PORTSMOUTH — Developer Ed Hayes is paying tribute to his late grandmother and her family’s long history in the city by naming the roadway into a soon-to-be-built 150-unit housing development after them.
Hayes, one of the principals of Iron Horse Properties LLC, sought and received permission from the City Council to name the road going into the development off Bartlett Street “Addorio Way” after his grandmother Anna Addorio Ricci and her family.
His late grandmother and her family “lived for generations in Portsmouth’s Little Italy neighborhood in the city’s North End before it was razed for Urban Renewal in the 1970s,” Hayes said in a letter to the City Council.
He explained Monday that his grandmother was a proud lifelong resident of Portsmouth, whose family came to the city and settled in the North End after moving here from Lettomanopello, Pescara, Italy, in 1903.
Anna Addorio Ricci was born in 1907 and along with his grandfather founded Ricci Lumber and Ricci Construction, Hayes said.
Hayes said he was “super excited” that the City Council approved the name for the roadway, which will lead into the new development, but now also serves Ricci Lumber and Great Rhythm Brewery.
Surviving in Portsmouth’s North End
His grandmother had six brothers, three of whom served in World War II, and the family lived in the North End until they were forced out in Urban Renewal, Hayes said.
“They lived in the neighborhood with a bunch of great families, who kind of survived together and persevered through two World Wars and The Great Depression,” Hayes said. “We heard stories about it often from the family during holiday dinners.”
He noted that the Residences at Islington Creek will eventually include a public greenway connecting the development to the city’s rapidly developing North End.
“We thought Addorio Way was a good name to connect Ricci Lumber and the new development to Portsmouth’s historic North End,” Hayes said Wednesday.
Three of his great uncles who served in World War II included Nick Addorio, a barber by trade, “who earned a couple of Purple Hearts,” and “Uncle Joe (Addorio) stormed the beaches of Normandy,” Hayes said.
“It’s about my grandmother, and my six great uncles and my great grandparents,” Hayes said. “She was quite a lady.”
His grandmother died in 1995 when she was 87, Hayes said.
He’s grateful that the City Council approved the name for the roadway.
“I was really happy when I heard that. I’m glad that they found it fitting,” Hayes said.
A mix of apartments in 3 buildings
Regarding the Residences at Islington Creek, Hayes said he expects construction will start later this summer.
“We’re doing a lot of preliminary things now… like drilling test pits, that kind of thing,” Hayes said.
The development was approved for 152 apartments, but Hayes said they will likely build 150.
The apartments will be located in three buildings and will feature “a mix of everything, from studios to one to three bedrooms,” Hayes said.
Prices for the apartments are “still being worked out,” Hayes said.
Two of the three buildings will offer underground parking, he said.
The development will also include a half-acre public park along the North Mill Pond, and donated rights to the city for about three-quarters of a mile of the long-planned North Mill Pond Trail and Greenway.
Opponents of the project took their case against it to the N.H. Supreme Court, which ruled for the developers in October 2023, allowing the project to move forward.
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