Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A Portland-based developer will create a mixed-use building in Cape Elizabeth with more than a dozen affordable apartments upstairs and commercial space on the first floor.
GreenMars Real Estate Services plans to construct the 15,000-square-foot Cape Commons in an empty lot at 316 Ocean House Road. The building will offer two storefronts on the first floor with 18 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments on the upper two floors.
The Cape Elizabeth Planning Board unanimously approved the project on Aug. 18 and the window for anyone to appeal the decision ended earlier this month, giving the developers the green light to move forward, according to Oscar Wilkerson, a development operations specialist for GreenMars.
The project will be the first development with exclusively affordable units built in Cape Elizabeth since the 1970s, Wilkerson said. The coastal community, which sits just south of Portland, is perhaps best known for being the home of Portland Head Light and some of the state’s most lavish estates.
The units will help the state work toward its goal of adding at least 76,400 new homes by 2030, as identified by a statewide housing needs study. Those homes are perhaps most desperately needed in Maine’s urban centers — the largest of which is the Portland area — where residents want and need to live close to where they work.
The apartments will be affordable to those earning up to 80% of the area median income, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development sets annually. That amounts to an annual income of $74,800 for one person in Cape Elizabeth, or $85,450 for a two-person household.
This restriction also means residents earning more than those limits can’t apply to live in the building, Wilkerson said.
While an all-affordable housing development hasn’t been built in Cape Elizabeth in roughly 50 years, the town has had an inclusionary zoning ordinance in place since 1992, according to Maureen O’Meara, Cape Elizabeth’s town planner. The rule requires developments with more than five residential lots to set aside a small percentage of the homes for low- and moderate-income residents.
The rule has been around for more than 30 years, but O’Meara said it has only resulted in 16 existing affordable units, which is not enough to meet local demand.
“There’s a real need for apartments at a price point where teachers, firefighters and anyone who works in the local community can afford to live,” Wilkerson said.
Throughout the design process, Wilkerson said he heard from local residents who are looking to downsize from a larger house but are struggling to find something smaller and affordable in the area.
The apartments could also serve those looking to move back to the area but can’t afford a single-family home in the town. The median sale price for a single-family house in Cape Elizabeth sat at nearly $950,000 as of last month, according to Redfin.
The company designed the project — which will be roughly the same size as the town hall next door — to mimic the style of other buildings in the area. Once complete, tenants will be able to walk to a nearby grocery store, cafes, the local library and schools.
“We’ve been driving by this vacant lot for years so when it became available, we jumped on it because it’s right in the village center,” Wilkerson said. “It’ll be an excellent place for people to live.”
Developers hope to welcome restaurants or cafes in the building’s two retail spaces, which are each 1,000 square feet. The site will also offer 51 parking spaces for tenants and patrons.
Furthermore, six “live-work” units in the building’s rear will double as business addresses for residents who want to operate a studio or small business from their home, Wilkerson said.
While town officials are excited about the project, O’Meara said the development of the empty lot, which last held a gas station, has been “a couple of decades in the making.”
“It’s basically a paved site that’s crying out for some redevelopment,” O’Meara said.
Another developer planned to build a nearly identical building there in the early 2000s, O’Meara said. That earlier plan received the town’s approval, but construction never began.
However, redeveloping that lot into something useful and beneficial has remained a priority for town officials and residents alike for years, O’Meara said.
“We worked closely with the town to ensure that what we’re bringing truly aligns with what the town has been looking for, and we’ve had a lot of neighbors that have reached out to us excited about this project,” Wilkerson said.
The company anticipates construction will begin next year, but it’s uncertain when the project might be complete and ready for tenants to move in.