When I arrived at the economic forum organized by City of Manchester staff at the Rex Theater on October 30, Mayor Jay Ruais was wrapping up his introductory speech.
Sometimes you get rewarded for being late: I entered the lobby just in time to run into Peter Ramsey, president and CEO of Palace Theaters, the nonprofit that owns the newly restored Rex.
Over the weekend, my wife and I went on a double date with my brother and sister-in-law to see “Jersey Boys,” the Broadway musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons currently in a successful run at the Palace. I told Ramsey how much we loved the show. He asked if I noticed how cold the lighting was and if the occasional off-color language bothered me. (Seriously, this is a story about street kids in Jersey! No big deal.)
Before the show, we had dinner at Ignite, where my nephew was a waiter. The restaurant on Hanover Street was bustling, as it usually is when the neighborhood theater hosts a show. Even though we had a reservation, we were seated on the Hooked seafood side of the restaurant due to some guests staying longer than expected.
I was thinking about this when John Clayton, Manchester’s unofficial “mayor” and long-time historian, joked during a panel talk about how all the new apartments in the city center would make it harder to find a place at the bar. At Ignite.
He should know. Clayton and his wife recently sold their home and moved into a high-rise apartment in the former Amoskeag Bank (now Citizens bank) building on Elm Street.
The former Union Leader columnist was moderating a panel that included an executive from the company that just built the 250-unit 75 Canals complex across from Market Basket.
Many people who worked at Millyard were among the first tenants, said Eric LeClair, managing director of acquisitions for Jones Street, a Boston-based real estate investment firm. He said Millyard and its promise for Manchester’s future had a lot to do with attracting investors.
The 7,000 jobs expected to be created in the Manchester area over the next few years in conjunction with the not-for-profit Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute are accelerating the development of the city centre. People coming to work in the “ReGen Valley,” funded by nearly $500 million in federal and in-kind investment since 2017, will need places to live and hang out.
“Starting” prices for apartments at 75 Canal range from $1,800 for a 500-square-foot studio to $3,500 for a 1,200-square-foot three-bedroom studio; It may be convenient for the tech workers at Millyard, but it’s expensive for the servers and other people who need to fill it. Downtown businesses such as restaurants and retail stores are expanding to meet demand.
His company is located at 55 Manchester St. Manchester developer Michael Ketchen, who is redeveloping his building, said his company plans to create 1,500 apartment units over the next few years, 700 of which are in the Queen City. Some of these will be designed to be affordable for restaurant workers, he noted.

Jodie Nazaka, economic development director for the city of Manchester, is opening an economic forum at the Rex Theater on October 30. (Photo: Jeffrey Hastings)

That’s the kind of news Jodie Nazaka, the city’s economic development director and a Manchester native, might want to share with her brother Joe, a chef at 815. It’s a big city like Boston, but right here in the Queen City, it wasn’t long ago that it wasn’t a place you’d visit to browse hipster bars.
The boomerang snob in me is coming to the surface. I moved back to the Queen City in 2012 after spending most of my adult life elsewhere, most recently in the Denver/Boulder area. Are these large apartment complexes popping up with unusual designs and color schemes? You see these all over urban areas.
Nazaka and his team brand Manchester as “something out of the ordinary” and draw inspiration from Burlington, Vermont and Austin, Texas for a new city website. They aim to capture the excitement of new activity that has made Manchester one of the hottest property markets in the country for several years.
Manchester is waiting for the big moment to come. Guess what, folks, it’s already here.