Apartments at WHEB site approved in Portsmouth. Concerns raised about homeless nearby.

PORTSMOUTH — The city’s Planning Board recently approved a major apartment project at what for decades was the iconic site of the former WHEB radio station on Route 1.

The redevelopment project calls for demolishing the former radio station office at 815 Lafayette Road and building three four-story apartment buildings with 24 market rate units in each one, totaling 72, according to project manager Neil Hansen of Tighe & Bond.

There will be enclosed parking on the first floor of each of the buildings for resident, he said, along with 49 other exterior parking spaces, and four electric vehicle charging stations.

There will also be a 1,200-square-foot leasing center on site, he said, and a community trail running behind the buildings and along the adjacent Sagamore Creek.

The board voted at its recent meeting to grant site plan approval for the redevelopment project, which is located off Route 1 along a busy commercial stretch of roadway that includes restaurants and a nearby shopping plaza.

Residents and visitors to the project will enter the site via a driveway from Route 1.

Homeless population near apartments raised as issue

Board member Greg Mahanna raised what he called “a sensitive subject,” saying he had been to the property and it was “completely obvious that there’s a lot of transient traffic from the adjacent commercial parcel.”

He saw there’s “a path across your property past the (radio) tower into the woods where people live.”

“That’s where the community space is that you’re claiming. But yet back there I’m not sure the community wants to go back there,” he said.

Hansen said, “We feel by developing the front of this lot it will help discourage some of that from happening. That is something the police are very much aware of."

Developers plan to restrict the hours when the community path can be used “so it is not open after dark.”

“Going through the Conservation Commission, they don’t want to have lighting within the buffer so if it’s not lit, we don’t want people there after dark,” he said.

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The redevelopment plan also calls for removing all “impervious surfaces” within the wetland buffer, while improving stormwater management, enhancing the Sagamore Creek tidal wetland buffer and providing “public benefit in the form of open space along the upland bank of Sagamore Creek,” which will be accessible community space, developers said in documents filed with the city.

The property owners bought the site for $2.1 million on Sept. 30, 2022, according to city assessor records.

The former owner was Clear Channel Broadcasting Inc., which bought the site for $3 million in January 2001, according to city assessor records. It was most recently assessed at $3.8 million.

Color of building criticized despite approval

Despite the unanimous approval, board members did raise concerns about the appearance of the buildings at the 19.6 acre site that sits up on a hill.

Planning Board Chair Rick Chellman said the redeveloped property “with the white buildings, it’s going to be an interesting image from a Gateway perspective.”

“I think you should give some thought to maybe toning it down a bit,” he told the developer’s representatives, adding “it’s going to be a wall of white.”

“I’m not trying to make a deal breaker here, I’m just commenting that’s going to be quite an image,” Chellman stated.

Attorney FX Bruton, who represents developers and owners Mike Brown and Ed Hayes, replied “we’re not married to white.”

“If there’s a suggestion that would make the board more comfortable, we’re more than happy to explore it,” Bruton said. “It looks white, but it’s actually technically not all white.”

Chellman shared he’s “concerned about how it will be seen by the public, and you don’t want bad reactions.”

“We respect what you’re suggesting because we’d like to have it look nice obviously,” Bruton said, and added developers would be happy to “consider something, a little darker tone if you’d like.”

Mahanna said the buildings could “look like what the heck is that big refrigerator box over there.”

Board member Joe Almeida is the city’s facilities manger and an architect.

He stressed that he supports the project, but acknowledged the visual impact it will have.

“These will be seen from great distances, three of them in a row,” Almeida said. “There are ways to tone it down. Make no mistake about it, this is a very large (project), this is going to loom over the water, it will.”

“I’m saying that as a supporter of the project,” he added.

Chellman stated he too supported the project but suggested using darker tones for the buildings.

“What you’re doing is a great thing, bringing housing to the city,” Chellman said. “Let’s keep it like that and not have people focus on …boy the visual impact is really too much.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH approves apartments at WHEB site at 815 Lafayette Road