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Embracing Its Roots
Dover’s waterfront revitalization project comes full circle for city and its residents
BY EMILY REILY / ILLUSTRATION BY PETER NOONAN / PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK BOLTON
On a hazy moonlit evening in Dover, music from a cover band echoes from Henry Law Park’s Rotary Pavilion Stage. Up on Central Avenue, friends and families chat and walk their dogs as cars inch down the one-way street; motorcyclists sputter loudly on this small strip.
Historical markers offer snapshots about long-ago events: Dover’s Black Day in March 1896, when a freezing flood claimed bridges and businesses; a cold day in December 1828, when workers at Cochecho Manufacturing Company staged one of the first women’s labor strikes in the United States.
Although some storefronts on Central Avenue have remained dark — the windows at Earcraft Music have been papered over for two years; and Nicole’s Hallmark store shuttered in 2019 after 31 years — downtown Dover is bustling.
On Washington Street, a bridge that crosses the Cocheco River honors legendary folk artist Tommy Makem, who laid down roots in Dover on his way to stardom. Over the bridge and close to the river, a 3.4-acre plot of land, a former zoned industrial area that housed a wastewater treatment plant and the public works department, lays quiet as construction equipment awaits another workday.
The city is enveloped by layers of history and thriving activity, and soon a new chapter will be written: the Cochecho Waterfront Development Project, a mixeduse site first envisioned decades ago by now-Deputy City Manager Chris Parker and other proponents, is scheduled for completion in June 2026.
‘The Riverfront’
The project, tentatively nicknamed “the riverfront,” finally broke ground in June 2023, and construction remains steady.
In 2019, the city of Dover and the Dover Housing Authority entered into an agreement for about $3.3 million for public and private improvements with CPI Management, a business arm of private real estate developer Cathartes.
Plans for redevelopment include three mixed-use buildings, two multifamily buildings and several groups of townhouses comprising 418 residential units and about 26,000 square feet of commercial space, according to a May 2023 story in Foster’s Daily Democrat.
In addition, there will be new streets, walkways, parking, amenities, a pavilion with “water features,” public art installations, a kayak ramp, a paddlesports dock and more.
“We’ve made excellent progress. The utility work is all complete. The shoreline stabilization is under way. We have the base supports for the roadways down, and CPI is now actively building their structure. I like to say that we are on track,” Parker says.
Since forming in 2005, volunteer members of the Waterfront Development Advisory Committee has guided development and incorporated residents’ feedback throughout the planning stages.
Donna Benton is director of planning and community development with the city of Dover.
“It’s very exciting to see this project come to fruition after decades of being talked about. I like that this project won’t replace the downtown as Dover’s downtown has it’s distinctive charm,” Benton says.
Cliff Blake of Dover is a new member of the committee, a vice chair of the Dover Arts Commission and a member of the Dover Library board of trustees.
Speaking primarily as a Dover resident, Blake agrees the project will make use of a long-vacant spot that’s close to Central Avenue and downtown shops.
“The property across the Cocheco River from downtown Dover has been underused for decades, and this long-awaited development will add housing, retail and open space,” Blake says.
To recognize Dover’s growing arts community, Blake says a piece called “River Roots,” a 16-foot high, 13-foot-wide art installation that conceptualizes a boat that’s kept afloat by tree trunks, or roots, will be placed overlooking the river near the future pavilion building.
“The Cochecho Waterfront project will be a wonderful capstone in this vibrant city,” Blake adds.
Changes in attitude
Using riverfronts for public works rather than restaurants was “just the sort of thing you did in the ‘40s and ‘50s,” Parker says.
The idea further gained traction in the ‘90s, when it became clear that having an industrial zone right next to a river no longer made sense.
Various civic groups as well as Parker began to push the concept that the area would work better as an “extension of downtown,” Parker says.
Another advocate, George Maglaras of Dover, a Strafford County commissioner and former Dover mayor, is owner of Castaways Boathouse and George’s Marina, both on Cochecho Street.
Inside the marina, a brick building (and former coal-gasification plant) filled with marine supplies, hidden antique treasures, and rentals for boat slips, Maglaras reflected on Dover’s transformation. He was born and raised on this street.
“We used to park school buses for the city on the waterfront site,” says Maglaras, who has led several programs on Dover’s maritime history.
Maglaras says during the Industrial Revolution, before the DPW and wastewater treatment plant called this home, this was Dover’s downtown. Its proximity to the Cochecho River made Cocheco Street and the surrounding area a prime spot for industrialization.
“Before we had trains, cars and automobiles, everything came to Dover by ship. The waterfront was the main source,” Maglaras says.
Eventually, Dover’s cotton mills gave way to shoe shops and the manufacturing of airplane components, supplies for World War II, and later, electronics components. Byproducts formed during the manufacture of some of these components were often dumped into the Cocheco, polluting it heavily, Maglaras says.
“Cornell University in the 1960s considered the Cocheco River one of the top 10 most polluted rivers in the United States,” says Maglaras of Cocheco Street.
“It wasn’t really a marina like it is today. It was just more or less a spot where everybody was friends and family members could tie up boats. In the last 50 years, it’s changed dramatically,” Maglaras adds.
The Clean Water Act of 1972 paved the way for a healthier river.
“The first discussion of doing the waterfront took place during the urban renewal days in the late 1960s, early 1970s,” Maglaras says
After zoning regulations changed in 1984, talks began again for future revitalization. But plans continued to be delayed. The 2008 financial crisis and economic downturn didn’t help either.
“It’s been delayed for, oh man, 30 years or more. Goes back a long, long time. It took a lot of changes in attitude,” Maglaras says.
Maglaras has been of the strongest advocates for redeveloping the waterfront site, Parker says.
“George has long had a vision for what the area could look like and has been a very strong proponent for bringing vibrancy to the whole area,” he says.
Renewing the city’s vibrancy
Dover is known regionally for its seasonal events, including Apple Harvest Day, which draws about 60,000 people annually. Parker says it’s possible that some of that activity could extend beyond Central Avenue and Henry Law Park.
“We did a public call early in the design process to see what people would like to see. And one of the things was food trucks and craft fairs and things that really bring the community to the park. We do anticipate that Apple Harvest Day, or some of the other downtown activities, could migrate down there,” Parker says.
On the eve of Independence Day, where Cocheco Street hugs a bend in the river, live music from Castaways Boathouse dances over the gently moving tidal water. Tourists and locals chatter and share drinks as recreational boats line one side.
Randy Kilty, who leases Castaways from Maglaras, says on a busy day, the pub can see anywhere from 300 to 400 guests.
Like Maglaras, Kilty remembers downtown Dover’s decline.
“Twenty years ago, there were a bunch of downtown shops,” Kilty says. “They all they closed one by one, and the last four years, so many new shops have opened downtown. There’s a revitalization down there. There’s excitement again.”
Kilty says in 2005, Castaways would close up at 9:30 every night. These days, Castaways, which directly faces the future of the riverfront’s development, is a bundle of energy by the water.
With the revitalization project finally coming to fruition, Kilty expects an uptick in business.
The project’s close proximity to Central Avenue — including Henry Law Park, City Hall, and the more traditional Central Avenue, which crosses the Cocheco — along with new housing developments, will strengthen Dover’s reputation as a burgeoning walk-able city.
“(Residents are) going to have the kayak and canoe launch; families can go down there and picnic along the river,” Kilty says.
“I love the project. It’s brilliant. They’re doing everything the right way,” Kilty says.
The mills on Washington Street, across from the Makem Bridge, house more small businesses, which further increases interest in Dover.
“If you can walk here, you’re going to see an uptick in business. Every downtown restaurant will see an uptick,” Kilty says.
Steve Frank of Dover, who had owned Photosmith, a camera store at 263 Central Ave., for 43 years, says they’ve remained afloat through many of Dover’s iterations, but adds that small businesses still have an uphill battle.
“You never have enough business if you’re in retail, because today you’re super busy, and tomorrow, you know, you might not be, “Frank says. “Yes, we have a good business. But you need a good business lots of days a week, not once in a while.”
The ups and downs of the waterfront project haven’t escaped his attention.
“You think, ‘Oh, this one is going to take off,’ and then it doesn’t take off. It’s just been a roller coaster,” Frank says.
But Frank also feels that those involved in its planning and development have Dover’s heart in mind.
“I know they’re really good people, and they’re people who believe in Dover,” Frank says. “They’re old Dover residents, and they feel like it’s really a good thing. They’ve put in a lot of effort towards the riverfront.”
For example, Frank says Dana Lynch, a member of the Cochecho Waterfront Development Advisory Committee, has worked “tirelessly” on the project.
“Dana is a Dover guy. Just knowing the kind of person he is, I would say, if Dana believes in it, I think it’s probably a vision worth looking at,” Frank says.
Rachel Blonigen of Epping, a secretary in the city’s planning office, has worked in the city for about eight years.
She’s also a mom to two kids who liked the original skate park on River Street in Dover.
That park, which has been closed for several months due to the waterfront project, has since been relocated to a formerly undeveloped part of Guppey Park on Portland Avenue.
“I feel like it was an untapped unused space. Plus, it’s so close to downtown,” Blonigen says. “It gives people another option.”
“This project is an example that good things come with time and patience,” says Benton.
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