Tuesday, Jun. 17, 2008 HAMPTON –

The $20 million revamp proposed for Hampton Beach will offer thousands of summer visitors "high-quality, tough buildings" with

family bathrooms, lockers, shade, and many more amenities they don't get now, local and state officials were told yesterday. "On a beautiful day in the summer, we can be hosting up to 100,000 people a day, so we have a huge responsibility to the public," said state Parks and Recreation Director Allison McLean.

Built in 1962, the Seashell Complex is "old and tired," McLean said.

"It needs to be replaced by something that can meet the demands of today," she said.

McLean kicked off yesterday's walking tour of Hampton Beach, hosted by Executive Councilor Beverly Hollingworth and the state

Division of Parks and Recreation, to air the proposal.

The plans call for a family-friendly hub echoing local vintage architecture, yet tough enough to handle the crowds and harsh seaside conditions, planners say. The plan is to renovate and upgrade the park's public facilities, mainly the dilapidated Hampton Seashell complex, build a new bath

house, upgrade the boardwalk with seating and shaded areas, and redo the space around the Marine Memorial. The plans call for several new buildings, shade-producing pergolas, lockers and lots of bathrooms. At the park's southern gateway, guests will be greeted by a new visitors' center with a lighthouse-like tower. "This should be more quiet and less of a honkytonk experience than what we have up north," said architect Ward D'Elia, project

architect for Samyn D'Elia Architects, the Ashland firm leading the redesign team. Further north, the Haverhill Street Bathhouse will cater to families, and anchor that part of the boardwalk and redistribute crowds, D'Elia said.

An architect's rendering shows part of the state's plan to upgrade facilities at Hampton Beach, including the Hampton Seashell complex. (COURTESY)

The rebuilt Seashell Complex -- ever the main attraction -- will house an 800-seat stage and two temporary stages to entertain summer beach crowds. The complex will also house a First Aid station, a lifeguard station, maintenance garage, the chamber of commerce, and many more bathrooms and lockers.

Across from the Seashell Complex is the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, a local landmark built in 1899 by a Massachusetts railroad tycoon to draw people to Hampton Beach, especially immigrants from Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill, according to the Casino Web site.

And the area around the Marine Memorial will be reconfigured so crowds can move around it.

Local officials yesterday welcomed the revitalization plans, which were described as in the refining stages.

"I think it's great," said Hollingworth, D-Hampton. "I'm thrilled. It's been a whole community effort."

Former Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin, R-Portsmouth, said, "I've been bringing my kids here since 1949, and I've seen the Seashell kind of kept up to speed, but we need to free up space for the public and that's what they're doing."

Fueling the project is a 2001 master plan calling for the upgrade of state park services to encourage economic development on the Seacoast.

Samyn & D'Elia is doing the feasibility study, preliminary design, and engineering for the project with ORW Landscape Architects & Planners of White River Junction, Vt., and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Engineers in Bedford.

"What you have presented today is a quantum leap forward," said Fred Rice, chairman of the Hampton Beach Area Commission, an advisory group. "I think what you've done is absolutely fantastic."

The plan is for DRED to bring the $20 million project to the Legislature next fall for inclusion in the next capital budget, according to Parks and Recreation Marketing Director Amy Bassett.