The rebuild of upper Congress Street is finishing in two separate seasons. The first is happening now. New brick has gone down block by block between Maplewood Avenue and Fleet Street since mid-September, and on Saturday night the Portsmouth Halloween Parade will bring the largest crowd of the year onto it. The second season is spring 2027, when the City plans to rebuild the Vaughan Mall landscape. The newest restaurant on the corner is already planning its seating around that date.
A block a week, scheduled around storefronts
The City's Congress Street project page describes the fall work as street restoration that began after Labor Day. It follows the underground work that tied up the same blocks through the winter and spring. The whole effort is the second part of Phase 1 of the Fleet Street Area sewer separation, which started on September 1, 2025. It replaces water, sewer and drainage lines and reworks the streetscape.
The surface work started the week of September 14 in front of the Worth Building, near the Maplewood Avenue intersection. From there crews worked down the Vaughan Mall side toward Fleet Street. They took out the old sidewalk, raised the curbs and light posts, leveled the base and laid what the City calls "new, less slippery bricks." The pace was about one block a week. Crews stopped by 4 p.m. and did not work on weekends, and the City said it set the timing of the work outside each business's door with the business itself.
The City's October 19 update lists what was still in progress:
- Regrading and setting sidewalks on the south side of Congress Street at Maplewood Avenue
- New brick on the southwest corner of Fleet and Congress
- The raised intersection at Vaughan Mall and Chestnut Street
The page now labels the project "Closeout." A staff presentation from December 2025 set December 18, 2026 as the planned final completion date. That leaves the rest of the year for small finishing jobs after the big crowd nights.
Saturday's parade runs right over the new brick
The 31st Portsmouth Halloween Parade starts from Peirce Island at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 31. Its route goes from Marcy Street to Daniel Street and into Market Square. From there it runs up Congress to Fleet Street, along Fleet to State Street, and back down State toward Prescott Park. That puts the newly rebuilt section of Congress Street in the middle of the evening.
The City's October 13 notice gives the details:
| What | When | Where |
|---|---|---|
| On-street parking ban | 5 to 10 p.m. | Along the full parade route |
| Street closures | 6 to 10 p.m. | Congress Street from Market Street to Maplewood Avenue, plus Fleet, State, Pleasant, Porter, Market, Bow, Daniel and Marcy segments |
| Public parking | Normal rates | Hanover and Foundry Place garages, Worth Lot, Bridge Street Lot |
| ADA van-accessible parking | Parade evening | Prescott Park lot near Memorial Bridge |
Two of those lots are right at this stretch. Worth Lot sits next to the Vaughan Mall, and the mall itself is the walkway between Congress and Hanover streets, so it leads straight from the Hanover Garage to the parade route. The City warns that no vehicles will be allowed to cross the route once it closes.
Marchers do not need to sign up. Organizers ask people to gather at Peirce Island around 6. Motorized vehicles, open flames and corporate banners or logos are not allowed, and no one marches ahead of the Grand Marshal. The parade's own site also asks groups of ten or more, and any group bringing sound, to let organizers know ahead of time. Citywide trick-or-treat is the night before, Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.
The newest restaurant on the corner, and its patio plan
Cranes Bistro took the corner where Congress Street meets the Vaughan Mall, at 103 Congress Street in Worth Plaza. The Portsmouth Herald reported that it would start taking limited reservations on Thursday, September 24. The space has a long history downtown. The District operated there from July 2011 to October 2023. Then Litherman's Brewing Company and 603 Bar-B-Q, two Concord businesses, opened a taproom and restaurant there together in fall 2023.
Cranes is Julian Armstrong's fourth business. The others are The Wilder on Fleet Street, which opened in 2017, and Anju Noodle Bar and The Wallingford Dram in Kittery, both opened in 2014. Executive chef Daryel Zeruk's menu includes a rotisserie chicken dinner modeled on Montreal, along with oysters, clams, tuna crudo, Maine cod and scallops, steak au poivre and a catfish schnitzel. General manager Shara Prout built the wine list from France, Australia, California, Italy, New Zealand and Spain. Armstrong told the Herald how he sees the place:
"Here, I like to think of it more as my quiet dad era. It's a little more thoughtful, a little more curated."
The patio plan is what links the restaurant to the City's schedule. According to the Herald, Cranes has 63 seats inside and 25 on its seasonal patio. Armstrong said he will add about 35 more outdoor seats next spring, when the Vaughan Mall restoration brings new lighting, shade structures and public art. That would make the patio more than twice its current size, and the timing depends on the second half of the project.
The stretch from one end to the other
Cranes joins a block of long-standing shops and restaurants. Here they are by address:
| Address | Business |
|---|---|
| 103 Congress St. | Cranes Bistro |
| 104 Congress St. | Marathon Sports |
| 107 Congress St. | janegee |
| 112 Congress St. | Celtic Crossing |
| 121 Congress St. | La Maison Navarre |
| 123 Congress St. | Diversions Puzzles & Games |
| 150 Congress St. | Jumpin' Jay's Fish Cafe |
| 35 Vaughan Mall | J.Hilburn stylist studio |
| 39 Vaughan Mall | Maxxology |
All of them stayed open through the construction. Each weekly City update repeated that businesses were keeping their regular hours, with barriers and flaggers guiding people around the work.
Restaurant Week arrives on the new sidewalk
The street's next big draw after the parade is Portsmouth Restaurant Week, November 5 to 14, 2026. Two places on this stretch appear on the Chamber's participant list: La Maison Navarre at 121 Congress and Jumpin' Jay's Fish Cafe at 150 Congress. Both have posted fall dinner menus. Cranes is not on the list in its first season. The Chamber suggests booking early, since tables fill quickly.
The City's October 19 update still listed brick work at both the Maplewood and Fleet ends of the stretch, along with the raised crossing at Chestnut Street. The planned final completion date for all of it is December 18.
The Vaughan Mall waits for spring
The mall has had a harder year than Congress Street. Urgent replacement of its sewer, stormwater and water lines began September 2, 2025, because of a failing sewer line. When that work wrapped up, the City planned temporary asphalt to get it through the winter. In February the work shifted to Congress Street, and the mall went on hold until its restoration project.
The City's July 22 presentation lays out the schedule:
- Construction documents finished in September 2026
- Bidding in October and November 2026
- Landscape renovation in spring 2027
The plan includes space for several public art displays, new lighting and shade structures. The City says it will install only a few fixed seats and set out movable benches and tables, so the community can add to the space as it gets used. Dave Desfosses, the Department of Public Works project manager, told the Portsmouth Herald that the goal was "a canvas that is functional, nice to look at, but also very changeable," and that "the less programming we had in the Vaughan Mall, the better off we were." In the 2025 design materials, six trees in the center of the mall were slated for removal, and the four beside the parking lot were to stay.
There is more work after that. Phase 2 of the Fleet Street Area project is a new drain line down Maplewood Avenue to the outfall at North Mill Pond. Phase 3 rebuilds Fleet Street from Hanover Street to Court Street. The City's July 15 update said wetland permitting for Phase 2 was underway. Neither phase has a published start date.
The question of when a downtown block is truly finished matters to anyone who owns, sells or hopes to buy near it. If you are thinking about a home or building near upper Congress Street and want to know what the coming phases may mean for it, the agents at Legacy Sotheby's Intl Realty follow Portsmouth's project calendars closely and would be glad to walk the street with you. Work With Us.
