Bangor elderly housing plan OK’d

BANGOR – If all goes according to plan, a regional nonprofit group will break ground in the city next spring on a 55-unit affordable housing project for elderly residents.

The 2.4-acre parcel at the corner of Harlow and Curve streets where the complex would be built now houses a vacant commercial building that is in poor condition. Over the years, the building at 315 Harlow St. housed a photography shop, a cafe and a tire business. Most recently, it served as a garage for Capital Ambulance.

Now, Volunteers of America Northern New England is gearing up to redevelop the site by tearing down the existing structure and building an affordable housing complex for seniors.

The project won site plan approval from the city’s planning board Tuesday night, with the condition that VOA work out an easement with the city for grading and landscaping within the Curve Street right-of-way that borders the development parcel.

The board’s unanimous vote of approval followed rigorous quizzing from members about such project elements as parking and access for emergency vehicles.

The organization is working to obtain federal funding and tax credits for the project and plans to begin construction in the spring of 2008, according to Julia Wilcock, VOA vice president of new business development.

In an earlier meeting with city officials, Wilcock said the need for affordable housing for Bangor area elderly people is “huge.” She said VOA’s research showed that local seniors face a more than two-year wait for openings in existing affordable housing complexes.

Artistic renderings of the complex show a brick-clad structure with two- and four-story sections. The configuration of varying stories is required because the complex is being built on a parcel that slopes down toward Harlow Street.

The ground level will house office and community space, while the upper levels will contain 55 apartments, 52 of which will have one bedroom and three with two bedrooms. One of the two bedroom apartments will be reserved for the building’s manager.

The complex was designed by Sitelines, a Brunswick firm. Project Manager Curtis Neufeld pointed out that the site’s small size, location and configuration proved challenging, but that the new complex “certainly is a nice replacement for what’s there.”

VOA is a nationwide, nonprofit, spiritually based organization specializing in human service programs and opportunities for individual and community involvement.

In northern New England, the organization’s focus is providing affordable low-income housing for seniors and a variety of services for youths, adults and families.

VOA already has built affordable senior housing complexes in several Maine communities, including Portland, Augusta, Thomaston, Belfast and Peaks Island.