PORTSMOUTH — Crews began working Monday morning to demolish the single-story building at 161 Deer St., making way for a new mixed-use development featuring 19 condos. The property is also known as 70 Maplewood Ave.
Developer Thomas Balon Jr. has said the design for the new project was inspired by the North End’s long railroad history. The site was the former location of Boston & Maine’s Portsmouth rail station. The building demolished Monday formerly housed Harbor Eyecare Center, which has moved to Exeter at 164 Epping Road.
The new project is slated to feature commercial space on the first floor, with condos on the second, third and fourth stories, with a setback penthouse on the fifth floor. The property is located off Deer Street near the city’s Foundry Place municipal garage, next to CSX rail lines.
Carla Goodknight, the architect for the project, said each of the condo units will come with two parking spaces. “The units are approximately 2,400 square feet on floors two, three, and four,” Goodknight said previously when the project was approved.
The development is planned to include two commercial spaces on the first floor, according to Goodknight. “One may contain a restaurant/bar and the other, a possible bank or office use."
Balon and his wife plan to live in the penthouse, which “will be surrounded by a high cornice with green roof deck,” Goodknight said.
Balon’s development will be located where Deer Street Associates had proposed building one of four mixed-use projects in cooperation with the city. Balon bought the property in November 2021 for $5.2 million, according to city records.