Seacoast Region Continues
Expanding as Destination for
Tourists and High-Tech Companies

 By Andrew Leibs

When author Dan Brown spoke at the Music Hall in Portsmouth less than a month before the film premier of his bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, marketing director Margaret Talcott was issuing credentials to media from across the United States and around the world. 

 "I was delighted to learn how many of them not only knew Portsmouth, had been here, love it, and even had some favorite places to stay and dine," Talcott recalls. 

 That's the Portsmouth people know-the tug boats on the Piscataqua River, the historic North Church steeple set off against the red brick of Congress Street; the bustle of Market Square, the way its quaint streets wind through almost 400 years of history with an array of shops, restaurants, and cultural venues such as the Music Hall, Strawbery Banke, and the Portsmouth Athenaeum. 

 The "secret" of the Seacoast's timeless charm has always been out, but that image is now driving Portsmouth and the region to a new level of economic growth, transforming the city into a hub of high-tech commerce and a destination for tourists, corporate meetings, and conferences. 

 Portsmouth has steadily regained positive economic ground following the recent recession and Portsmouth's economy has outperformed the region and the state in several economic measures," Says Nancy Carmer, Economic Development Program Manager for the City of Portsmouth.  "Among these are stabilized employment figures, continued municipal infrastructure investment, and positive absorption and growth in commercial/industrial real estate." 

 According to Carmer, these factors, along with the area's diversified economy and educated workforce, bodes well for continued prosperity for Portsmouth and the Seacoast. 

Destination Portsmouth

In recent years, Portsmouth and its surrounding towns have taken strides to become a first-class meeting and tourist destination. 

The 2003 opening of the refurbished Wentworth By the Sea Marriott Hotel and Spa, following a $30 million restoration, gave the Seacoast a preferred location for association meetings that rotate through different parts of New Hampshire, corporate meetings, sales conferences, and incentive trips with such 21st century business traveler amenities as wireless Internet access. 

The Wentworth is best known for housing delegates that negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.  The hotel escaped demolition in the 1980s, and re-opened in time to organize and host international visitors for a centennial celebration of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty. 

"At a recent Wentworth gathering for Boston meeting planners, General Manager Ron Rockelein and Director of Sales Diane Dow reiterated the hotel's commitment to ensuring successful meetings, whether for an executive board of 12 or a sales conference of 200," says Wentworth marketing director Stephanie Seacord. 

In June 2006, the $20 million Hilton Garden Inn opened in downtown Portsmouth with over 3,000 room bookings in its sales system.  Though aimed at the corporate transient market, the new Hilton is expected to appeal to tourists wishing to take in Portsmouth's downtown area.   

The 90,000-square foot property has 127 rooms, 21 luxury condominiums, four suites, and conference facilities to accommodate more than 100 people. The Harbour Hill Condominiums have 21 luxury units.

The Hilton is also expected to become an economic engine that will invigorate commerce in the Northern Tier. 

"I have no doubt that the Hilton will increase the amount of foot traffic and business activity downtown," says Paul Sorli, president of the Downtown Business Association and owner of the Portsmouth Gas Light Co., a popular restaurant. 

One immediate improvement Hilton is making is being a primary investor in a $700,000 transportation facility to be built on Hanover Street in the summer of 2006.  The facility, designed to relieve Market Square of bus traffic, features a 100-foot bus pullout area, heated bus shelter, benches, bike racks, brick sidewalks, period lighting, information kiosk, and landscaping along both sides of Hanover Street.  The facility is expected to extend the concept of downtown to include Deer Street, the heart of the Seacoast's upscale fashion district. 

Just two blocks away, the Sheraton Harborside Portsmouth has proposed a 207-room, full-service Westin Hotel and Conference Center with 21 luxury condominiums adjacent to the Sheraton.  "The two hotels will work together to accommodate larger events that currently cannot be welcomed to Portsmouth," says Shari Young, general manager of the Sheraton.    

The Westin will feature 18,500 square feet of flexible meeting space, including an 11,000 square foot ballroom accommodating up to 1000 people.  The conference space is designed for meetings of 300 or more attendees and banquets for as many as 750 guests.  

Construction on the Westin, scheduled to begin in 2007, also includes a 657-space shared public/private parking garage. 

Other downtown projects include the Riverwalk along the Bow Street waterfront, redevelopment of the McIntyre Block and the waterfront property at 31 Raynes Avenue, and construction of a five-story mixed commercial/residential building at 10 Congress St. next to the North Church in Market Square. 

Pease Aiming for Next Level

With 220 companies and over 6,400 employees, the Pease International Trade Port, on the site of the former Pease Air Force Base, is regarded as the biggest base closure success story in the country. 

Pease is also poised to drive economic growth in the Seacoast well into the next decade.  The Trade Port is already home to six colleges and universities, which gives the region a significant advantage by providing companies with a deep talent pool and the ability to train existing employees. 

New construction at Pease is also strong.  Among the major projects is an 80,000-square foot building which will serve as the new headquarters for Seacoast Media Group, which publishes the Portsmouth Herald and several regional newspapers. 

"We had many options of where to locate our new facility," says Paul Briand, Seacoast Media Group's director of operations and project manager for the new building.  "Since Portsmouth is the heart of our market, we chose to relocate at Pease.  We're in Portsmouth for the long haul." 

Briand says the new building, which will house a new press and insertion equipment, will make Seacoast Media Group far more efficient by consolidating its Portsmouth and Stratham operations and expanding its commercial printing capabilities.   

"The Pease International Tradeport continues to be a major contributor to the growth of a diversified Seacoast economy," says Dave Mullen, interim director of the Pease Development Authority.  "Companies choose to locate at Pease because it provides them with the "best of both" worlds: a reduced cost of doing business, a world-class office in a thriving industrial park, a diversified, three-state workforce, and the luxury to live, work, and play every day in a region where others come to vacation." 

In the summer of 2005, the Pease Development Authority began taking aim at the next leveling, hiring a marketing firm, welcoming a new airline, creating a committee to explore how to increase business at the Port of New Hampshire, and even planting 200 trees, with the help of neighbors, along Grafton Drive. 

The PDA hired marketing and public relations firm Bresette and Company to promote Pease and bring all of its entities, which include the Trade Port, Portsmouth International Airport, the Division of Ports and Harbors, and the 27-hole Pease International Golf Course under one umbrella brand. 

Bresette developed a new brand to reinforce Pease' stature as an international, customs-ready center for travel and commerce, which included a new logo and the tag line: Pease: Taking You There. 

Last fall, Allegiant Air began regular flights to Florida and airline officials said the launch at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease was its most successful to date. 

On a more grass roots level epitomizing the spirit of the Pease community, Pease officials, retired military personnel, and neighbors began to organize welcoming events for US troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  It began with Pease officials picking up refreshments for the troops, and has grown into the Pease Greeters, a nonprofit group that continues to enhance the homecoming experience for hundreds of troops with a variety of amenities. 

Pease also took aim at building business by sea when it created the Division of Ports and Harbors Use Committee in 2005.  The committee, chaired by State Senator Martha Fuller Clark, met for nine months and presented its recommendations to the PDA board of directors in June 2006.  The committee found that the port has potential to use state funds to expand its pier and purchase equipment to attract regular cargo business and explore the possibilities for ferry and cruise ship service. 

Whether it's in the downtown, the trade port, by land, or by sea, Portsmouth is pushing toward the next horizon of economic growth.  As Nancy Carmer sees it, "Portsmouth has a strong commitment to sustainable development, and is well-positioned to continue its prosperity."