Saving the Waterworks

Over the years, many plans – a restaurant, condominiums, medical offices – have been proposed for Bangor’s dilapidated waterworks. Given the high cost of refurbishing the historic structures, anyone who needed to make money on the project soon gave up. A current proposal to build 35 efficiency apartments for low-income residents is different, and has a higher chance of success, because it does not need to turn a profit. Instead, it will help fill a societal need.

Even backers of the project admit that low-income housing may not be their favored use of a historic landmark. However, this project will help fill the city’s need for affordable housing while preserving historic buildings. It will do so with minimal use of taxpayer money. If the waterworks are to be saved, this is the best option the city has left.

Faced with Bangor’s need for affordable housing – it now has a 1 to 2 percent vacancy rate in such units – and the city’s desire to save the waterworks, Shaw House Development decided to merge the two. Once the for-profit subsidiary of Shaw House Inc., which runs a shelter for homeless teenagers, decided to expand its mission and help adults by building affordable housing, it needed to find a location for such a complex. Vacant lots are hard to come by and opposition from neighbors when such projects are planned in residential areas is often strong.

The waterworks site largely avoids these problems and offers several advantages. It is on the city’s bus route, giving residents access to grocery stores, other services and potential employers. It has space for offices where social services, such as job placement and counseling, can be provided to residents on-site. To address safety concerns, a wall will separate the complex from the railroad tracks, where trains will be required to move very slowly, and windows overlooking the Penobscot River will not open.

Most importantly, this proposal will refurbish an eyesore, albeit a historic one, with little investment of city resources. If Bangor was simply to tear down the waterworks it will likely spend close to $1 million. Since federal funds are not available for such demolition, that cost would be borne by taxpayers.

Not so with the Shaw House project which will be funded largely through low-income housing tax credits. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit was created by the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The act eliminated a variety of tax provisions which had favored rental housing and replaced them with a program of credits to encourage the construction of rental housing targeted to lower income households. The credits can be used by property owners to offset taxes on other income, and are generally sold to outside investors to raise initial development funds for a project.

Shaw House already has commitments from investors to buy $4 million worth of these credits for the $6 million project.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that the Maine Department of Transportation was right to allow the construction of a railroad crossing to allow pedestrian and vehicle access to the waterworks over the objections of the railroad. With this major legal hurdle cleared, the project appears on track.

Given its objectives and funding, this likely is the best opportunity Bangor has to save a landmark and help some of its neediest citizens.