NORTH HAMPTON — The doors of the old North Hampton State Beach bathhouse were closed for good on Monday as the next stage of work on a new bathhouse progresses.

Today, construction fence should start going up around the existing building. By the time visitors return to the beach next summer, they will be greeted with a brand new bathhouse, similar to the new state buildings at Hampton Beach.

“Phase One was a small renovation of the existing bathhouse so it could be hooked up to a conventional sewer system,” Johanna Lyons, program specialist with the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation, said. “Everything that we put in for this summer is going to be re-used when the new building goes in.”

The tie-in meant the state did not have to pump the septic system multiple times each week, as it had been doing for the last couple of years.

“By the end of December, we should have a building that is close to being done for spring,” Lyons said.

In preparation for Phase Two of construction, portable toilets have been set up on the opposite end of the parking lot for fall and handicapped spaces have been re-located. North Hampton resident spots will not be changed. Parking will continue to be enforced at the beach through October.

The $600,000 project is being funded through a state allocation of $450,000, a $140,000 grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and a small donation from the New Hampshire Coastal Program.

Plans are available to view online by visiting www.nhstateparks.org.

Sewage problems plagued the bathhouse for the last several years after the on-site septic system failed in 2004. The state to received permission from Hampton voters last March to tie into a Rye sewer main that runs nearby and carried waste to the Hampton Wastewater Treatment plant. The tie-in was made this spring. Some changes were also made to the existing bathhouse, allowing it to function during the summer season.

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Gretyl Macalaster may be reached at gmacalaster@newstote.com.