Developer Hopes to Create Dozens of New Apartments in Downtown Augusta Buildings

If you have had to try to find affordable housing in the Augusta area in the last few years, you know that it is a real challenge.

Apparently, it is not just in Central Maine.

According to Norman Maze, executive director of the Augusta Housing Authority, it is a statewide issue.  According to an article in the KJ, there are about 22,000 people on the wait lists of various housing authorities within the state.  The article explains that it can take a family between three and five years to find a place to live.

The good new is that there is help on the way.

Local businessman John Miller is hoping to renovate two big buildings on Water Street. Miller is no stranger to projects like this.  He turned the Vickery Building into 23 apartments with retail space on the first floor.

This time, he’s looking at 211 Water Street, where he plans eight apartments, and 333 Water Street, the historic Oddfellows Hall that went up in 1900, where he plans 18 more.  That’s 26 new units in all, with about half set aside as affordable housing and the rest at market rent.

Miller said he’d like to take on both renovations at the same time to cut construction costs.  He’s also asking for a tax break on the two buildings, estimated at about $582,000 over 21 years.

In addition to Miller's project, the Augusta Housing Authority also has a pending affordable housing project that would bring 34 units to Malta Street.  The hope is for construction to begin on that project later this year.

Other companies working on housing and apartment projects include A.R. Development, a Pittsburgh-based company that has apartments in 15 states, and Massachusetts-based John Flatley Company.

Get additional details about incentives being offered developers HERE.