Shea-Porter on McIntyre Building: 'We're Working on It'

U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH, said she is working to help the city obtain the Thomas J. McIntyre federal building that it was promised, but she didn't have anything new to report on the situation Monday afternoon.

Following her tour of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Shea-Porter said she believes the federal government should keep the promise it made to the city to transfer ownership of the property on Daniel Street. But federal budget cuts have frozen the nearly $25 million needed to construct a new building at Pease International Tradeport to house the federal employees who work downtown.

Earlier this month, asking for their help to make the deal go through. The city has also allocated $325,000 in its proposed fiscal years 2014 to 2019 Capital Improvement Plan to pay for the demolition and redevelopment of the 2.2-acre downtown property, according to city documents.

Spear made it very clear in his April 16 letter the city is not pleased with the latest development regarding the federal building.

"The consequences of the city putting its trust into the federal government's assurances of imminent relocation are the loss of significant economic redevelopment opportunities and years of wasted effort to comply with the location process," the mayor wrote.

More than $25 million was appropriated in the original federal legislation sponsored by former U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH, in 2003 to transfer the building to the city and to construct a new federal facility at Pease to house the federal agencies that are now in downtown Portsmouth.