Photo / Courtesy of Sam Hight
Kara Wilbur and Sam Hight at Newcastle job site, two 8-unit buildings of affordable housing.
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Updated: February 10, 2025
Commercial development
Developers get creative to build more affordable and ‘missing middle’ housing
Photo / Tim Greenway
Jack Soley stands near Seavey Terraces and where the Domus project will be built in Westbrook. The first project of middle-income housing developer Domus, led by Jack Soley with Avesta Housing and Tim Hebert, is planned next to Soley’s Seavey Terraces.
From modular construction to opportunity zones to a formula to make it affordable to build middle-income housing, private developers are finding various ways to build much-needed affordable and workforce housing.
A formula for middle-income housing
Middle-income housing is the focus of Domus, a development company launched by Portland developer Jack Soley in partnership with nonprofit affordable housing provider Avesta Housing and Tim Hebert, CEO of Hebert Construction in Lewiston.
Construction is strong for affordable and market-rate housing, driven by government subsidies on the one hand and strong rates of return on the other.
Construction aimed at middle-income buyers is stymied by skinny margins, says Soley.
“The schoolteacher, the police officer, the firefighter, the nurse — they are left behind in this struggle to find housing in probably one of the most challenging periods of the housing crisis that we have ever seen in this state,” Soley says.
“They’ve been priced out of market-rate housing or they don’t qualify for subsidized housing. All of the folks in the middle-income range are struggling to find housing, and even rentals have become expensive.”
Domus’s mission is to build high-quality workforce housing, commonly defined as affordable to between 80% and 120% of the area median income.
Soley is principal and founder of several real estate investment and development companies in Greater Portland with a portfolio interest of commercial and hospitality space.
“Realizing that the margins are less but the risk is less, the whole point of Domus is to encourage people to look at this as a viable development space,” says Soley. “It’s not about us getting rich but about changing what developers feel is a viable development going forward.”
Since 2008, Soley has focused on residential development including rental and home ownership. In 2017, through an open bid process, Soley purchased land at 60 Parris St. from the city of Portland to develop workforce housing.
The project, Parris Terraces — 23 middle-income-priced condominiums, competed in 2019 — became a test case of sorts for how to affordably develop middle-income housing that would, in turn, be affordable for buyers.
Three key elements:
- The land was awarded by the city at a price slightly below market, a meaningful savings for the project.
- While 20 units were targeted for middle-income, three top-floor units were built as market-rate, providing larger margins that helped subsidize the entire project. “In other words, we subsidized internally without municipal, state or federal grants,” says Soley.
- The middle-income units are small, averaging 450 square feet, but incorporate attractive construction techniques and finishes such as Passive House energy efficiencies and granite countertops. “We’re taking luxury condo finishes and shrinking the concept,” says Soley.
The model accommodates development without deed restrictions that control sale prices when condos turn over, he says; homeowners can build modest equity but the compact unit sizes keep the units affordable upon resale.
Data from Parris Terraces support the theory. Units initially sold for an average $215,000 in 2019. Since then, seven have turned over. Total appreciation was approximately 13%, while all units re-sold to households at 120% AMI and below.
“Even after initial sale, these units will remain affordable, as the market can only support limited purchase prices for such small units,” says Soley.
Domus was established to launch the model to the larger housing market. Its pilot project in downtown Westbrook is phase three of a larger development called Maple Grove, on 3.25 acres at 35 Seavey St.
Soley and Hebert are wrapping construction of phase one — Seavey Terraces, a 65-unit apartment building for workforce housing at below-market rates. (For now, Seavey Terraces is block-leased by the University of New England for student housing.)
Avesta Housing plans to break ground this month on phase two, a 61-unit affordable housing building, called Seavey Crossing, for people age 55-plus.
The Domus project will have 45 condos, at 450 to 500 square feet, with prices in the $280,000 range. Features include an energy-efficient envelope, granite countertops, stainless appliances, decks and shared spaces.
“They’ll just be smaller than luxury condos going for $1 million in Portland,” says Soley.
Like Parris Terraces, some top-floor units will be market-rate to help subsidize the development.
“We receive financing from the banks, so we have to be able to make money,” Soley says. “We can’t take a loss or be a nonprofit. We have to be a for-profit to do this.”
Construction is slated to start in August.
Goals include making the model replicable for other communities.
“There are a lot of challenges for developers to jump into this realm,” he says. “It’s not an intuitive process. It’s not simply putting high-quality units on the market, having decent margins and reaping the profits. You have to figure out other ways to make it work.”
Modular construction
Developers Kara Wilbur and Sam Hight are deploying modular construction and using MaineHousing rural affordable financing programs to develop affordable housing.
Buildings are made off-site at KBS Builders Inc., a modular home manufacturing company in the Oxford County town of Paris. Wilbur’s company, Rumford-based Dooryard, handles delivery and installation.
Features common across the projects include TimberHP wood-fiber insulation manufactured in Madison, hardwood finishes, designs that fit the community such as front porches and backyards, and electric systems.
Wilbur, a Portland resident, is a planner and urban designer, by training. She founded Dooryard in 2021 as a catalog home company offering lines of single-family home packages and multi-family apartment buildings using modular construction methods.
“We’re trying to create a catalogue of building types that fit in nicely with Maine communities, and build them repeatedly as part of the strategy to save on costs,” says Wilbur.
Hight is president and dealer principal at the Hight Family of Dealerships in Skowhegan and has been active in commercial real estate construction and leasing through Hight Properties. He has turned some of his focus to affordable housing, both consulting and owning, through SJ Hight & Co. in Skowhegan and 55 Weston Avenue LLC in Madison.
Photo / Courtesy of Genesis Fund, Liza Fleming-Ives
At the ribbon cutting for 55 Weston Ave. in Madison, from left: MaineHousing communications director Scott Thistle, asset manager Billy Clark, multifamily loan officer Jayson Pare, development director Mark Wiesendanger, Sam Hight, MaineHousing director Daniel Brennan, Kara Wilbur and Brian Eng.
In 2024, Wilbur, Hight and Brian Eng cut the ribbon on 55 Weston Ave. in Madison, a $5 million, 18-home affordable housing development. Another 18 units are proposed.
Wilbur and Hight have other modular-construction, affordable housing in the works.
For project owner and developer Rob Nelson of Ecological Development LLC, they provided consulting for modular construction of 16 affordable apartments at 16 Mills Road in downtown Newcastle, now underway. The design includes two 8-unit buildings set close to the street, with front porches, parking to the side and street trees maintained along the front.
Under the MaineHousing program, the project guarantees rents will be restricted to residents earning 80% of area median income or less.
In downtown Sanford, the plan is to build eight condos and a single-family detached condo at 19 Bodwell St. Goals include creating high-quality living spaces to help meet growing demand for housing among local workers, singles, young couples and downsizing seniors, with prices starting at $187,000, says Wilbur.
Affordability is supported by efficient interior design to eliminate excess square footage that drives up housing and utility costs, and modular construction that reduces soft costs and loan interest costs.
In Rumford, the developers are working to close on MaineHousing financing to create 18 rental units at 986 Prospect Ave.
A similar project has been proposed in Yarmouth.
“We are excited to provide housing across the state using the modular approach — allowing more access to quality homes to meet the diverse needs of Mainers,” says Hight.
Dentist-turned-developer
Beylin Development acquired 4.2 acres in a Saco opportunity zone and has site work underway for the construction of 17 three-bedroom duplexes totaling 34 three-bedroom units.
Based in Windham, N.H., Beylin has over half of its projects in Maine. The latest, at 201 North St. and 15 Roebuck Ave., will include high-end finishes and energy-efficient systems.
Partners include the company’s president, Simon Beylin, Peter Anania, Anthony Prezioso and Vikas Patel. Anania handles development and property management.
Photo / Courtesy Beylin Development
Simon Beylin
Matthew Pouliot of Pouliot Real Estate and Leo Bourgeault and Steven Liautaud of Coldwell Banker Realty brokered the land acquisition. The two addresses are two sides of the parcel.
The $14 million development is 75% financed by the Bank of New Hampshire, with four investors providing the rest. Rents are still to be determined.
“Our goal is to offer rents that are competitive with local comparable units,” says Beylin.
As a young man, Beylin worked with his father in California building large multifamily projects. He then went to dental school and became an endodontist. Building on both interests, he founded a commercial construction company tailored to the needs of dental and medical practices.
In 2015, he founded Beylin Development to be a vertically integrated developer and commercial contractor, with development, construction and property management managed in-house.
The first Maine project was at 4 Stockyard Drive in Windham — a recently completed 33-unit apartment complex with two-bedroom units starting at $2,245, lower than comparable apartments in nearby towns leasing for $2,495 to $2,915, Beylin says.
The development focus is on long-term holds in high-growth, low-vacancy areas where housing units are consistently in demand. Long-term holding ensures investment stability and leverages tax benefits, says Beylin.
Beylin remains connected to the dental community, offering education and guidance on real estate investment.
Photo / Courtesy of Beylin Development
Beylin Development’s first project in Maine, a 31-unit apartment complex in Windham, has features similar to those planned for Saco, including granite countertops and energy-efficient stainless steel appliances.
Investors and partners in development projects mainly come from the dental and medical communities. At the Saco project, they include Prezioso and Patel, both with dentistry and real estate backgrounds. Prezioso identified Saco’s opportunity zone as a draw for housing development after attending a Beylin Development event tailored to introduce dentists and doctors to possible ground-up real estate development.
Beylin’s sessions provide information such as how to invest passively in vetted projects with steady returns and tax advantages, with a focus on addressing critical housing shortages while delivering stable returns while they also continue to pursue their primary careers.
Opportunity zones are a federal economic development tool that provide incentives to invest in distressed areas through tax benefits provided when they roll capital gains into qualified projects. They essentially encourage the long-term hold model in that it provides tax deferments and reductions based on certain time frames.
From the investment standpoint, says Beylin, long-term holds work well for medical and dental professionals looking for ways to have passive income but in ways they can feel good about their investment.
Says Pouliot, “The gist is to incentivize long-term investment in communities. It’s not the type of thing where people get in and get out quickly. Beylin Development is not looking for quick investments. They’ll be here for the long term.”
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