Records tie Merrimack ICE project to Ayotte donor

Records connect Merrimack ICE warehouse to Trammell Crow network tied to Gov. Kelly Ayotte donor Harlan Crow.

The vacant warehouse property ICE has been eyeing for a planned detention-style human warehouse site in Merrimack, New Hampshire, runs through the corporate world of Trammell Crow Company. It also enters the political orbit of billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow, a former Trammell Crow executive and prolific Republican fundraiser, who has drawn national scrutiny for his close relationship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Crow has also been a significant financial backer to New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte.

ICE has eyed the large warehouse property at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway to widen its New Hampshire footprint in negotiations so secretive even the governor claimed she had no knowledge of them, and has already resulted in the resignation of one state agency head.

The facility is described in state consultation records as a part of a project to “purchase, occupy and rehabilitate a 43-acre warehouse property in support of ICE operations” according to documents on the project obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire (ACLU-NH) through a Right-to-Know request.

The project documents reference potential installation of “tentage and a guard shack” and renovations for “holding and processing spaces.”

Those ownership and development records tie the building to a Dallas-based LLC and the Trammell Crow brand. Property records cited by the Boston Globe list the owner as DRI TCC 50 RMP LLC, headquartered in Dallas, and note the property has been advertised in recent years by Trammell Crow Company.

RELATED: State House rocked after ACLU releases files detailing Ayotte admin working with ICE on Merrimack detention site

InDepthNH reported the LLC “shares the same physical address as” Trammell Crow and a Merrimack Planning Board agenda from 2023 also lists DRI TCC 50 RMP, LLC as the “owner,” with TC Boston Development, Inc. as the applicant on a site-plan matter.

Harlan Crow is the well-known son of Trammell Crow and serves as chair for Crow Holdings. 

Crow is also a long-running power player in Republican fundraising and outside spending — a profile that’s drawn him renewed scrutiny in recent years. The Dallas real-estate billionaire has been described in political coverage as a major GOP donor and fundraiser, including hosting or helping host donor events that benefit Republican candidates and committees.

Crow’s name is also closely associated with the Supreme Court’s modern ethics controversy because of his relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas.

In 2023, ProPublica reported that Thomas for years accepted undisclosed luxury travel and hospitality from Crow, including trips on his private jet and time on his yacht. The publication separately reported that a Crow company purchased property interests from Thomas and his family members in a 2014 real-estate transaction that Thomas did not disclose.

One 2016 Texas Tribune report on fundraising traffic in Texas listed a Dallas fundraiser hosted by Harlan Crow, with Ayotte among the candidates referenced as beneficiaries.

Crow also personally donated over $5000 to Ayotte’s campaign committee, Friends of Kelly Ayotte, ahead of her 2016 race for US Senate against Maggie Hassan, which she lost.

Trammell Crow Company — the entity tied to the Merrimack warehouse — has been a subsidiary of CBRE since it completed its acquisition of Trammell Crow Company in 2006, according to CBRE’s own investor filings.

The ICE facility plans have drawn intense backlash in New Hampshire, with the ACLU-NH arguing the records show the agency is pursuing approvals while “declining to tell the public, the press, or the town” about its intentions, and multiple outlets reporting on local concerns — including the prospect of the federal government purchasing the property and taking it off local tax rolls.