Concord, NH The Monitor Way developers who previously announced plans to build 650 housing units in a 95-acre mixed-use development near the Concord Monitor building, have added a third partner and optioned the abutting 40 acres to the immediate north of the project area.

New England Family Housing CEO Kevin Lacasse and William & Reeves CRE principal Deane Navaroli welcomed veteran construction leader and developer Mike Dion to the partnership team. With Dion as co-signer, the team has optioned the 40 acres owned by the Concord Regional Solid Waste Co-op just north of the original project site, and just south of the new Market Basket development.

“We’re excited to have Mike join the Monitor Way development team,” Lacasse said. “With his 30-plus years of construction experience and resources, having been involved in the creation of thousands of housing units over the years, Mike is the one of the best-known leaders in the New Hampshire construction industry, yet a secret asset as a developer.”

For the past 30 years, Dion has been a well-known subcontractor for some of the biggest and best general contractors throughout New England, involved in major construction projects, including the Red Oak apartments under construction in downtown Manchester, West End Yards in Portsmouth and the Baldwin at Woodmont Commons in Londonderry. Dion founded four construction companies; Exterior Designs (1992), an exterior cladding company, Metro Walls (2004), a commercial framing and drywall company, Atlantic Prefab (2015), the area’s largest prefabricated commercial construction components company and Patriot Building Systems (2018), a commercial wood framing company.

Two years ago, when the four companies had nearly 300 employees, combined, Dion sold Exterior Designs, Atlantic Prefab and Patriot Building Systems to UFP Industries in Michigan, a publicly traded lumber supplier, for an undisclosed sum. Last year, he also sold Metro Walls to its employees to form an employee-owned company, for which he continues to serve as chairman.

“I am proud to be a part of a project that promises to make a significant dent in the critical need for housing in New Hampshire,” Dion said. “I have been involved in countless housing projects in the state and all over New England in the past several years, and I know how to get them done, both as a contractor and as an owner.”

Dion and Navaroli are partners on a number of commercial and multifamily residential development projects in Bedford, Epping and Londonderry.

Dion is also developing single-family and multifamily housing projects in Laconia.

Between the three partners, they have ownership in properties which total about $180 million in value, have structured financing for a combined $160 million-worth of real estate and been involved in over $1 billion worth of construction, including the creation of nearly 11,000 housing units.

The development team is studying different potential uses for the additional 40 acres. The original 95 acres slated for development is owned by Newspapers of New England.