SOUTH PORTLAND – The complex that used to house Maine’s young offenders is morphing into a series of townhouses and apartments known as Brickhill, and it’s helping to alleviate the housing shortage that has been a lingering problem in Portland.

The state transferred residents of the former Maine Youth Center to the new Long Creek Youth Development Center three years ago after it rebuilt much of its adult and youth corrections system. Now, a new community is taking shape on the 58-acre site.

Families are moving into townhouses, and cottages that used to hold delinquent teenagers will be apartments by next spring.

Workers are turning the former youth center administration building into offices.

All 145 apartments at Brickhill fall into a rent range between low-income and market-rate.

Offices, condominiums, parks and trails are in the works at the site, which is visible to motorists passing by on Interstate 295.

Richard Berman, developer of the multimillion-dollar project, sees redemption for a facility that Amnesty International once criticized for its conditions.

“There has been a stigma associated with this. I think we’re changing it,” said Berman.

He also believes the newly renovated project can be a model for other communities. Its location will give residents an option to walk from their apartments to work at stores, hotels and restaurants in the nearby Maine Mall area.

Some residents, he said, could commute to work in Portland by kayak after a dock on Long Creek is finished.

Workers have gutted the red-brick buildings of the former youth center to their exterior walls, some of which are five bricks thick, and are rebuilding the insides so the historic buildings can support modern living.

The 150-year-old, turreted administration building that’s known as “The Castle” has already drawn tenants even while work continues.

Portland Urologic Associates signed a lease for part of the building and a lease is in the works for the remaining space.