Building Business: Jagger Mill redevelopment is one of several housing projects underway in Sanford

Photo / Tina Fischer Jagger Mill in Sanford’s Springvale Village will have 86 market-rate apartments.

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The city of Sanford is witnessing the development of multiple housing projects aimed at meeting a growing demand in York County. A total of 270 apartments were added over the past five years and another 450 apartments and condos, accessible to a range of incomes and ages, are already under construction or well along in the permitting stage.

The city has received significant grants and other funding to upgrade infrastructure in the downtown, including broadband, and to improve recreation and public safety facilities. MaineHousing funds and TIF (tax increment financing) agreements are helping to facilitate the construction of new affordable housing, and several of the city’s long-idle mills are being repurposed with a mix of uses.

The Sanford Mill building is home to 41 apartments and first floor commercial space. The former St. Ignatius High School has been repurposed into 66 affordable senior housing units, and the Nasson College campus is being redeveloped by Portland-based GreenMars Inc. into more than 100 housing units with a proposed mix of apartments, condos, affordable, and market rate options.

The latest mill redevelopment project, getting underway this spring, is Newmarket, N.H.-based Chinburg Properties’ rehab of the historic Jagger Mill in Sanford’s Springvale Village, into 86 apartments.

Sanford city planner Erin Moriarty says plans for the 68,000-square-foot Jagger Mill call for 39 studio apartments, 37 one-bedroom, and 10 two-bedroom market-rate units. “The city is pleased this building will be reutilized so quickly and provide much-needed housing options in the area. Hopefully, new residents will continue to breathe life into this district and support our local businesses,” she says.

Eric Chinburg purchased the 105-year old, four-story brick building for $1.3 million in April 2024 from Jagger Bros. LLC and the Sanford Planning Board approved final details of the project in December.

The median age in Sanford is just over 40, and the largest share of the population is in their early- to mid-30s. According to recent studies, Sanford is also home to the largest number of workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. A new comprehensive plan is currently in the works, and Sanford expects growth to continue.

Construction news from around the state

KBS Builders Inc., based in Oxford and South Paris, will be providing two modular buildings with a total of 18 units for the newly approved affordable housing project to be built on Cleaves Street, behind Yarmouth town hall. Kara Wilbur’s Rumford-based Dooryard will manage construction, which is expected to get underway this fall. Developers for the project are Wilbur, Sam Hight and Brad Moll.
Forefront Development is building a five-story, 148-room Marriott hotel at Thompson’s Point in Portland, which is projected to open in 2026. The new hotel will be situated on Thompson’s Point Road, next to the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine and connected to the 34,000-square-foot Brick South event space. Procon Inc., based in Manchester, N.H., is handling construction.