A Facebook page dedicated to the store offers a brief introduction:

“Kealey Farms was a very successful supermarket located in Salem, NH, that began as a fruit stand. It would later become a booming business – unique in its exotic produce and cheese shop – that would compete favorably with other chain markets. After opening a very expensive second store in Nashua, NH, however, Kealey’s was ultimately doomed.”

More than 150 Facebook users are members of the page. They share memories of employment, mostly at the Salem store, in the 1970s and 1980s. Photos illustrate the good ol’ days and Kealey Farms employee reunions.

Kealey ownership eventually sold the business to Alexander’s supermarket chain, which had an outlet farther down Amherst Street, where PC Connection is now located. Alexander’s named the old Kealey store Hampshire Farms so as not to have two Alexander’s close to one another.

The grocery business didn’t last long, and by the late 1980s or early 1990s, Builders Square moved into the 420 Amherst St. property.

Builders Square, a subsidiary of Kmart, was a big-box hardware store modeled in the style of Home Depot.

Building 19 came along in 1995. It withstood a threat by Walmart, whose application for a superstore there was rejected in 2006 by the city Planning Board because of aquifer and traffic concerns.

The owner of the property, AS-VR Realty LLC in Londonderry, would have let Building 19’s lease expire and would have welcomed Walmart if the city had approved the proposal.

But Building 19 can’t survive the latest threat to its survival there. AS-VR Realty and Building 19 couldn’t come to terms on a new lease, according to store management. Building 19 will have a long clearance sale before shutting the doors for good around Aug. 20.

Which business tries the location next is anyone’s guess at the moment. The city planning department hasn’t received any applications for the location, and AS-VR Realty’s registered agent isn’t talking.

Many speculate that the chain Whole Foods will open a store there. Last week, a Whole Foods representative repeated the chain’s previous announcement that it would open a location in Nashua soon, but refused to say where.

Whoops

Next year’s school budget has been approved for several months, but administrators told Board of Education members at last week’s meeting they forgot to include three teachers.

A teacher for deaf students and two preschool teachers were coming off grant funding and were supposed to be included in the budget, said Chief Operating Officer Dan Donovan.

“Due to a number of different reasons, they fell off the budget radar,” Donovan told board members.

The cost of adding the three positions was $125,000. As it happens, Donovan said they were able to find the money in another part of the budget, where there had been a duplicate entry on a $119,000 Medicaid billing fee. The figure had been entered twice in error, freeing up the money for the positions.

“Oddly enough, it worked out,” Donovan said.

Phoenix follow-up

When the Board of Education closed the Phoenix Program in May 2010, it required district administrators to produce a report following up on the progress of the students from the program by July 31 of the following year.

Superintendent Mark Conrad said the report wouldn’t be done by the deadline, but said it’s in the works.

“That report is a little ways off,” Conrad said last week.

The Phoenix Program was a program for “at-risk” students, primarily in grades six through 10. As part of budget cuts last year, the program was closed, saving $309,000.

Most of the program’s staff was spread out among other schools. The students were also dispersed to their neighborhood schools, but the additional staff was used to create programs within the schools to help the transition.

Take out the waste

The city will continue its regional household hazardous waste and electronics collection on Saturday. It will be held at the Public Works Garage at 6 Riverside St.

From 8 a.m.-noon, residents of Nashua, Amherst, Brookline, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Pelham, and Windham can drop off the items listed at www.nashuarpc.org/hhw. The charge is $10 per vehicle.

For more informail, call 424-2240.

Meeting time

Get a taste of city affairs by attending one of the many municipal meetings to be held this week.

For a complete list, go to this column at www.nashuatelegraph.com.

Nashua … From the Inside was compiled by staff writers Michael Brindley and Albert McKeon.