One of four conceptual plans being floated for the former McIntyre Federal Building site in Portsmouth. Image courtesy of Sparc Architects

The businessman who bought what might just be Portsmouth’s most controversial development site in living memory for $9 million is finally ready to offer a plan for the site.

DiLorenzo, owner of local car dealership business Key Auto Group and a candidate for Congress, bought the site of the former McIntyre Federal Building and post office from the federal government in late 2023.

The previous attempt to develop the site, by local firm The Kane Company and Boston firm Redgate, ended in lawsuits and two successive city elections that saw large swaths of the City Council replaced as voters revolted against Kane’s proposal, and then against the forces empowered by that revolt.

Against that historical backdrop, it would appear the development team is playing it cautiously.

DiLorenzo’s attorney James Scully Jr., from Morriss & Scully PLLC, filed a package of four conceptual plans with city historic preservation officials that “seeks to create a coherent, context-sensitive design.”

The plans – all just massing models, at this stage – vary by height, rooflines and size, but each includes the same basic pieces: residential renovation of the historically-protected former McIntyre building, a second residential building and two “commercial/hospitality” buildings that, in some designs, rise to the same 4-story height as the McIntyre building.

Overall, the conceptual plans hover around 200,000 square feet of development, including around 30,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, plus 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of open space on the site. As many as 340 parking spaces could be included across two basement levels.