Manchester Information

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Real estate

Real estate in Manchester is generally a little cheaper than Nashua or Salem.  We were unable to find lower cost new construction (under $300,000) so I don't have anything to report there.  We did drive around the central Manchester neighborhoods some and were pleasantly surprised.  We looked closely at the exterior of one house in particular:

Homes:

Manchester - $265,000, 5 bed / 2 + 1/2 + 3/4 bath / 2900 sq. ft, on Belmont St.  This victorian home is in a nice but old neighborhood.  It estimate the age of the homes at 100 - 150 years.  The lots are small and as a result of new setback regulations it's not possible to add anything to the homes (i.e. a garage).  This house did not come with a garage.  It looked nice and obviously had major updates along the way (windows and siding were apparent externally). 

Commerce and Restaurants

Though we didn't do much shopping in Manchester, there are plenty of places to shop there.  According to my research, there is at least one of every major retail chain store there (i.e. Wal-mart, K-mart, etc.).  There is no CompUSA there (Nashua or Salem both have CompUSA).   There is at least one mall there that we saw.  I used to fly in there regularly and remember seeing several places to shop.  There are also lots of restaurants to eat at.  In addition to all the chains we found in other parts of the state, I specifically remember seeing an Outback Steakhouse. 

The Libertarian Party hosted their annual convention at the Highlander Inn in Manchester.  We went there to have dinner with some of the FSP related attendees.  Their facility is right by the Manchester airport (more on that below) and appeared suitable for many types of gathering occasions.  The restaurant had good food though it was stereotypically priced for a fancier convention hotel restaurant. 

Other

Drive times can be found on the statewide page.  The drive times for Manchester are of particular interest as the only commercial airport in New Hampshire is located there.  It is near the intersection of 101/293 which is where most of our drive times were taken from.  The exit for the airport is one exit east of that intersection and the airport is just a few minutes south of there.  That interchange is currently under construction so the drive times may be slightly longer, but under normal circumstances it shouldn't take any more than about five minutes to get from 101/293 to the airport.

The Manchester airport is one of the bright spots of the state.  It has excellent air service for a town of its size.  Many people in the northern Boston area use it instead of Logan because the prices are lower and it's more convenient.  I used to fly in there regularly and we were always full.  I did a comprehensive air service report previously for each of the FSP candidate states, but since some time has passed I'll include below the updated information for Manchester.  Below is a table that includes each city with non-stop air service along with the airlines serving them, the number of flights, and the type of equipment.

City	# of flights	Airline	Equipment
Albany	2	Continental Express/Connection	19-seat Turboprop
Atlanta	3	Delta (2), Delta Connection (1)	Mainline Jet (2), RJ (1)
Baltimore	11	Southwest	Mainline Jet
Bangor	1	Ensor Air Ltd. (PanAm Connection)	19-seat Turboprop
Charlotte	3	USAirways	Mainline Jet
Chicago Midway	2	Southwest	Mainline Jet
Chicago O'Hare	5	United (4), United Express (1)	Mainline Jet (4), RJ (1)
Cincinnati	4	Delta (2), Delta Connection (2)	Mainline Jet (2), RJ (2)
Cleveland	4	Continental Express	RJ
Detroit	4	Northwest	Mainline Jet
Halifax	1	Ensor Air Ltd. (PanAm Connection)	19-seat Turboprop
Kansas City	1	Southwest	Mainline Jet
Las Vegas	1	Southwest	Mainline Jet
Minneapolis	2	Northwest (1), Northwest Airlink (1)	Mainline Jet (1), RJ (1)
Nashville	2	Southwest	Mainline Jet
New London, CT	1	Ensor Air Ltd. (PanAm Connection)	19-seat Turboprop
New York La Guardia	11	USAirways Express (8), Delta Connection (3)	30-seat Turboprop (8), RJ (3)
Newark	4	Continental (1), Continental Express (3)	Mainline Jet (1), RJ (3)
Orlando	3	Southwest	Mainline Jet
Philadelphia	5	USAirways (4), USAirways Express (1)	Mainline Jet (4), RJ (1)
Pittsburgh	3	USAirways (2), USAirways Express (1)	Mainline Jet (2), RJ (1)
Tampa	2	Southwest	Mainline Jet
Toronto	4	Air Canada - regional partner(s)	19-seat Turboprop (3), 30-seat Turboprop (1)
Washington Dulles	4	United Express	RJ
Washington National	3	USAirways Express	RJ (2), 30-seat Turboprop (1)

In addition to the above, there are a handful of non-stop flights that do not operate at least 5 days per week (i.e. Pan Am to Portsmouth and Sanford).  25 destinations are served, 21 of which have at least 30-seat Turboprop service.  There are 6 US Major airlines with service to Manchester, plus Air Canada's regional partner, Pan Am, and Pan Am Connection (note: this is Pan Am #3, not to be confused with Pan Am #1 or Pan Am #2). 

Copyright 2003 Varrin Swearingen - to reproduce in any way (in whole or in part), please contact the author at: varrin at varrin dot com.