Deering Place preserves, redevelops, and expands affordable housing in a highly desirable and accessible location within Portland, Maine. Deering Place is a 75-unit, mixed-income development that includes a major renovation of 13 existing units and the construction of two new residential buildings on lots adjacent to the existing building. Upon completion, there are 62 new units. Amenities include a new community room, laundry rooms, and indoor parking that will be accessible to residents in all buildings. There will be easily-accessible walkways and sitting areas. There is currently a community policing office onsite that will remain. Deering Place comes at a time when the need for affordable housing in Portland is greater than ever.
Deering Place offers affordable housing in downtown Portland, putting residents at the center of services and jobs. The desire for this level of housing is so great that Avesta Housing had over 800 applications for 75 units. This location is close to public transportation, food, services, and health care. In addition to this project being noteworthy in its ability to fill a void in downtown Portland for low-income housing, the construction of the project itself was notable in that it was an occupied rehabilitation. This tight location has 3 buildings, one of which had to meet historical renovations standards to fit in with the Parkside neighborhood
The building of Deering Place employed more than 30 contractors and over 15 professional services firms based in Maine. Property tax revenue to the City of Portland before project was $0 (non-profit status) and now exceeds $35,000 after the project. In addition, Deering Place paid over $100,000 in development-related fees to the City of Portland.
A number of residents were unable to find housing for their jobs with the military, the hospitals, and to work at Abbott Labs at a time when housing became very scarce. The Deering Place project provided affordable places for them to live, allowing them to keep their jobs and contribute to the City’s economy.
The project houses 14 homeless households, four households being displaced by landlords selling/not renewing their leases, and three households from sub-standard housing deemed uninhabitable. This reduced the City’s homeless population and eased the pressure on the City and nonprofits to respond to the increasing number of people who have become unhoused or were on the verge of becoming unhoused during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This new mixed income community brings together fully market-rate households and households with extremely low average monthly incomes, including the formerly homeless.
The property also includes a large community room already in use by local organizations and created a new home for Community Policing in Parkside.
What challenges did you overcome in this project?
Budget constraints required creative scope adjustments to deliver high-quality, energy-efficient buildings that meet design requirements within national historic district and performance standards from the City, MaineHousing, and HUD. The capital stack included seven sources and nine financing partners, including some entirely new to Maine. Additionally, Deering Place was a complex construction project on a tight urban site in an historic district mixing occupied rehab, adaptive reuse, and new construction.