FILE PHOTO / COURTESY SWAN AGENCY REAL ESTATE
The YWCA of Mount Desert Island is planning Hamilton Station, an affordable rental housing project on Bar Harbor’s outskirts.
4 hours ago
Plans advance for affordable rental housing in Bar Harbor
Rendering / Courtesy A4 Architects
Hamilton Station will have 18 studio apartments and public space.
A plan to build an affordable rental housing in a village on Bar Harbor’s outskirts received approval from the town planning board last month.
Hamilton Station is a project of the YWCA of Mount Desert Island, in Bar Harbor, which acquired a 26.8-acre parcel in 2023 in an off-market deal.
Hamilton Station will be a two-story building with 18 studio apartments of 330 square-feet, an elevator and non-residential space such as a public lounge, laundry facility and storage.
The primary market for the project will be people who work on Mount Desert Island and whose income doesn’t exceed 80% of the area median income, or just shy of $50,000, Jackie Davidson, the Y’s executive director, told Mainebiz.
The project will be open to other renters who meet the income guidelines, she added.
Rentals are expected to be in the neighborhood of $1,200 per month, including utilities.
The project cost hasn’t been finalized. For planning purposes, it’s estimated at between $5 million and $6 million, said Davidson.
The project is at 891 State Highway 3 in Salisbury Cove, a village of Bar Harbor. The parcel included two big red barns, a farmhouse and a caretaker’s cottage.
The YW purchased the property after looking for some time for an opportunity to be a part of the solution to Mount Desert Island’s housing crunch and escalating prices.
Originally, the Y was thinking of purchasing an existing two- to three-unit building and making it available to year-round people who did not qualify for subsidized housing but who did not earn enough to purchase a home in the escalating market — a group referred to as the “missing middle” in housing discussions.
“Suddenly we had the opportunity to make a much larger and impactful statement with the purchase of Hamilton Station and the board embraced it and all agreed it was time,” Ann Worrick, YWCA’s board president, has previously said.
The YW’s Hamilton Station steering committee recently applied for financing through the Rural Affordable Housing Rental Program administered by MaineHousing.
The program, introduced in 2022, provides funding to developers for the development of smaller affordable rental housing projects of five to 18 units in areas and at a size where traditional Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects are not generally feasible. Units must be leased to households making no more than 80% of area median income and are leased at not more than 80% AIM rents. Residents must inhabit the units as their primary, permanent residence.
The steering committee also expects to launch a capital fund campaign, said Davidson. The timing and fund amount haven’t been determined yet.
A4 Architects in Bar Harbor is the architect. A general contractor hasn’t yet been hired. The committee is working with KBS Builders Inc., a modular home manufacturing company in the Oxford County town of Paris.
The property includes two barns. Plans for their use haven’t been worked out yet, although there’s some though of restoring one to be used as a community facility, said Davidson.
The Y has had a presence in downtown Bar Harbor since 1913. The facility offers a variety of children’s and community programs as well as summertime dormitory-style accommodations — with a communal kitchen, bathroom and common spaces — for women.
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