Developer presents plan to repurpose Ames Plaza into year‑round indoor marketplace

Nick Thompson, representing Advanced Maintenance Services, told the Economic Development Advisory Board that he and local partners are working with the Ames Plaza owner on physical upgrades and a plan to convert the vacant former Ames department store into a multi‑unit indoor marketplace.

Thompson said the owner has begun paying for site improvements already installed and that ‘‘the owner of the plaza is ready to write the check to install [a] sprinkler system, which means possibilities open up drastically for what this can become and what is allowed to be in there.’’ He described a build‑out that would partition the roughly 36,000‑square‑foot former department store into multiple units ranging from about 625 to 2,400 square feet, with interior corridors, shared meeting space and year‑round access.

Why it matters: the proposal aims to create permanent, interior retail and service space—shops, small restaurants or ghost‑kitchen/shared‑kitchen operations, co‑working…