Business in Dover

Business Development Office Executive 288 Central Ave
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603-516-1560

Monday - Friday

8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Dover, New Hampshire: A Place to Call Home

The Cocheco River weaves through the center of town, simultaneously connecting the city to its roots, recreation, and the natural world. Thanks to the revitalized mill buildings dominating the waterfront, you sense our history and can see the city’s work ethic built into every brick.

Dover’s downtown is dynamic, with a mix of commerce, family activities, and conservation land all within walking distance. Numerous restaurants tempt diners with diverse ethnic offerings, seafood, steak, and more. The city has a thriving music scene, with many venues offering live entertainment, plus biweekly concerts in the park, and popular music festivals. There is live theater and cinema, museums and galleries. Shoppers flock to downtown merchants whose products range from handcrafts to baked goods, clothing to jewelry, with essential services right nearby.

Life is good in Dover, and we’re proud to call it home. You will be, too. 


Click here to view the Downtown Dover Visitor Map

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Why Choose Dover?

The many restored mill buildings in the downtown, and the potential for business park-type growth around the city’s outskirts, make Dover a tantalizing target for all types of businesses –– from independent start-ups to large corporations. Dover is part of one of the most desirable regions in New England –– the New Hampshire Seacoast –– yet Dover is still the Affordable Seacoast. Whether you are starting, relocating, or expanding a business in Dover, you’ll find the price is right for your enterprise –– and for the families you employ.

Dover offers opportunities for all types of businesses. Prime downtown, and even waterfront, locations are still available, and perfect for retail, office space, and service enterprises.

Several industrial and business parks lie just outside the downtown. Opportunities here range from manufacturing and industry, to warehousing, shipping, service industries, office space, retail, and more. All offer major highway access and many have rail access.

Dover is within easy reach of four major airports, the Port of Portsmouth, and the Pease International Trade Zone. From Dover, you can do business with the enterprise next door, nationwide, or around the world.

Dover’s workforce is highly educated, skilled, and committed. (In fact, New Hampshire has the eighth highest technical content in its workforce in the nation.) Our mill heritage has imbued us with a strong work ethic, and the innovation and drive to continually reinvent ourselves and move forward. When the mills declined, Dover could have become another sad story of faded glory. But that was not the case. The people of Dover sought new enterprises, new ways to make the mills flourish, and an identity far beyond being just a “mill town.” The result has been a city reborn. Our downtown is more vibrant than ever. Our waterfront is alive with commerce, with recreation, with families enjoying parkland. Dover is strong, growing, with a future of unlimited potential. 

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Grow with Us 

We want your business – that’s New Hampshire’s, and Dover’s, motto pure and simple. To that end, we do everything possible to encourage business startups, relocation, and expansions. A number of incentives make it easier than ever to do business here in Dover. 

Incentives 

Economic Revitalization Zone (ERZ) Tax Credits

Dover has qualified for five Revitalization Zones. As a result, businesses locating within these zones and bringing new jobs to Dover receive a tax exemption against the business profits and enterprise taxes. The tax credit can be up to $200,000 over a five-year period. Learn more about ERZs.

Community Development Block Grant
This assistance can be in the form of a grant to the municipality for public infrastructure improvements on behalf of an existing business. It can also be a loan to the business itself. The maximum amount of funding available for any given project is $500,000, regardless of the size of the community applying for the grant. All grants are one-year duration, and one job must be created for each $20,000 in CDBG funds granted. The key to this federal program is that a minimum of 60 percent of the jobs created must be filled by people in low-income and moderate-income brackets.

Job Training Fund

This matching grant program is designed to enhance worker skills and help companies stay competitive in the global marketplace. It requires a minimum of a 50 percent cash match, but there is no cap on the amount of the grant.

Low Interest Loan Program Based on New Jobs

The State offers a low interest loan program through Citizens Bank that provides financing from $250,000 to $10 million, based on creating new jobs in the State. For every new job created, $40,000 can be allocated towards a loan for machinery, equipment, or buildings. The specified jobs must be created within three years after the funds are borrowed.

Research and Development Credit

The New Hampshire Legislature enacted a research and development credit, which can be used against business taxes paid to the state. Under the 2007 Laws of New Hampshire, Chap. 271, the Legislature has designated $1 million for each of the next five fiscal years to be available to fund the credit.