Mainebiz

V O L . X X X N O. X I I M AY 2 7 , 2 0 2 4 10 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E Brunswick invests in emergency shelter After years of planning, nonprofit Tedford Housing is moving forward with an $8.3 million project to build emergency housing in Brunswick, on omas Point Road near Cook's Corner. Construction of the 17,568-square-foot emergency housing building will allow Tedford to consolidate its current adult and family shelters on Cumberland and Federal streets in Brunswick, as well as an administrative office. Shelter capac- ity for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness will increase by 60%, according to a news release. e new building, on just over three acres, will also promote better-coordinated case management and other services. N O T E W O R T H Y M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T Acadia Fire FC announced that it received a matching donation grant of $20,000 from the Lawrence Family Foundation in Santa Monica, Calif., to install new turf throughout its indoor facility, the Acadia Soccer Center. Penquis plans senior housing in Bangor Plans are moving ahead to build an affordable senior housing complex in Bangor, on Milford Street, north of the downtown area. e 40-unit complex will be built by the nonprofit agency Penquis, which is based in Bangor. Construction is scheduled to begin in June. e architect is TAC Architectural Group Inc. and the general contrac- tor is Dunbar & Brawn Construction, both of which are in Bangor. Final cost estimates for the project are still being worked out. Penquis will submit a request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the release of $200,000 of Community Development Block Grant funding, Jason Bird, Penquis's housing develop- ment director, told Mainebiz. UMaine's Malloy gets extension Dannel Malloy's contract as chancellor of the University of Maine System has been extended another two years, until June 30, 2027. UMaine System trustees approved the extension the same day they OK'd a balanced operating budget with a 3% in-state undergraduate tuition increase, expanded differential tuition for high-cost programs, and increases to mandatory fees, room and board. e total listed price, including tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, for a full-time Maine undergraduate student will increase by an average of $821 across the system in the 2024-25 academic year. Terms of Malloy's contract, includ- ing compensation, have not yet been decided, and it is now up to the board chair and vice chair to negotiate the contract extension details, according to a spokeswoman for the UMaine System. Malloy, 68, became chancellor in 2019 following more than two decades of public service including as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y.; mayor of Stamford, Conn.; and two-term Democratic gov- ernor of Connecticut. N O T E W O R T H Y N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N Northern Light Health in Brewer said its orthopedic surgical teams at Northern Light AR Gould Hospital, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Mercy Hospital and Maine Coast Hospital have added ro- botic surgical devices to their programs. Versant Power announced that its ser- vice territory in the Fort Kent area was powered entirely by local solar energy for three, four-hour periods in early May. The company also said it committed $30,000 over three years to United Ways of Maine's 211 Maine program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development awarded $1.25 million to the Northern Maine Development Commission in Caribou to provide loans to micro-entrepreneurs and small busi- nesses in Aroostook, northern Penobscot, Piscataquis and Washington counties. B R I E F $17.4M affordable senior housing development breaks ground in Rockland B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r R ockland has an affordable housing crunch, much like other places in Maine and around the country. In recent years, the city has been chipping away at the affordable housing crisis bit by bit, with zoning changes and efforts to make it easier for developers to build. Developers Collaborative, whose founding principal Kevin Bunker was a former municipal planner and lobsterman in the Rockland area, has a project underway to tackle the problem. The Portland development company recently broke ground on Peasley Park, a project at 118 Maverick St. to develop affordable senior housing, with rents projected to range from $622 to $801 for renters meeting certain income guidelines. Penobscot General Contractors in Falmouth is the general contractor. The project is being undertaken in collaboration with the Maine State Housing Authority, Archetype Architects, Gorrill Palmer, Trillium Engineering Group, Mechanical Systems Engineers and Bennett Engineering. Financing includes low-income housing tax credits admin- istered by MaineHousing. The credit provides a subsidy in the form of a federal tax credit to developers of affordable rental housing, according to MaineHousing. Developers using funding must reserve a portion of the rental units for lower-income renters. The estimated completion date is April 2025, Laura Reading, director of affordable housing at the Developers Collaborative, told Mainebiz. Reading is a 2023 Mainebiz 40 Under 40 honoree who has created hundreds of new units of affordable housing in Maine. The new construction consists of 49 units. There will be four efficiency units that range from 521 to 573 square feet and 45 one-bedroom units that range from 662 to 1,013 square feet. Seventeen of the units will be accessible. At least 60% of the units will be rented to households earning 50% of the area median income or less and the remaining units will be rented to households earning 60% of the area median income or less. MaineHousing will provide vouchers for 11 units that will be pledged for use by populations with special needs. There will be a community room, laundry room, fitness room, storage and broadband infrastructure with capacity to support the provision of telemonitoring and telehealth ser- vices. There will also be conduits from the electrical panel to terminal units at the parking area for future installation of at least one Level 2 electric vehicle charger and to terminal units at the roof for future installation of photovoltaic solar panels, with an electrical panel that is adequately sized to support both. A park will be located on the northwestern end of the site and there will be raised garden beds as well as 62 parking spaces. The entrance to 118 Maverick St. is within half mile from a Hannaford supermarket, which is also the location of a Rockland DASH bus stop. The site is named after LeRoy Peasley, a decorated war veteran "who was beloved by his community," Savannah Martin, Penobscot General Contractor's business develop- ment and preconstruction manager, told Mainebiz. "This new project site will provide affordable senior hous- ing to the community that LeRoy loved," Martin said. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y, D E V E L O P E R S C O L L A BO R AT I V E Peasley Park, a 49-unit affordable senior housing community, recently broke ground in Rockland. N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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