Real Estate Insider notebook: The Armature, Bath housing program, PassivhausMaine conference

Photo / Courtesy, Port Property Penobscot General Contractors managed construction of the Armature at Hanover Works, with 171 units at 52 Hanover St. in Portland.

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By Peter Van Allen

A major apartment building under construction in Portland’s West Bayside neighborhood now has a name.

The Armature at Hanover Works, as it will be known, will have 171 units, including 19 workforce apartments, at 52 Hanover St. Construction of the building, which is eight stories and 239,000 square feet, is being managed by Penobscot General Contractors.

The developer, Port Property, bought the property in 2017. It was the last of six parcels sold as part of the Portland Public Works’ move out of West Bayside.

File photo / Tim Greenway

Tom Watson of Reveler

Founded in 1993, and headquartered in Portland’s West Bayside neighborhood, Port Property serves as the management arm of a multi-faceted group that also includes investment, development, and construction divisions, Bush Watson and Tom Watson & Co.

Port Property recently unveiled a master plan calling for up to 800 housing units.

The Armature building will be on the site of what served as a mechanical garage and surface parking lot for Portland’s fleet of public works vehicles, Port Property said.

“[The site was] tasked with keeping the city moving every day through the use of actual engine armatures. This history inspired the Armature’s name and branding,” the developer said.

The new building was designed by Boston-based architecture and interiors firm CUBE 3. The Armature will showcase a U-shaped, three-tiered exterior configuration with a living wall running along Parris Street.

Photo / Peter Van Allen

The Armature at Hanover Works.

It will feature studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom floorplans. The ground floor will have four commercial spaces.

Apartments will offer open-concept layouts with nine-foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances, designer paneled flooring, quartz and granite countertops, modern lighting fixtures and smart home build-ins. Some apartments will have balconies looking out onto Hanover and Lancaster Street.

Nearby, Port Property redeveloped 82 Hanover St.

The Armature’s commercial spaces will be part of what’s being called Hanover Works, which already includes Wilson County Barbecue, Banded Brewing, Batson River Brewing & Distilling and CycleBar.

The Armature will be Port Property’s largest residential development project to date. It’s expected to open this summer.

Bath extends ‘Comfortably Home’ program

MaineHousing has awarded Bath Housing Development Corp. a $150,000 grant to continue its trailblazing “Comfortably Home” program in 2023.

Along with that funding, MaineHousing is expanding the income range for qualified homeowners, and also offering a slightly higher budget per household served. This will help Bath Housing absorb some of the significant cost increases of the past few years for this free program, while at the same time allowing more to participate.

Eligibility will be based on 100% of area median income, or AMI. Previously, the benchmark had been 80%. In Sagadahoc County, a single-person household would now be income-eligible with an annual income up to $61,180, compared to the previous maximum of $48,950. A two-person household maximum income has gone up to $69,920.

“The funding is critical, and we couldn’t be more grateful that MaineHousing continues to provide the foundation for this important program,” said Debora Keller, Bath Housing’s executive director. “The expanded income guidelines are a bonus gift: this will allow so many older and disabled homeowners in the greater Bath/Brunswick area to participate, and to age in place — safely, in their own homes.”

Keller started Comfortably Home in 2015. MaineHousing’s “Community Aging in Place” grant began in 2017.

“Over the past eight years, we’ve worked with more than 300 homeowners and we consistently hear scores of ‘thrilled customers’ stories,” Keller said. “What may seem like a minor modification can have a dramatic and positive impact on a person’s ability to thrive in their home.”

Comfortably Home services extend to areas within a 15-mile radius of Bath, and include Arrowsic, Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Brunswick, Freeport, Georgetown, Litchfield, Phippsburg, Richmond, Sebasco, Topsham and Woolwich.

To find out if you are eligible, contact Comfortably Home Coordinator Kristen McEvoy at kmcevoy@bathhousing.org, or call (207) 295-3317.

PassivehausMaine will hold annual forum this week

PassivhausMaine will hosts its 10th annual Winter Forum this weekend, starting this evening.
The event runs through Saturday, Feb. 11.

Most of the talks are loaded into Friday’s agenda, with topics including housing solutions, retrofitting existing structures and training.

The venue will be the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport. Tickets are $200 for PassivhausMaine members and $250 for all others.

Saturday will feature a tour of Wolfe’s Neck Center, specifically the Smith Center for Education & Research, a 9,000-square-foot, flexible space designed to meet the needs of Wolfe’s Neck Center’s education and event schedule. The Smith Center incorporates mass timber and passive house principles. A site tour will be led by Tim Lock of OPAL, Adam Routhier from Zachau Construction and Dave Herring, Wolfe’s Neck Center’s executive director .

“Since 2019, passivhausMaine received information on 46 new projects, adding up to more than 1.7 million square feet of passive house construction. That’s a jump of over 400% compared to 2019 estimates with only 400,000 square feet of passive house construction being reported,” said Naomi Beal, executive director and founding member.
PassivhausMaine is a nonprofit that works to support the passive house industry and community in Maine, North America and internationally.

See where Portland and South Portland rank as a 'sellers market'

A real estate analysis by the firm Knock shows Portland-South Portland to be the No. 14 market for sellers.

"The nation's 100 largest housing markets continue to move in the direction of favoring buyers, according to the latest data from the Knock Buyer-Seller Market Index," according to the report.

But Portland and South Portland are holding their own as a sellers' market.

To see the complete report, click here.