The Portsmouth Housing Authority has unveiled a site plan for a below-market-rate housing project that includes keeping the former Sherburne School building in place, as well as building multiple more buildings. (Courtesy of the Portsmouth Housing Authority)
The Portsmouth Housing Authority has proposed building 127 workforce housing units on city-owned land at the former Sherburne Elementary School, according to its preliminary conceptual design for the site.
Architect Robert Harbeson of Market Square Architects explained at a recent meeting the housing units will be built in two new buildings and in the existing former school building, which PHA intends to incorporate in the redevelopment project.
The City Council voted in December to choose Portsmouth Housing Authority as the city’s partner to create workforce housing at the roughly 5.2-acre site.
The Housing Authority’s preliminary site plan calls for building a four-story “L-shaped building” at the back of the property, which will contain 90 new housing units, according to Harbeson, who shared a site plan at a recent community meeting.
The housing units proposed for the new four-story building include 54 one-bedroom units, 24 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units, he said. Average square footage for the units will be 650, 920 and 1,130, respectively, he said.
“Part of the reason we’re locating that larger building in the back is because right here in the middle of the property … there’s a significant grade change,” Harbeson said during the recent meeting PHA held in City Council Chambers. “So that four-story building is essentially a story lower as you see it from the street.”
PHA’s preliminary site plans also proposed building a second new building — this one closer to Sherburne Road but still behind the existing school — according to the site plan layout.
The proposed new three-story building will feature six one-bedroom units, 11 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units for a total of 29, according to Harbeson.
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