Image courtesy of CJ Architects

With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, two development teams are pitching two separate mixed-use projects in downtown Portsmouth.

One even includes a hotel – a sector already heavily damaged by the pandemic.

The first project, from developer Cathartes, would replace a pair of 1-story commercial buildings at 53 Green St. totaling less than 22,000 square feet with a 5-story, 52-unit apartment building with ground-floor commercial space and below-grade parking. The project would also include public paths along the shoreline and connecting to Green Street, part of the city’s desire to create a public walking trail along the North Mill Pond.

The project replaces a pre-pandemic Cathartes proposal for the same site, which would have built an 80-key hotel on the footprint of one of the commercial buildings.

Cathartes, the developer working on the large expansion of Dover’s downtown, is no stranger to Portsmouth, having built the upscale AC Hotel just next door to the 53 Green St. space. The company is also proposing an apartment building at 105 Bartlett St., overlooking the city’s North Mill Pond.

The second project, from Manchester developer Procon, would see a 5-story, 128-key hotel and a 5-story, 60-unit apartment building with ground-floor commercial space rise on a trio of lots just around the corner from the Cathartes project at 1-31 Raynes Ave. The 134,900-square-foot project would also add to the city’s North Mill Pond trail and construct a public dock and pier. beyond a substantial parking lot intended to serve the development.

Together, the two developments would substantially fill out Portsmouth’s North End, in addition to a 4-story office building planned for 111 Maplewood Ave. By The Kane Co., the project, which would be one of the few large, modern office buildings in downtown, received Planning Board approvals in 2019 and reportedly signed an anchor tenant that year, as well, but has yet to be built.