News & Press

DOVER — The city's new Waterfront District was decades in the making. Now, it has come to life, with the official opening of the public Nebi Park and the completion of the first phase of developer Cathartes' mixed-use project, The Truette.

More than 100 people gathered at the new public pavilion at the 3-acre Nebi Park on July 14 to celebrate with a ribbon cutting. The city's new park offers the community a riverwalk with sweeping views of the Cocheco River, a public pavilion, a paddle dock and various seating options, to name a few amenities.

DOVER — A park pavilion coming to the Cohecho River waterfront development is in the works as the decades-in-the-making project moves forward.

City consultant CJ Architects has designed a two-level park pavilion to be located at the waterfront alongside the Cathartes development of 400-plus riverside residential units, including apartments and townhouses, and about 26,000 square feet of commercial space. The city is building an adjacent 3.4-acre public park that will feature a public boat dock and kayak launch as part of the overall project.

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.

NORTH HAMPTON — Four Seacoast homes sold for $2 million or more in August, led by a four-bedroom, four-bathroom North Hampton home selling for more than $3 million, according to the Seacoast Board of Realtors. 

The nearly 7,000-square-foot house on Woodland Road, which closed for $3.075 million last month, was custom-built in 2022 with a farmhouse design, according to a real estate listing. It is located on 12 acres of land, surrounded by trees. It features a screened-in porch with a wood-burning stone fireplace, a bluestone patio, and French doors leading to an office and den space.

PORTSMOUTH – A proposed mixed-use development planned for the corner of Maplewood Avenue and Deer Street has received generally favorable reviews from the city's Historic District Commission.

Developer Thomas Hamilton Balon Jr. is proposing to build the development at 161 Deer St., which will feature commercial and retail space on the first floor with three floors of residential and a penthouse above.

Architect Carla Goodknight, who represented the developer at an HDC meeting earlier this week, said she thought the project was “coming along very well.”

PORTSMOUTH — A crowd of more than 100 people celebrated the dedication of the Ruth Lewin Griffin Place workforce housing development during a ceremony and ribbon cutting Wednesday.

The Portsmouth Housing Authority named its new 64-unit,below-market rent downtown housing development after Griffin, a Portsmouth resident, former Executive Councilmember and longtime state lawmaker.

Craig Welch, the Portsmouth Housing Authority’s executive director, lauded Griffin for her “decades of service for the state of New Hampshire, and the city of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Housing Authority.”

PORTSMOUTH — The first resident of the Portsmouth Housing Authority’s 64-unit, below-market-rate downtown housing project has moved into her new home.

Chelsea Chase, who works in Portsmouth, had to begin looking for a new apartment in late February when she got bad news about the rent for the apartment where she was living.

“So the rent, they doubled it, not just increased it, they doubled it,” she said as she stood in her new Portsmouth Housing Authority apartment, which features new appliances, high ceilings and large windows.

SOMERSWORTH — A $30.8 million overhaul of 169 Somersworth Housing Authority units at Albert J. Nadeau Homes, Filion Terrace and Charpentier Apartments has begun.

The renovations are a result of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development sponsored Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD), which is tailored to help public housing authorities preserve and improve housing properties by addressing costly backlogs of deferred maintenance and upgrades.

Somersworth Mayor Dana Hilliard praised SHA’s “aggressive commitment to redefining a community of hope” through these modernized housing opportunities, during a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, June 9 at the Nadeau Homes Complex.

PORTSMOUTH – The city's largest expansion of permanently affordable housing in 50 years will be called Ruth Lewin Griffin Place, named after the Portsmouth Housing Authority's longtime commissioner and community stalwart.

The name of the 64-unit workforce housing development at 152 Court St. was revealed during Wednesday's formal groundbreaking ceremony for the $16.3 million project, thoughwork on the site began in October.

Construction is expected to take 14 to 16 months and the building will be occupied by the first half of 2022.
Rents for the apartments will start at $900 a month for a one-bedroom and $1,100 for a two-bedroom unit, PHA Executive Director Craig Welch said last month.