Bangor is one step closer to bringing dozens of housing units to Grandview Avenue.
The Bangor City Council on Monday authorized the city manager to negotiate an agreement with a Portland-based housing development company for the construction of up to 75 housing units on a 10-acre patch of city-owned land on Grandview Avenue.
Councilors agreed to partner with Developers Collaborative to bring the type of housing the city wants to the land. The company has prior experience creating affordable, market rate and senior housing, among other projects, according to the company’s website.
The city will work with Developers Collaborative to determine exactly what the housing there will look like, who will own the land and housing, and how much the city wants to spend on the project, according to Anne Krieg, Bangor’s economic development director.
The city hopes construction on the development will begin next year, according to Krieg.
Confirming a developer for the Grandview Avenue project is the latest step in bringing an influx of much-needed housing to the area. Doing so would further city leaders’ goal of adding housing in Bangor, which was set after city councilors declared 2024 would be “the year of housing.” That mission launched after a study found the state needs roughly 38,500 homes to recover from historic underproduction.
After the city determined its property on Grandview would be a good spot for housing, it began looking for ways it could entice a developer to build there.
Previously, the city agreed to devote roughly $2 million in federal funds from the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act to bring utilities and road infrastructure to the land. This, the city believed, would spare a future developer from the cost of doing so later and make the land more attractive to a housing developer.
In exchange for preparing the land for construction, the city required a future developer to build a certain type of housing that’s affordable for people who make 80 to 120 percent of the area median income, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development sets annually.
A one-person household in Bangor making $53,050 to $79,548 per year would qualify, according to HUD. A four-person household could make $75,750 to $113,640 annually.
The city refers to that income bracket as “the missing middle,” as the demographic makes too much to qualify for most housing subsidies, but still can’t afford market-rate housing, either as a renter or buyer, Krieg said.
The city’s 10-acre piece of land on Grandview Avenue, which used to hold a tree nursery, sits behind the Broadway Shopping Center between Hillside Avenue and Darling Parke Drive and is accessible via Broadway and Essex Street.
“It’s a perfect place for housing, and it’s consistent with the directive of the City Council to make housing a top priority,” Kreig said. “This is a rare opportunity for a municipality to be more of an active part of providing housing.”
