A Portland developer expects to break ground on an innovative condominium development near Portland’s Stroudwater neighborhood that’s designed to be affordable for first-time buyers.
Stroudwater Commons, at 1877 Congress St., will consist of 130 condominiums, along with 26 attached accessory dwelling units that qualified buyers can purchase as rental units to generate income.
The development will be GreenMars’s first project to take advantage of recent legislation designed to address the state’s housing shortage by easing restrictions on lot density and allowing for ADUs to be built on lots previously limited in capacity by local zoning.
The ADUs at the Stroudwater project will not be built as standalone units, but incorporated into the project’s 13 buildings as self-contained studio apartments. Prices for the 330-square-foot ADUs will be $225,000.
Half of the condos will be priced to accommodate middle-income buyers who earn between 80% and 100% of the area median income. Those units start at $240,000 for a one-bedroom, 455-square-foot home. But even the market rate units will not exceed $450,000 for a three-bedroom condominium — a rare price point in Portland’s very tight housing market.
All of the units will be modular-built, which GreenMars’s Chris Marshall said will speed construction time and optimize energy efficiency.
Building affordably priced, energy-efficient homes is important to GreenMars and the company has developed a number of projects in southern Maine, most recently at 196 McKeen St. in Brunswick. Wilbur’s Woods is a community of 21 standalone condos, priced for households with an annual income of $105,360. The 960-square-foot, two-story homes were priced at $325,000, and all but one have sold since the project wrapped this past fall.
Financing through MaineHousing’s Affordable Home Ownership program made Wilbur’s Woods pricing possible, but GreenMars is developing Stroudwater Commons without subsidies. Financing is through Kennebec Savings.
While part of GreenMars’ mission is to make home ownership affordable for first-time buyers, Marshall said he and partner Nate Green were surprised to find at Wilbur’s Woods, that a majority of buyers were downsizing.
“We think the first-time buyer is likely so depressed by the housing market that they’re not even looking right now,” Green said. “They don’t realize that there are options for them. Home ownership is still an avenue to building wealth.”
