Torrington Properties and Waterstone Properties Group plan a 250-unit, 12-acre complex dubbed “West Side Yards” near a busy arts and entertainment district near Portsmouth’s Route 1 Bypass. Image courtesy of Torrington Properties.
A mixed-use development proposed for the site of a defunct conference center in Portsmouth could pave the way for other commercial projects in the city.
Portsmouth Planning Board members gave positive reviews to a 12-acre project dubbed “West Side Yards” by its developers, Torrington Properties Inc. and Waterstone Properties Group Inc., at a Jan. 24 meeting designed to give feedback on the project before any formal submittals are made.
The project would feature 250 apartment units split between two buildings, 23 condominium townhomes, 22,000 square feet of office space and 22,000 square feet of retail space, including a “food and beer hall” that opens onto a plaza facing one of the rental buildings.
The site is near Portsmouth’s Music and Arts Center and the retail center along the southern end of Portsmouth’s Islington Street as it approaches the Route 1 bypass.
The project is the first to test the city’s new “gateway” zoning, according to Torrington Properties principal Jay Bisognano.
“This development has been a significant learning process,” he told the board in January. “It’s still not clear to our team on the city’s vision; however, we think we’ve come up with a great plan.”
City officials have asked Bisognano to make more than 10 percent of the project’s units affordable under Portsmouth’s workforce housing zoning. However, Bisognano told the Planning Board that his team concluded any more than that would not be financially feasible without adding staff to his firm who specialize in affordable housing finance.
Each unit will cost roughly $250,000 to build, he said, for a total cost to Torrington and Waterstone of $6.75 million to build the 27 affordable units, priced for residents making 80 percent of the area median income. To cover the cost of the units, Bisognano said his team will be asking the city for a 12.5 percent density boost.
The site’s zoning limits projects to 20 units per acre and 24 units per building. Bisognano’s project would have 22.5 units per acre, with 134 located in one building and 116 in another. An as-of-right design he included in his presentation to the board featured a checkerboard-like arrangement of small, 3-story residential buildings surrounded by parking lots.
The centerpiece of the proposed West Side Yards project is a raised pedestrian square featuring a “food and beer hall.” Image courtesy of Torrington Properties.
“I’m looking for a long-term commitment on the workforce housing. That would be the tradeoff for me,” said Planning Board member Elizabeth Moreau.
This is not the first time Bisognano and the West Side Yards have been before the Portsmouth Planning Board. In October 2018, city officials panned an earlier version of the project for being too dense, among other concerns.
The newest design is a full story shorter, Bisognano said.
“I think we’ve come to a place where the tradeoffs make sense to the community and make sense to you,” said Rebecca Perkins, the City Council’s representative on the board.
In addition to the community space in the project’s central “square,” the project design also calls for a community path and a new city street along a brook that forms the northern border of the site. Seating and a planted buffer would be installed along the brook.
“I can see biking that area with my kids,” said Planning Board member Jay Leduc. “I like it, I think it’s great. I look what’s there today and can’t wait for it to be changed.”
