NORTH CONWAY: The Mt. Washington Valley landmark Red Jacket Mountain View Resort, a 150-room hotel property, has been sold by The Davenport Companies, the company that developed it over 50 years ago, to a privately held investment firm based in New York. The transaction also includes five other Davenport properties: the 44-room Blue Rock Golf Resort, 160-room Red Jacket Beach Resort, the 112-room Blue Water Resort and 125-room Riviera Beach Resort, all in South Yarmouth, and 50-room Green Harbor Resort in West Yarmouth. All of the properties come under the Davenport’s Red Jacket Resorts brand. No sale price was disclosed.
CONCORD: The New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority has been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to launch the Community Navigator Pilot Program in New Hampshire. The program is designed to reduce barriers to getting access to resources for small businesses in underserved communities. Among the partners taking part in the pilot are: Belknap Economic Development Council; Coos Economic Development Corp.; Grafton Regional Development Corp.; Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship; New Hampshire Small Business Development Center; the Regional Economic Development Center of Southern New Hampshire; River Valley Community College Upper Valley Entrepreneurship Center; and Wentworth Economic Development Corp.
CONCORD: After rejecting millions of dollars to help increase New Hampshire’s vaccination rate, the Executive Council reversed course on Nov. 10 and approved $22 million for the effort, along with a non-binding resolution that condemns vaccine mandates. In October, the Republican-led council rejected $27 million in federal vaccination funding over concerns that language in the grants would have bound the state to follow federal directives and mandates related to Covid-19.
LACONIA: The Executive Council has approved a state Department of Administrative Services request to contract with CBRE, a global real estate brokerage, to market the former Laconia State School property for redevelopment. If a buyer comes forward, the council will have to approve a sales agreement. The council also adopted a non-binding request from Councilor Joe Kenney that regional planning and Laconia city officials be consulted and kept up to date on the sale and development of property.
CONCORD: Fifty-four New Hampshire individuals and businesses filed for bankruptcy protection in October, six more than the record-low 48 that filed in September. Despite the slight monthly uptick, the number of filings for the month was 18 percent lower than the 66 filed in October 2020 and far fewer than the 466 filed in 2009, in the middle of the last recession. Six personal filings included business-related debt, compared to three in September. And three businesses did file directly, compared to two in September.
BERLIN: The Berlin Planning Board has voted unanimously to approve the site plan and special-use permit for a proposed 14-megawatt battery storage facility on property owned by Great Lakes Hydro of America LLC. The company says the batteries will harness energy that would otherwise be curtailed or unused from five hydroelectric plants on the Androscoggin River between Dummer and Shelburne. The energy stored will help balance out demands on the New England transmission grid on both the generation and supply sides, the company said.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: New Hampshire is getting more than $1.2 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state’s congressional delegation announced.
Nearly $750,000 of the amount has been awarded to Land for Good in Keene through the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program to help farmers gain land access knowledge and skills and to improve their ability to successfully secure land. The New Hampshire Department of Agriculture will receive $500,000 in federal funding to bolster access to mental health services for farmers. The funding also will support targeted outreach to underserved farmer populations, including women, people of color and LGBTQ farmers in rural communities.
BEDFORD: Funding for affordable multifamily housing developments in Concord, Newport and Rochester has been approved by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority. Together, the projects will create 83 new affordable housing units. The funding is coming through the allocation of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, a financing tool that encourages developers and investors to create affordable multifamily housing for lowand moderate-income families.
The credits account for about 95 percent of publicly funded workforce housing produced in New Hampshire, according to New Hampshire Housing.