MANCHESTER, N.H. – In late 2024, the Revo Casino came to the Manchester Zoning Board of Adjustment and Manchester Planning Board with requests to create a brand new, larger casino on the footprint of its current building and two adjacent lots. This month, representatives of the casino returned with slight modifications as well as support for renovating a neighboring property.
In a unanimous vote, the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved requests from both applicants near the end of the April 2026 meeting.
The neighboring property, a joint Sunoco gas station/Dunkin’ Donuts location at 1265 South Willow St., requested variances from the city’s zoning ordinance for maximum lot coverage, maximum front yard setback, Type 2 buffer yard requirements, retaining wall setbacks, freestanding signs, minimum first-story transparency per façade, and blank wall limitation of a primary façade.
Engineer Brian Pratt of Fuss and O’Neill said that owners of the current building on the site felt that it had become dated and the new casino project provided an opportunity for improvement.
Regarding the lot coverage, Pratt felt that the proposed 84 percent is reasonable given the small footprint of the lot compared to the maximum 75 percent allowed by right for properties like this one in the “Regional Business Corridor” or BC-2 district. The front yard setback variance was due to the hope to move the gas pump canopy five feet further back from the street to allow vehicle circulation. The buffer yard requirements seek more trees, although this would have been difficult due to space limitations with tree root systems and retaining walls to meet the minimum 21 trees that would be required, with only 14 trees being proposed. A variance request for the retaining wall came from the fact that the casino is donating space from its lot to provide space for a drive-thru lane behind the building that will fit 14 vehicles. The other variance requests were matters of aesthetics and corporate branding requirements from Sunoco.
The number of pumps will also be reduced from eight to six in the proposal, and the gas station will go before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to request the use of right-of-way space on South Willow Street for the placement of green space and floral ornamentation, something the casino has received permission for just to the south.
Dick Anagnost, owner of the Revo Casino property, spoke in favor of the proposal in part due to the modification in the style of the new building which he feels will fit in well with the new casino and its accommodation of a cut-through for a new “boulevard-style” entrance from South Willow Street that seeks to improve traffic flow from what is now seen in the area.
Regarding the casino, variances were requested for front yard setbacks, maximum lot coverage, surface parking location, required number of street entrances, screening of dumpsters, tower width, primary façade blank wall limitations, secondary façade blank wall limitations, secondary façade minimum first story transparency, roof sign locations and four counts of allowable building signs.
It was noted most of these requests came due to the fact that the city’s new zoning ordinance could be considered a form-based code, but does not have particular criteria for casinos, with the closest comparison being a shopping center. Despite some design comparisons, casinos generally seek to produce fewer entry points for the sake of security. The casino’s proposed windows would not technically meet the official criteria for windows given their lack of transparency from the inside of the building, again for security purposes.
The façade variance requests came due to the fact that the signage normally found in commercial areas would instead here be artwork, which like the dumpster placement and tower width, were requested for aesthetic purposes.
Anagnost also noted that while the amount of impervious surface, or surface area that cannot soak up stormwater, is greater than what is required for a project of this scope but also an improvement on what was there before on the three lots that had been combined into one to create the proposed casino.
The two projects will also require review from the Manchester Planning Board at a future date.