The town of Greenville has approved 28 new homes, intended to meet the demand from teachers, municipal staff and others who are struggling to find affordable housing in the Moosehead Lake region.
Mike Wilson is with the nonprofit Northern Forest Center, which is developing the project. He said the one- to three-bedroom homes and duplexes will be built with mass timber frames, which are not yet widely used in homebuilding in Maine.
“That’s using proprietary nodes or hinges that allow very efficient installation of the structure itself and the mechanical systems,” Wilson said. “We are optimistic that will be able to really bring some of the labor costs down.”
The homes will be developed on a parcel that has changed hands several times over the last few decades, first with Coastal Enterprises as part of the Plum Creek Timber Co. transfer when its ambitious development plans fell through in the mid-2000s, then to the Moosehead Regional Economic Development Corp.
Financing for affordable housing has been difficult over the years, Wilson said, but he believes his nonprofit will be able to successfully develop much-needed homes for working people in the Moosehead Lake region this time.
“What we’re trying to get at is that missing middle piece, which is homes that are ‘attainably priced’ for middle-income people,” Wilson added. “That’s someone who might work for the town, it’s a teacher, someone who works for a local contractor.”
The first three homes could be available for rent or purchase as early as this fall, with the development expected to be complete in spring 2028, Wilson said.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
