MEREDA 2024 Notable Project: Firehouse Village, Scarborough

Firehouse Village is an innovative, adaptive reuse of a former public safety facility into a vibrant, self-contained community modeled after a traditional Maine village. Tenants include a Rosemont Market, Harbor Fish Market, a restaurant, a dry goods store and a community room.

It also includes a 31-unit affordable housing complex for ages 55 and older, Village Commons, which was built to Passive House standards for air tightness and exceeds the American Institute of Architects’ 2030 carbon emission goals.

Firehouse Village is a model of sustainable and inclusive development that benefits both the community and the environment. The mix of retail and housing offers a respite from the busy U.S. Route 1 commercial corridor, and is an example of an infill, mixed-use development.

Fact Box

Developers: Scarborough Firehouse Ventures and Avesta Housing

Contractor: Hebert Construction

Architect: Kaplan Thompson Architects

Engineering team: Acorn Engineering Inc. (for civil) and Thornton Tomasetti (structural)

Other partners: MRLD Landscape Architecture + Urbanism, Owen Haskell Inc. (surveying)

Funding partners for Avesta: CREA, Town of Scarborough, Scarborough Housing Alliance, Cumberland County HOME Consortium, Maine Community Bank, MaineHousing, Avesta Housing Silver Hearth Fund, Cumberland County Government, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston

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