The staircase inside the M building of Newmarket’s old stone mills is caked in years’ worth of pigeon excrement, but a few years from now, it could lead to a penthouse condo. Or a rooftop patio of a four-star restaurant with views up and down the bounding Lamprey River. Or a runway for hang-gliders.

Well, probably not that last one. But the possibilities are nearly limitless.

The town, led by the non-profit Newmarket Community Development Corporation, is preparing to find a private investor to tackle the task of redeveloping the series of 19th century factories along the Lamprey Riverin the town center.

The six buildings owned by the NCDC (buildings J through N and N1) add up to a total of approximately 90,000 square feet, not counting hallways, elevator shafts and the like.

The NCDC has owned the mill complex since 1998, when the previous owner, the Essex Corporation, sold them to the community for one dollar. Since then, the NCDC has been trying to gather input from residents and looking for interested developers. Most recently, Smuttynose Brewery owner Peter Egleston courted the mills as a possible new location for his expanding Portsmouth brewery, but the deal fell through after two years of discussion.

The NCDC has enlisted the aid of the Cecil Group to help put together request for proposal (RFP) kits to send out to developers in the fall. The Cecil Group, based in Boston, specializes in urban design and planning. Assessing the space and setup of the mills, the nature of Newmarket and the area, and popular trends in development, the firm will work with the NCDC to help negotiate the dreams of the town with realistic possibilities for development.

The NCDC offered well-attended tours of the space in early June, with more than 35 people in each of the two tour groups. At a meeting on Thursday, June 15, the Cecil Group invited townspeople to share their views on the future of the mills. Thirty-five people were present, a mix of older residents and concerned neighbors in the Bryant Rock and Rivermoor Landing condominiums.

Steve Cecil, president of the Cecil Group, gave a presentation on the current condition of the mills and some ideas for their possible use, based on preliminary research. “Physically, this is a really challenging but exciting opportunity,” Cecil noted.

The general consensus among those present was that the mills should be put to a blend of uses, incorporating residential, commercial, office and artist work spaces, while maintaining the existing character and cultural history of Newmarket. “Don’t make it like Vermont,” urged one concerned citizen, who worried the town could lose its sense of self in an effort to please outsiders.

Once residents’ opinions have been collected by the Cecil Group, they will aid the NCDC in putting together the RFP, informing interested developers of the site’s “opportunities as well as challenges, so they know what they’re getting into,” according to Arlon Chaffee, president of the NCDC. The RFP will highlight things the town has already done—such as acquiring necessary permits and ensuring available parking—to “lower the barrier to entry for a good developer,” as Chaffee puts it.

From here on, according to Chaffee, the NCDC will not be looking for input from the public.

Two other mill buildings adjacent to those in discussion have been turned into condominium complexes over the last 10 years. The Bryant Rock complex, built across the Lamprey River from the NCDC mills in 2003, went from a pre-2000 property tax value of $12,000 to a current value of $300,000, according to Chaffee.

But public sentiment at the meeting indicated concern that purely residential development wouldn’t benefit the town in the long run.

“The nice thing about the NCDC,” says Chaffee, “is that we’re a nonprofit group. We don’t need to make money off of these mills. That gives us the opportunity to make certain stipulations when we put together proposals. We can put in the RFP, ‘This is what we want.’”

Among the priorities of the NCDC and Newmarket residents in attendance at the meeting were continued and expanded community access to the river, retail stores that would serve as a draw for people from outside town and within, and a means of reconnecting the town with its waterfront history.

“Any thoughtful developer is going to take that input and say, ‘This is something people want, and that will make the space more attractive (to prospective tenants),’” Chaffee says. The redevelopment of the mills is projected to cost in the tens of millions of dollars, depending on what the chosen developer decides to do with them.

The NCDC plans to have its RFP kits ready by the fall, at which point they will be widely distributed to developers, including a running list of development groups that have already expressed an interest in the mill space. It’s too early to give an estimate as to when the redevelopment will be completed.

“Once we have proposals,” says Chaffee, “we can compare them, and say, ‘Here are five good ideas, but here are two great ideas.’ Then we can play those off each other and come up with one fantastic idea.”