Rendering / Courtesy Invivid Architecture
Rumford Senior Living is under construction as a 33-unit affordable rental development for people age 55 and over.
Updated: 2 hours ago
Construction starts on $11M Rumford affordable senior housing
Photo / Courtesy Developers Collaborative
Breaking ground at Rumford Senior Living were, from left, Meg Robinson, Gary Marston, Berta Trafton, Jim Pelsor, Mark Wiesendanger, Kevin Bunker, George O’Keefe, Laura Reading, Ginny Stanley and Michelle Hornok.
An $11 million project to build affordable senior housing recently broke ground in the Oxford County town of Rumford.
Rumford Senior Living, at 101 Hancock St., will be a multifamily housing development with 33 units of affordable rental housing for people age 55 and over.
“Developers Collaborative, in cooperation with Maine Housing and their funding partners, is making a major investment in our community to help ensure our residents can continue to live in the community to which many of them have belonged for their entire lives,” said George O’Keefe, the Rumford’s town manager.
O’Keefe credited Portland-based Developers Collaborative principals Kevin Bunker, Laura Reading and Meg Robinson for their work to advance the project in partnership with the town, including site location and addressing local needs.
“This building is literally a cornerstone to the town's continued efforts to revitalize, restore and rejuvenate our housing stock and to help grow our economy,” he said.
The four-story building, with an additional lower level, will have one-bedroom apartments ranging from 546 square feet to 689 square feet. It will have16 sixteen units designed for accessibility.
At least 60% of the units will be allocated to households earning 50% of the area median income or less, with the remaining units designated for those earning 60% AMI or less.
In partnership with MaineHousing, seven project-based vouchers will be reserved for tenants with disabilities.
Amenities will include a community room, kitchenette, trash room, laundry room, manager’s office and 30 on-site parking spaces, with at least four designated as accessible.
The project is designed to complement the Strathglass Park District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. According to Maine Preservation, the Strathglass Park neighborhood “was designed as one of the earliest and finest examples of mill worker housing in the country.”
The neighborhood is bordered by Lincoln Avenue, Hancock Street, Maine Avenue and York Street and today consists of 50 brick duplexes arranged in a park-like setting and surrounded by a stone wall, all built between 1901 to 1902.
The development aligns with the town’s efforts to revitalize the area, including a newly-constructed $6.4 million fire station nearby.
The building overlooks the Androscoggin River and is near J. Eugene Bolvin Park, Rumford Falls Trail and downtown Rumford.
Rumford Senior Living is scheduled to open next fall.
Portland Builders Inc., of Portland, is the general contractor; Invivid Architecture, of Portland, will manage design; and Gorrill Palmer, of South Portland, is the engineer.
Funders include Maine State Housing Authority, CREA LLC, NBT Bank and a Maine Department of Economic and Community Development block grant administered by the town of Rumford.
CREA is an affordable housing investment company headquartered in Indianapolis, with an office in Boston.
Taking part in the groundbreaking were O’Keefe; Developers Collaborative’s Robinson, Bunker and Reading; Gary Marston and Berta Trafton of Portland Builders; Jim Pelsor and Mark Wiesendanger of Maine Housing; Ginny Stanley of Invivid Architecture; and Michelle Hornok of CREA.
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