Two new apartment buildings are underway next to Lewiston’s Kennedy Park
RENDERING / COURTESY AVESTA
The two apartment buildings to be constructed between Bates and Park Streets in Lewiston are shown as they will look when fully completed.
The former site of a once-grand hotel at Pine and Bates streets in Lewiston is being redeveloped for much-needed affordable housing.
The project is named after the DeWitt House, which was demolished in 1965 and replaced with a Lewiston Sun Journal office building and a bank.
Those two buildings, long vacant, will be razed to make way for two new buildings that will provide 104 apartments and four commercial spaces over a total of 96,000 square feet.
As part of the plan, 21 of the new units will be market-rate and 83 will be affordable for households earning no more than 30% to 60% of the area median income and some will be subsidized.
The DeWitt is being developed by Portland-based Avesta Housing for the Lewiston Auburn Area Housing Development Corp. Portland-based Kaplan Thompson is the architect and Falmouth-based Penobscot General Contractors is the builder.
The apartments are expected to be ready in 2027.
“There’s a massive need for it, and besides the Wedgewood, there hasn’t been a housing development of this size in the city in a long time," Chris Kilmurry, executive director of Lewiston Auburn Area Housing Development, told Mainebiz.
The DeWitt project sits across from Lewiston City Hall and Kennedy Park, which Kilmurry said he hopes will be revitalized with the addition of new housing next door.
“There’s been a negative perception around the park. It’s a beautiful green space in the heart of the city, and our hope is that this project will mean a lot more people will now be living nearby and using the park.”
Kilmurry added that negotiations are underway for the largest commercial space in the DeWitt, a total of 10,000 square feet, to welcome the expansion of a local grocery store, delicatessen and bakery.
Second project
The Wedgewood will be a nine-building mixed-income housing complex that will cover an entire block at Pine, Pierce, Walnut and Bartlett streets. Of the 82 apartments, 60 will be designated as affordable with the balance rented at market rate.
Lewiston-based Hebert Construction is the contractor and work is underway.
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