Portland City Council OKs affordable housing for Brighton Avenue site

Photo / Courtesy City of Portland This aerial photo of 1125 Brighton Ave. shows the two sites the city is considering leasing for affordable housing development.

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By Tina Fischer

An affordable housing proposal for 1125 Brighton Ave. in Portland, is moving forward after getting a thumbs up from the City Council on Monday night.

The project brought forth by Developers Collaborative and ProsperityME is designed to provide apartments for a mix of up to 100 families and individuals. It still has a long way to go before it's shovel ready, but council members approved the concept by a vote of 6-2, with one councilor absent.

The city had put out a request for proposals in February for the lease and development of two city-owned parcels on a 15-acre property shared with the Barron Center long-term care facility and Loring House apartments. From the four submitted, the council’s Housing and Economic Development committee on May 12 voted to recommend a joint project by Developers Collaborative and ProsperityME.

Developers Collaborative, of Portland, has built affordable and senior housing projects across the state and last year developed Portland’s 52,000-square-foot, 208-bed Homeless Service Center for adults at 654 Riverside St.

ProsperityME, a Portland nonprofit, will be the owner of the project, while supporting tenants through wraparound social services and handling property management.

Pros and cons

City Council briefly debated what some said was a flawed selection process and one community member complained that the city should be considering the Barron Center campus more thoughtfully, rather than developing the acreage “piecemeal.”

Kate Sykes, City Council-District 5, who serves on the HECD committee and was one of the dissenting votes, said one of the two sites might not be suitable for development.

“Is Site 2 developable? I don’t think we know that,” she said, adding that she felt “the process went off the rails, and I take some responsibility for that. We need to go back to the drawing board.”

There was also discussion about what population the project should address, with some council members saying the city needed more affordable housing for seniors. Developers Collaborative principal Kevin Bunker reiterated his position that the greatest need is for family housing, noting that the waiting list for placements in housing for families is six times longer than for seniors.

Moving forward

Bunker told Mainebiz earlier that there are 43 families with a total of 122 members living at the city’s Family Shelter at 54 Chestnut St. and added that in the last four years, 923 units for seniors and 560 for families were built with Maine State Housing Low-Income Tax Credits for affordable housing.

He cited the fact that 588 Portland school students are homeless. “I’m excited to ameliorate that situation as quickly as possible," he said.

Bunker is proposing creating a majority of two- to four- bedroom units in the project, to house mostly families, with a range of incomes at or below 30% to 80% of the area mean income, which varies based on household size.

While the city’s RFP called for building on both sites, Bunker’s proposal prioritizes building first on the square parcel at the front of the property, Site 1, on the corner of Holm Avenue, noting it’s a less complicated site than the triangular-shaped Site 2, which is behind the Barron Center and adjacent to the Maine Turnpike.

In the end, the majority of the council agreed with Anna Bullett, City Council-District 4, who said: “The need is real; housing can’t wait.”

Final details of the project will be negotiated between the city and developers, funding needs to be secured, and the anticipated date for completion of a build on Site 1 is November 2027. The feasibility of building on Site 2 will continue to be explored.