Developers of Tuscan Village, the massive multi-use development in Salem, have switched gears on one aspect of the plan: They want to replace nearly 300,000 square feet of proposed office space with another 600 housing units.

The added units would bring the total number of housing units at Tuscan Village to 1,785, a mix of condominiums and apartments.

The Union Leader reported the added housing will replace 286,400 square feet of planned office space. Mark Gross, director of permitting for Tuscan Village, told the newspaper, “The market for big corporate office spaces has gone by the wayside” at least for now, he said. “What we found through Covid is that residential has really taken off, especially in the rental market,” Gross said.

The proposal involves replacing two planned two-story, 88,000-squarefoot retail/office buildings with a six-story 488,277-square-foot retail/residential building with 300 apartments as well as a previously planned five-story, 299,900-square-foot retail/office building with an eight-story 473,835-square-foot retail/entertainment/residential building with 300 units.

The massive 170-acre development is being built at the former Rockingham Park racetrack and includes the Central Village, North Village, South Village and a life science district. The ordinance is flexible in terms of how much housing will be allowed, but does require reviews by the planning board, said Planning Director Jacob LaFontaine.