hat might be Portsmouth’s most controversial development site in recent memory is back in the news.
After a decade of bitter debate, missed opportunities and lawsuits over what to do with the former McIntyre federal building complex in downtown Portsmouth, the new owner of the property has filed the latest conceptual plan to redevelop the site – this time into a four-building, mixed-used center with retail, housing and a hotel.
Not surprisingly, the preliminary plan is getting mixed reviews in a city not known for agreeing very much on anything to do with the 2-acre McIntyre site, located just a block from the city’s historic Market Square.
Comments from residents and city officials about local car dealership owner and developer Anthony DiLorenzo’s initial $200 million plans range from the laudatory (“a great start”) to criticisms of proposed open-space designs and the size of buildings.
But there also seems to be a sense that, after years of squabbling and botched development ideas, that something is finally going to get done at what many consider an urban eyesore in the heart of a city that prides itself on its Seacoast charm.
As one online commenter on a city Facebook page put it: “The building [site] can’t possibly get uglier or more useless. At this point, let [DiLorenzo] build whatever he wants.”
Historic District the First Stop
Most residents wouldn’t go so far as to give DiLorenzo, owner of Key Auto Group and a Republican candidate in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, free rein to develop the site as he pleases.
Still, DiLorenzo, who bought the property from the feds at auction for $9 million in 2023, appears to be in the development driver’s seat due to current zoning rules and after state historic preservation officials’ OK’d the demolition of a single-story wing of the old McIntyre complex – while keeping the 4-story modernist McIntyre building.
At a recent meeting of the Portsmouth His-
toric District Commission, James Scully, an attorney for DiLorenzo, stressed that his client is “very committed” to the city and plans to work closely with officials to produce a final design that maintains the historic nature of Portsmouth.
At the HDC meeting, Scully and other members of DiLorenzo’s development team outlined different tentative “conceptual massing” ideas for the site – which don’t include detailed architectural designs.
Finer architectural details will be developed and reviewed at a later point in a city review process that’s expected to last well into late 2026 – and beyond.
Stock photo
Battles over Portsmouth’s former McIntyre federal building, bottom left, have led to lawsuits between former developers and the city, and played big roles in sweeping elected officials out of office.
BY THE NUMBERS
County Close-Up Sullivan
Lempster was decidedly unpopular with early European settlers: by 1770, only eight families had settled in the area after 35 years of effort. That appeared to change with the town’s official incorporation and the end of conflict with Britain and its Native American allies: By 1790, 415 settlers lived in Lempster’s borders.
“Miss Honeywell could, with amazing skill and precision, embroider, cut, do needlework, write, and draw using her mouth. In this astounding example, Miss Honeywell has created a complicated decorative frame with a microscopic but legible Lord’s Prayer that could fit under a five-cent piece.”
City Metropolitan Museum of Art’s caption on one of Lempster native Martha Anne Honeywell’s works of art in its collection
Belknap County
Laura LaPointe, Registrar 64 Court St, Laconia, NH, 03246 603-527-5420
The information appearing in this newspaper is taken from deed and mortgage documents filed at each of the ten registries of deeds in the state. All property transfers with a sales price of at least $100 and all term-mortgage documents are collected.
Whenever possible, we combine the separate deed and mortgage documents so that we can present one complete record of the street address, purchase price, lender and mortgage amount. When we cannot link a deed with a mortgage (and vice versa) each transaction appears individually.
Real estate records are organized alphabetically by registry, then town, then by street name.
The amount appearing on the same line as the street address is the purchase price from the deed.
We print “No Amt Given” when the amount did not appear on the document we review. “No Street Given” appears in place of the street address when it was not available.
The volume, page of the deed and filing date appear for all sales.
The mortgage lender and the amount of the mortgage used to purchase the property are shown.
Any second mortgage (Mtg2) filed at the same time as the deed will also appear here. • The
• Prior sale data appears only when the address of the new sale matches exactly with the address of the older sale in our database.
In communities where we have a file of all properties from the assessor’s office, we provide additional property details when available. This is done by exactly matching the address and seller name from the new sales record with the address and owner name found in the property file. No descriptive data appears whenever there is any doubt that the two records are the same property.
The “Use” is based on the code the assessor assigns to each building on a parcel. Whenever there is more than one use code or more than one building on a parcel, we flag these as “Multi-use” and “Multi-bldg” respectively.
These deeds transfer title to the lender after the mortgage is foreclosed (unless there is a higher bidder at the auction.) The amount in these transactions is usually the amount of the outstanding mortgage that was foreclosed.
• “Use” distinguishes residential homes from land sales and commercial sales.
• For residential homes, the number of bedrooms and house style appear when available
• The lot size (Lot) is shown in square feet.
▶
• The prior sale shows the original price paid for the property.
Please note: The information contained in this newspaper is taken from public records. While every precaution is taken, no responsibility is assumed for errors or omissions. Readers should confirm any information before taking action.
KEY TO LABELS
B = Buyer
S = Seller
Mtg = Mortgage lender and amount
Mtg2 = Second Mortgage Use = Building use Bdrm = bedrooms Lot = lot size in square feet YTD = year-to-date
Notice To Readers
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS
LP
The information published in The Registry Review is taken from public and other records.
The Warren Group takes reasonable steps to provide an accurate publication, however, The Warren Group has not investigated the accuracy of the source records and does not guarantee the accuracy of those records or any part of the transcription and publishing process.
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Publication of any category or item of information is dependent upon that information continuing to be reasonably available in the public records. The Warren Group assumes no responsibility for changes in public policy which may affect the availability of public information. The Warren Group assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors.
The Registry Review ISSN 1067-0521
Published by: The Warren Group, 2 Corporation Way, Suite 250, Peabody, MA 01960
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Associate Publisher: Cassidy Norton
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STREET GIVEN $419,000 B: Ethan Hudson BAddr: 172 Mica Mine Rd UNITY NH 03743
S: Daniel J Lacasse Ret & Daniel J Lacasse Bk/Page: 2326/673, Date: 05/29/26
Chapter 7 Bankruptcies
*Filed: Office of the Clerk, US Bankruptcy Court District of New Hampshire
These are Chapter 7 Liquidations in which a debtor turns over all property owned to be converted into money which is used to pay administration costs and creditors to the extent possible. Honest debtors receive a discharge relieving them from legal liability for the payment of provable debts listed in the petition with some specific exemptions, most notably taxes and support payments. The name and mailing address of the person or entity filing the petition is followed by the filing date (D) and the Case # (Case#)
BELKNAP COUNTY
Barnstead
St Hilaire, Todd, 6 Windsor Way, Barnstead, 03225
D:06/02/26 Case#: 26-10491-KB
Tilton
Deshaies, Joseph A, Tilton, D:05/28/26 Case#: 26-10480-KB
Alstead
CHESHIRE COUNTY
Aiken, Richard, 7 Camp Brook Rd, Alstead, 03602
D:05/31/26 Case#: 26-10484-KB
Keene
Davis Lane, Kaela Breanna, Keene, D:06/01/26 Case#: 26-10489-KB
Winchester
Bebey, Elisha Jane, 32 Bilo Ave, Winchester, 03470
Jarrar, Jasem M, 3 Blaise Way U:C, Hooksett, 03106
D:05/31/26 Case#: 26-10483-KB
Pembroke
Jordan, Michael Patrick, 23 Donna Dr, Pembroke, 03275 D:06/01/26 Case#: 26-10487-KB
Chapter 13 Bankruptcies
*Filed: Office of the Clerk, US Bankruptcy Court District of New Hampshire
These allow for an adjustment of debt. An individual with a regular income proposes a plan to pay off debts from future earnings over a period of time between three to five years. Usually these payments are in full satisfaction of the debt, but may be a percentage of them. Upon completion, the debtor receives a discharge of all debts covered by the plan except child support and alimony, if applicable. The name and mailing address of the person or entity filing the petition is followed by the filing date (D) and the case number (Case#)
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
Merrimack
Drouin, Michael Raymond, Merrimack, D:05/29/26 Case#: 26-10482-KB
Types of tax include: 941 FICA and Withholding Tax; 940 Federal Unemployment Tax; 1040 Individual Income Tax; 2290 Highway Use Tax; 1120 Corporate Tax; 720 Excise Tax
CARROLL COUNTY
Effingham
Struble, Kerry, 1502 Province Lake Rd, Effingham, 03882-8452 Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/29/2026 Tax:1040 Amt:$7,094 Bk/Pg:3882/832
CHESHIRE COUNTY
Keene
Thomas, Heather M, 792 Court St U:60, Keene, 03431-1728 Plaintiff: The Court A Condo Assn
D:05/27/2026 Amt:$1,736 Bk/Pg:3349/972
Campton
GRAFTON COUNTY
Besemer Builders LLC, PO Box 658, Campton, 03223 Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/26/2026 Tax:941 Amt:$94,669 Bk/Pg:5017/805
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
Amherst
Leishman, Kathryn & Eric R Leishman, 6 Standish Way U:4, Amherst, 03031-2841 Plaintiff: Pilgrim Hills Condominium D:05/29/2026 Amt:$2,200 Bk/Pg:9956/2019
Bedford
Concrete Developments LLC, 10 Iron Horse Dr U:B, Bedford, 03110-6825 Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/26/2026
Cullen, Ashley E, 32 Jack St, Northwood, 032614010 D:05/29/26 Case#: 26-10481-KB
Sandown
Goguen, Kathleen Ann, Sandown, D:06/01/26 Case#: 26-10488-KB
Lien & Attachments
*Filed: Registry of Deeds. The Registry Review provides notice of the filing of Writs Of Attachments, RSA72: 38-a Liens and other Liens in the various County Registries. Liens are filed for any number of reasons including some which have little or no bearing on the credit worthiness of the parties involved. Also, many liens are released shortly after they are filed. Readers are further cautioned that the same lien may be filed in more than one county. Since The Registry Review reports lien filings in each county, the same lien may appear in one or more county listings in any issue or in multiple issues. In accordance with standard Registry Review policy and especially with respect to liens, readers are cautioned to investigate all public records and other circumstances surrounding the filing of any lien in which they are interested. No other action should be taken or opinions formed based solely on information published in The Registry Review.
Exeter
Schloesser, Eric & Regina Schloesser, 17 Old Town Farm Rd, Exeter, 03833-4547 Plaintiff: The Green Cocoon LLC D:05/29/2026 Amt:$6,729 Bk/Pg:6709/986
Hampton Falls
Ketchell, Robert D & Marya P Ketchell, 80 Drinkwater Rd, Hampton Falls, 03844-2134
Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/29/2026
Tax:1040 Amt:$71,157 Bk/Pg:6709/1487
Nottingham White, Stephen, 61 Whites Grove Rd, Nottingham, 03290 Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/27/2026
Nh Bath & Kitchen LLC & John A Comrie, 9 Merrick Rd, Raymond, 03077-1732 Plaintiff: Nh Dept Of Empl Secur D:05/27/2026 Amt:$1,600 Bk/Pg:6708/1323
Stratham
Donohue, Joseph M, 31 Winterberry Ln, Stratham, 038852472 Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/29/2026
Tax:1040 Amt:$367,418 Bk/Pg:6709/1486 STRAFFORD COUNTY
Farmington
Mpv Steel LLC & Michael P Vanderhoof, 169 Dream Hill Ter, Farmington, 03835-3323 Plaintiff: Nh Dept Of Empl Secur D:05/27/2026 Amt:$11,493 Bk/Pg:5357/722
Foreclosure, Mortgagee & Other Lien Auctions
The schedule of recently published notices of mortgagee foreclosure sales is to be used only as a reference and index to the actual public notices. The Warren Group does not independently verify the listed information and disclaims all responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of this information. Readers are advised that foreclosure notices may contain errors with respect to any aspect of the property or the auction being noticed. TWG might not report subsequent corrections, if any. Listing of summary information for a notice is not intended to represent that a default has occurred. Any actual default which may have occurred may have been, or may be, cured at any time. The reader should contact the person or firm specified in the actual notice for any purpose (including, but not limited to, verification, current status, cancellation or postponement of the sale). Auctions may be cancelled or postponed at any time up to and including at the auction itself.
BELKNAP COUNTY
Meredith
07/17/26 02:00 PM 129 Livingston Rd
Owner:Murray E Nickerson & Kim G Nickerson
Lender: Deposit:$5,000
Doc#: D:03/07/06
Source:Manchester Union Leader (05/29/26)
Atty:Brock & Scott Pllc
CARROLL COUNTY
Madison
07/17/26 12:00 PM 534 Forest Pines Rd
Owner:Jeffrey S Montgomery
Lender: Deposit:$5,000
Doc#: D:12/17/04
Source:Manchester Union Leader (05/29/26)
Atty:Brock & Scott Pllc
COOS COUNTY
Whitefield
07/24/26 11:00 AM 64 Pine St
Owner:Roy Huntoon & Debra Mitton
Lender: Deposit:$5,000 Doc#: D:12/22/23
Source:Manchester Union Leader (05/28/26)
Atty:Brock & Scott Pllc
GRAFTON COUNTY
Franklin 07/17/26 09:00 AM 84 Valley St Owner:Dominic Jude Lender:
Date: 05/29/26
J4 Energy LLC, 71 Rangeway Rd, Dunbarton, 030464310 Plaintiff: Nh Dept Of Rev Admin D:05/27/2026 Amt:$3,538 Bk/Pg:3930/2822
Franklin
Beauchine, Robert F, 392 N Main St, Franklin, 032351019 Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/29/2026 Tax:941 Amt:$26,225 Bk/Pg:3931/1493
Hill
Arnold, Michael, 12 Quimby Rd, Hill, 03243-3434 Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/26/2026 Tax:1040 Amt:$66,543 Bk/Pg:3930/2689
Hooksett
Furman, Frank, 15 Mount Saint Marys Way U:405, Hooksett, 03106-4406 Plaintiff: Mount St Marys Condo Assn D:05/27/2026 Amt:$8,087 Bk/Pg:3931/277
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
Atkinson
Difrancesco, Judith A, 21 Marilyn Dr U:21, Atkinson, 03811-2459 Plaintiff: Beaver Brook LLC D:05/27/2026 Amt:$250,000 Bk/Pg:6708/1353
Derry
Lemons LLC, 84 W Broadway U:200, Derry, 030382323 Plaintiff: Nh Dept Of Rev Admin D:05/27/2026 Amt:$2,312 Bk/Pg:6708/1322
Lombard Electric Inc, 73 Hampstead Rd, Derry, 03038-1627 Plaintiff: Nh Dept Of Rev Admin D:05/26/2026 Amt:$17,757 Bk/Pg:6708/423
Toczko, Christian A, PO Box 731, Derry, 03038
Plaintiff: Dept Of Treasury - Irs D:05/27/2026 Tax:1040 Amt:$93,892 Bk/Pg:6708/1431
Lebanon
07/23/26 12:00 PM 18 Granite St
Owner:Shara L Speer & Christina A Cougill
Lender: Deposit:$5,000 Doc#: D:08/22/24
Source:Manchester Union Leader (05/29/26) Atty:Brock & Scott Pllc
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
Hillsboro
07/27/26 11:00 AM 20 Pearl St
Owner:Rebecca Fowler & Christopher Fowler
Lender: Deposit:$5,000 Doc#: D:07/10/24
Source:Manchester Union Leader (05/29/26)
Atty:Brock & Scott Pllc
07/15/26 09:30 AM 51 Bridge St
Owner:Debra C Spencer
Lender: Deposit:$5,000 Doc#: D:01/27/25
Source:Manchester Union Leader (06/01/26)
Atty:Craig Deachman & Associat 6036659111
Manchester
08/05/26 09:00 AM 206 Garvin Ave
Owner:Richard C Giarrusso & Amy J Giarrusso
Lender: Deposit:$10,000 Doc#: D:07/30/25
Source:Manchester Union Leader (06/01/26) Atty:Harmon Law Offices Pc 6036697963 Nashua
07/14/26 03:00 PM 1 St
Owner:Darrell A Lavoie & Audrey E Lavoie
Lender: Deposit:$5,000 Doc#: D:08/12/24
Source:Manchester Union Leader (05/29/26)
Atty:Brock & Scott Pllc
Pelham
07/28/26 02:00 PM 209 Arlene Dr
Owner:Jeffrey F Tenczar & Lee A Tenczar
Lender: Deposit:$5,000 Doc#: D:12/07/17
Source:Manchester Union Leader (06/01/26) Atty:Brock & Scott Pllc MERRIMACK COUNTY
Requests for Bids & Proposals
Real Estate Has Lost Its Way. We Must Return to Our North Star
Sidestep Industry’s Trench Warfare With Focus on Where Customers Are
BY BERNICE ROSS SPECIAL TO THE REGISTRY REVIEW
Private listings, “coming soon” strategies, the portal wars, syndication rules, the never-ending lawsuits – the trench warfare in today’s real estate industry is loud and endless.
The industry keeps fighting over platforms, policies and control while agents struggle to do more transactions. Yet traditional real estate is overlooking hundreds of thousands of potential buyers and sellers hiding in plain sight.
The reason? We’ve lost our North Star upon which true, lasting success is built. The agents and firms that commit to finding it will crush their competitors.
The North Star We’ve Lost
I joined the Jon Douglas Company back in 1980, first as an agent and later as executive director of training. By 1997 when the company was acquired by Apollo, we had 60 offices, 4,000 agents, and we were doing $1 billion per month in sales. Our market share in our region’s luxury real estate market consistently ranged between 50 to 70 percent.
Our company treated real estate brokerage as a serious, full-time career. Real estate services were our only focus. Our culture was built around superior service, total integrity, ongoing drive for excellence and technical ex-
pertise that made innovation a state of mind. Training emphasized professionalism, deep market knowledge and contribution to our local communities.
Now compare that to where we are today. The industry’s conversation is dominated by discussions about platforms, policies, commissions, portal wars and who has the right to market our listing information. While these issues certainly impact our business, they are not the business, itself.
Our North Star has never moved. We just stopped looking at it.
Boomers Own the Listing Market
Who are we really preparing agents to serve? That answer looks very different today than it did even five years ago. To return to our North Star, we must address the clients and market opportunities traditional real estate continues to overlook.
The National Association of Realtors’ 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends reports Baby Boomers make up 55 percent of all sellers and 42 percent of all buyers. Many are sitting on decades of equity and facing complicated life decisions around medical issues, downsizing, relocation, estate planning, adult children, and retirement.
navigate complex housing decisions both before and after a death. Moreover, probate, memory care, incapacity, serious illness, mobility loss and shrinking finances all affect real estate decisions. Sadly, few agents receive meaningful training on how to handle these situations.
The harder question is what happens when someone no longer chooses their next home, but must leave because illness, reduced mobility or money leaves no other option.
Who Serves Underserved Buyers and Sellers?
According to NAR, 21 percent of transactions involve single or unmarried women. Today there are a record 20 million single female homeowners in the U.S. Many are widowed, divorced, or never married.
Who are we really preparing agents to serve? That answer looks very different today than it did even five years ago.
As someone who is recently widowed, I see a major gap in the services we provide. Surviving spouses and adult children must
When they decide to list or sell, they need clear guidance, straight talk and genuine competence coupled with caution about risks they often face alone.
Quite frankly, I can’t recall seeing any training that addresses the needs of this group or helps them navigate today’s marketplace as homeowners, buyers, sellers or potential real estate investors. Hispanic households now drive the U.S. homeownership story. The result? Long-term demand that should increase even more as these buyers move through their 30s and beyond.
Hispanic clients were an important part of my business from the beginning in California. Almost of them wanted to buy duplexes or triplexes.
That pattern still holds true today – according to NAR’s March 2026 Existing-Home Sales report, individual investors and second-home buyers accounted for 18 percent of the transactions, up from 15 percent from a year ago – and likely extends to many immigrant communities in your area.
But who’s making sure today’s agents have the cross-cultural and language skills to serve them?
We Need a New Type of Market Literacy
As the industry fights about things like English-only listings on the portals, traditional real estate is failing to meet the needs of these buyers and sellers.
Real estate has always been about helping people make safe, sound decisions in transactions that affect their wealth, family, security and future. Client-first, excellence-obsessed culture was once our North Star. It should still guide us today.
The firms and agents who rebuild their marketing, training, and customer focus around that standard will not only win more business, they will own it.
Bernice Ross is a nationally syndicated columnist, author, trainer and speaker on real estate topics. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com.
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Mascoma Bank, Maine Mutual Plan Holding Company Merger
BY JAMES SANNA REGISTRY REVIEW STAFF
Lebanon-based Mascoma Bank and Maine-based Androscoggin Bank last month announced their plan to combine their parent companies into a single mutual holding company in the hopes of realizing scale.
Mascoma has $2.99 billion in assets, while Androscoggin has $1.8 billion in assets. Both banks are certified B corporations, meaning they’ve gone through a rigorous, multi-year process run by the private nonprofit B Lab to certify they meet a variety of social, environmental and governance standards geared towards public benefits.
“For more than a century, both of our organizations have been guided by community, service, and local decision-making,” Mascoma President and CEO Clay Adams said in a statement. “This partnership allows us to build additional capacity and resilience, while maintaining the local identity and leadership that our customers and communities rely on.”
nominated by its member institutions.
That new holding company, to be called ClearNorth Financial Mutual Holding Company, will be run day-to-day by Adams as CEO and Neil Kiely, CEO of Androscoggin, as president. Both Adams and Kiely will continue in their current roles at their respective banks.
“This is about building a stronger future for mutual banking in Northern New England,” Kiley said in a statement. “It positions us to potentially welcome additional bank partners over time, providing a path for likeminded institutions to gain strength, efficiency and stability while maintaining local autonomy.”
If approved by regulators, this won’t be New Hampshire’s first mutual holding company that combines multiple banks.
The single mutual holding company will create “operational efficiencies,” Mascoma said in its announcement, that “positions both organizations to invest more deeply in technology, customer experience, and long-term innovation.”
Under the proposed structure, both Mascoma Bank and Androscoggin Bank will continue to operate with their own names, brands, charters, and boards of directors, but the combined mutual holding company will be run by a board whose members will be
If approved by regulators, this won’t be New Hampshire’s first mutual holding company that combines multiple banks.
New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp, parent of Meredith Village Savings Bank, Merrimack County Savings Bank, Savings Bank of Walpole and NHTrust, has operated since 2013 on a similar model.
The same mutual holding company combination model has been gaining traction across New England, with one of the biggest, Western Massachusetts-based Hometown Financial Group even hitting nearly $7 billion in assets and 56 branches among its members this year.
Performance Trust Capital Partners, LLC was financial advisor to Androscoggin Bank and Hogan Lovells US LLP was its legal counsel. Wolf & Company, P.C was financial advisor to Mascoma Bank and Covington & Burling, LLP was its legal counsel.
Mass. Developer Buys North Conway Hotel
BY JAMES SANNA REGISTRY REVIEW STAFF
Aprominent North Conway hotel has traded hands from a Rhode Island firm to a Massachusetts firm for $44 million.
The North Conway Grand Hotel’s sale took place May 20 according to a Carroll County deed. Citizens Bank of Rhode Island provided the mortgage.
The seller, Newport Hotel Group, had owned the 200-key asset since 2024, according to public records.
The buyer, The Mount Vernan Company, is a major investor in Boston-area multifamily
and hospitality properties for many years, as well as hotels on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The company’s hotels are managed by Portland, Maine-based Olympia Hospitality. In a statement to the Conway Daily Sun, company Chairman Bruce Percelay said his company was “extremely excited” about the deal and planned unspecified upgrades to the property “over the coming years.”
Built in 1989, the hotel sits behind the Settlers Green Outlet Village, just off the White Mountain Highway in North Conway’s commercial core. A one-room weekend reservation for the hotel in prime leaf-peeping season in early October was being advertised at just over $550 as of publication time.
Multifamily Developer Targets Mass. Despite Rent Control
BY STEVE ADAMS REGISTRY REVIEW STAFF
Undeterred by the threat of rent control, a national multifamily investor named a local executive to oversee its development platform’s growth in Greater Boston.
GID Residential Partners named Chris Spendley managing partner as it ramps up development plans in several East Coast markets. Spendley is a former executive with Quarterra and UDR.
The company is the national development platform for Boston-based GID, a vertically integrated investor, operator and developer with $32.8 billion in assets under management.
“As one of the country’s most dynamic and supply-constrained housing markets, Boston is a natural fit for this next phase of GID Residential Partners’ growth,” GID Residential Partners President Sean Caldwell said in a statement.
GID Residential Partners has a pipeline of approximately 3,500 housing units in Atlanta, Austin, Denver and Houston and is expanding in the mid-Atlantic and Florida.
Open Space Pushed for $200M Portsmouth Plan
The new “conceptual massing” plan drawn up by Boston-based Sparc LLC actually includes four different concepts for the site – all of which include three new buildings in addition to the now-abandoned McIntyre main building.
But proposed walkways and open-space locations differ slightly from one concept to the next.
Each of the four concepts include buildings ranging from three to four stories – with possible fifth stories if penthouses are built – with a total of 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
The four concepts all call for new residen-
tial housing, a hotel and two-stories of underground parking.
According to plans drawn up by Sparc, the entire redevelopment project could cost up to $200 million, create 350 to 500 construction jobs, and, when completed, generate up to $1.8 million in annual tax revenue for the city.
Concern for Open Space in ‘Linden Square’
In the first of a series of planned meetings on what the developer is calling the “Linden Square” project, HDC members mostly stuck to general layout proposals for the site.
Commission member Joy Curth expressed
– Commercial – Municipal – Irrigation – Geothermal
concern about the proposed locations of open spaces at the site – and urged designers to come up with a plan that appealed to both residents and tourists alike.
Kate Cook, the city council designee to the HDC, also expressed concern about the initial open space plans, saying too much open space located in the center of the development would effectively close it off to the public.
“Space for the sake of space alone is not good for the community,” said Cook, who urged designers to come up with a “more inviting” open-space plan.
HDC vice chair Margot Doering also said she had reservations about putting too much open space into a centralized courtyard, rather than in small parks along city streets.
She urged the DiLorenzo development team to seek zoning changes, if that’s what it takes, to include small street-facing parks.
As for other concerns, HDC chair Reagan Ruedig said she’s been hearing concerns from the public about the size of the proposed new buildings. Some have described the structures as merely “giant blocks,” she said.
Its past projects include Waterline Square, a $2.3 billion apartment and condominium project on Manhattan’s West Side, and the Cirrus and Stratus projects, a pair of 43- and 41story residential towers in Seattle.
In a recent interview with Multifamily Executive, Caldwell said the proposed statewide ballot question on rent control did not discourage GID from its Boston expansion.
“In Boston, longstanding policies and zoning mechanics can create a practical effect and market perception of a regulatory environment that is restrictive to new multifamily growth, combined with current signals around proposed rent control measures, continues to create one of the highest barriers to entry in the country. I do not believe rent control will ultimately pass in its current form, but the fact that it is being discussed has introduced enough uncertainty to keep some investors on the sidelines,” Caldwell said.
In a 21-year commercial real estate career, Spendley has entitled and developed more than 2,400 rental homes and over $2.5 billion in multifamily transactions.
He also stressed that the development team wants to work with the city to develop a final site design that respects the historic nature of Portsmouth.
A History of Battles Over Site
In an interview a few days after the HDC meeting, Gerry Duffy, co-founder of Progress Portsmouth, a pro-housing civic group, said the DiLorenzo conceptual plan is just the latest vision for the site since 2016.
By Duffy’s count, there’s now been five separate proposals to redevelop the 2-acre parcel, the first being the so-called “Kane/Redgate” plan that called for the city to buy the complex for $1 and lease it to an area developer who planned to construct two buildings on the site.
Something is finally going to get done at what many consider an urban eyesore.
Commission member Martin Ryan praised the preliminary plans as a “great start,” though he expressed concern about the “chopped up” spacing between the four buildings.
At the HDS meeting, Haril Pandya, chief executive of project architect Sparc, stressed that the conceptual plans are far from final and that he expects some of the details to be “carved and cut away” over time.
“I think that was my favorite plan,” he said. “I always say to people, when we talk about the [McIntyre] site, ‘Look at we missed years ago.’”
As for the latest conceptual plan, Duffy said it doesn’t seem to be generating much enthusiasm in the city.
“I just don’t see a lot of excitement for it,” he said, noting some people object to the large size of the proposed buildings.
But he said he’s “generally happy” that something is going to get done at the currently abandoned McIntyre site.
“It’s been an open wound in the city for a while now,” he said. “I’m just glad something is finally happening there.”
