Regency Tower will undergo overhaul 

NEW BEDFORD — Years after falling into disrepair, the city's tallest building will get a top to bottom overhaul under the ownership of a Boston developer.

The Regency Tower, a 15-story apartment complex at 800 Pleasant St., will undergo a series of renovations, including repairs to its brick facade, roof and windows. Some of the apartments inside, of which only 33 percent are occupied, will be transformed into luxury condominiums.

Trinity Financial took title to the property.... [read more]

  New Bedford port remains tops in value of landed seafood

NEW BEDFORD — Even with its groundfishing fleet on the verge of collapse, the Port of New Bedford is being recognized for landing the nation's largest value of seafood in 2008, primarily due to sea scallops that sold for nearly $7 per pound.

It is the ninth consecutive year that the city has been named the top port in terms of the dollar value of its catch, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service, which on Wednesday released statistics on U.S. commercial fishery landings.

In 2008, New Bedford fishermen landed... [read more]

  Downtown New Bedford planning process stirs the imagination

Imagine downtown New Bedford with a Union Street dormitory for UMass Dartmouth graduate students and a new classroom building for Bristol Community College across from the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center.

Imagine a tree-lined Custom House Square and a new, architecturally significant building on adjacent Union Street.

Imagine a movie theater under the Elm Street garage and an abolitionist museum at the First Baptist Church, right across from City Hall.

Imagine the cobblestones and antique lanterns... [read more]

  City Celebrates in historic New Bedford

Urban Adventurers, get ready: Summertime is here, and downtown New Bedford is ready to rock.

Every Thursday, the cobblestone streets of downtown New Bedford will be hopping with festivities as City Celebrates! kicks off July 16 and continues on each of the six non-AHA! Thursdays this summer.

These six nights of celebration—July 16, 23 and 30, and Aug. 6, 20 and 27— promise live music, walking tours, films, kids' activities, lectures, galleries and... [read more]