An Italian restaurant will be built in the middle of the Merchant’s Way development near Exit 17 of I-93 in north Concord, the latest step in the years-long expansion of the site.

“This is the part we wanted to save for a full-service restaurant. We get a lot of folks complaining they don’t want any more fast food restaurants and we understand that – (they want) a place where they can meet their friends, have a nice dinner out, maybe sit at the bar and have a nice drink, ” Laurie Rausco, co-owner of the development, told the Concord Planning Board at a recent meeting.

The Board approved building a 5,500-square-foot Evviva Trattoria restaurant with an outdoor patio in a stand-alone building in the center of the development that will also include a 2,000-square-foot retail space.

Evviva Trattoria is a Westford, Mass. chain with nine restaurants, including three in New Hampshire. It is sister to the larger chain of 110 Grill restaurants. 

Evviva Trattoria specializes in Italian food: “trattoria” is the Italian word for a sit-down restaurant that is less formal than a “ristorante.”

Once finished along with the ongoing construction of an urgent care clinic being built by Concord Hospital, this will leave only one major retail site to be developed, estimated to be a large, 30,000-square foot space. Rauseo told the board that for financial reasons the development isn’t expanded on spec, meaning they have to have a guaranteed tenant before constructing a new building, and negotiations are ongoing.

The overall plan for the development also includes industrial space.

The first phase of Merchant’s Way, most notably including the Market Basket supermarket, opened in 2022. Rauseo said the store has become the fifth busiest Market Basket in the state. 

That development was preceded by a Dunkin’ and gas station that have been there for a decade. Merchant’s Way was delayed for years by competing efforts to build a supermarket closer to the center of Penacook.

David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com