Legal settlement clears way for affordable housing, Haven at church in Portsmouth
An agreement has been reached to allow a major redevelopment project – featuring 44 below market-rate apartments and a new headquarters for Haven – to move forward, according to officials from the Portsmouth Housing Authority and the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire.
In addition to 44 work-force housing units, the redevelopment project at 1035 Lafayette Road – which is property the church owns – is slated to include “office and program space for Haven, a seven-unit transitional housing facility for Haven, new flexible workshop space for the church, and the potential for upgraded day-care services.”
Haven is a nonprofit providing support and prevention services to those impacted by sexual and domestic violence.
The project received all the necessary city land-use board approvals in 2024 after being proposed as part of a joint venture with the Portsmouth Housing Authority (PHA), the Episcopal Diocese and Haven.
Attorneys from McLane Middleton of Manchester filed a lawsuit earlier this year on behalf of the church and diocese against TD Bank, N.A. in its role as trustee for the trust of the long-deceased person who conveyed the Lafayette Road property to the church in the 1960s.
But PHA and church officials confirmed Tuesday that the trust issue had been resolved, and the lawsuit was settled.
Read the full story by Jeff McMenemy at Seacoastonline.
A rendering of conceptual design for Our Town Village in West Peterborough. (Courtesy of Halliday Real Estate)
Peterborough’s ‘newest neighborhood’ begins to take shape
A three-acre property at 241 Union St. in Peterborough will soon be the site of Our Town Village – a joint project by Halliday Real Estate and the Mathewson Company.
The completed project will consist of 30 total units, including one building with 20 units, a four-unit building and a six-unit building. Halliday Real Estate is marketing the project for the Mathewson Company, which recently purchased the site.
Sadie Halliday, principal of Halliday Real Estate, calls the new development “Peterborough’s newest neighborhood.”
“This property is the perfect location for this type of project, and we are so excited about it,” Halliday said. “This site is walkable by sidewalk to downtown Peterborough. It’s walkable to the elementary school and the community center, and people would possibly be able to walk to work. They will be near the type of community support and structures that enables families to thrive. ”
The Mathewson and Halliday companies have partnered on several recent developments in Peterborough, including Southfield Village and Trail’s End Common.
“We are very excited that we have brought Phil Mathewson in as the developer. We’ve been crunching the numbers for the past few months on how to offer multiple types of housing,” Halliday said. “We had offers from several people who wanted to put up luxury condos, but the Mathewson Company stepped forward to make this happen.”
The project was approved by the Peterborough Planning Board about a year ago.
“The permitting took a little longer because the property was within the shorelines of the Nubanusit River, but once we had that we were ready to go,” Halliday said. “We’ll open up a waiting list for homes later this year, and people can start reserving their homes; it’s very exciting.”
Fire Department used property for training
The Peterborough Fire Department has been using the abandoned single-family home at 241 Union St. for training for several years.
“We’ve used the building for various types of training, including advancing hose lines and search and rescue, things like that. It is very valuable to train in a controlled environment,” Fire Chief Ed Walker stated.
In early spring, Halliday decided to demolish a large 19th-century barn on the property prior to allowing the Peterborough Fire Department to use the house for a live burn exercise.
“It was a very large structure, and we decided it would be more manageable to just focus on the training burn for the house,” Halliday said.
Walker called the training a “rare opportunity.”
“We very rarely have the chance to get to go into a real building and actually practice putting fires out,” said Walker. “Being able to come in here … and actually be able to have firefighters practice moving homeliness around , extinguish fires, practice overhaul, ventilation, all those things, it is just a phenomenal opportunity for us. We want to thank Sadie and Phil Mathewson for making this happen.”
Firefighters from Peterborough, Hancock, Jaffrey, New Ipswich, Bennington, Antrim, Lyndeborough and Rindge took part in the all-day live burn training event on April 5. — Jesseca Timmons, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
