A proposal is underway in the Piscataquis County town of Greenville to develop a 28-unit housing development that’s affordable for middle-income, year-round residents to purchase or rent.
“We’ve heard over and over from local residents and employers that Greenville’s housing market is out of reach for young people, teachers, tradespeople, hospitality workers and others who are part of a robust community,” said Mike Wilson, senior program director with developer Northern Forest Center. “This development is designed to address that need.”
He added, “None of these homes will be available for short-term rental.”
Greenville, with a year-round population of 1,400, is a primary service center for the Moosehead Lake area. In part because of the large number of seasonal homes and short-term rentals, housing for local workers is scarce.
The cost of the project, which aims to address a pressing need for workforce housing, is estimated at roughly $12.5 million, including the related expansion of public infrastructure to the site, Wilson told Mainebiz.
The project is being financed primarily through the use of impact investment dollars secured by the center through Northern Forest funds.
Earlier this year, the project was awarded $2.5 million in congressionally directed spending included in the fiscal year 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill.
The center submitted a preliminary subdivision application on April 1 to the Greenville planning board for the development, which would be on a five-acre property that sits downtown west of Spruce Street.
The center purchased the property from the Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corp. in order to expand housing options that are accessible to people who live and work in Greenville.
The development would feature single-family homes and duplexes, from one to three bedrooms, in a clustered neighborhood designed to encourage community connections. Wilson said the center is not yet prepared to release projected home sale prices or rents.
The application is part of a multi-step review process to secure approval.
Mass timber
The center is working with Chicago mass timber company TMBR and New Gloucester contractor Big Country Built to create homes using an innovative mass timber system. Haley Ward Inc., is providing civil engineering for the project site.
The system developed by TMBR combines mass timber, standardized design and a patented hinge assembly system to create timber-frame homes, the center has said.
Mass timber is a family of engineered wood products that combines smaller pieces of wood into stronger, structural components. The plan is for TMBR to ship standardized mass timber components to the construction site, where local teams would erect the frames and install panels between the beams. The hinge system that connects the components, built-in chases for utilities, prefinished interior walls and other features are projected to reduce labor and other costs.
The site layout would include walking paths from a common parking area and homes of various sizes arranged together around shared open space, said Anthony Viola, a site designer with TMBR.
The homes would have open-concept floor plans and range from roughly 1,000 to 1,600 square feet.
In 2023, the center helped the town secure roughly $1 million from the Northern Border Regional Commission to support the expansion of public infrastructure needed for the development. The center is providing $265,000 to match the commission’s grant. The infrastructure phase will extend public water and sewer service and construct a new public road on the Spruce Street property.
“This collaboration reflects exactly what our community has been asking for — thoughtful, attainable housing that supports working families, strengthens our year‑round economy, and helps ensure that the people who make Greenville run can continue to call it home,” said Mike Roy, Greenville’s town manager.
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking for the public infrastructure phase is scheduled to take place this spring, followed by site work on the property and construction of the first homes this summer.
Plans are for the first homes to be available for purchase or rent by this fall and the full, multi-phase development to be complete in spring 2028.
Northern Forest Center is an innovation and investment partner working across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Since its founding in 1997, it has secured or leveraged $288 million and supported 10,000 jobs, according to its website.
The center has developed housing in historic buildings in Bethel as well as Lancaster, N.H., and St. Johnsbury, Vt.; and is midway through creating nine apartments in Tupper Lake, N.Y., in a new building that uses some mass timber components. Its business office is in Concord, N.H., and it has staff in Bethel and South Portland; Glen and Milan, N.H.; Burlington, Duxbury, St. Johnsbury and Stowe, Vt.; and Elizabethtown and Saranac Lake, N.Y.
