Provided Photo
Dan Bacon, the Downs
Updated: January 8, 2024
Economic Outlook
2024 Forecast: The Downs looks to ‘transformative’ year
Provided Rendering
A rendering of the planned Town Center at the Downs in Scarborough.
Despite the high building costs, interest rates and continued issues with material pricing, new construction continues at the Downs, a mixed-use development in Scarborough.
According to Dan Bacon, the development director of the Downs, 2024 will be a transformative year with the activation of the planned Town Center.
Infrastructure construction has just started. In 2024, a new Allagash Brewing tasting room, InterMed surgery center, medical office and the first few mixed-use buildings anchoring the Town Center will be under construction.
The mixed-use buildings in the Town Center will be available for retail, restaurants and other commercial space, as well as office and residential.
“A year from now, we’ll be able to visit many of these destinations as well as walk on the sidewalks of the new Town Center,” says Bacon.
The Downs has developed 500 units of housing of all kinds, including single-family homes, apartments, elderly housing, condos and even tiny houses.
The majority of the housing and unit types they have focused on have appealed to young professionals and empty nesters. The development has families with children, but that’s not the majority of households. This is mainly due to the housing types, which include condos, apartments, townhouses, smaller single-family homes, and various price points.
“For 2024, we are adding some new housing types, including amenitized condos and units in mixed-use buildings (above retail), but expect the demographics of new residents to be similar,” says Bacon.
Bacon says given the Federal Reserve’s announcement about interest rate adjustments downward over the course of 2024, real estate development is poised to regain better predictability and more favorable lending.
“This can help both the developer side as well as buyers, especially in working to address the statewide housing crisis,” says Bacon. “The high-interest rates of 2023 have caused some projects to stall or not move forward and others to proceed but price out middle-income buyers and renters.”
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