LEWISTON — It’s a hard sight to miss in the city these days: property lots on the cusp of a new beginning.

At sites like the former Martel School, the former Sun Journal building on Pine Street, and the future home of Gendron Active Living Estates off Farwell Street, demolition or site preparation is either underway or completed, and construction on hundreds of housing units will start soon.

In all, Lewiston has 1,325 housing units either under construction or approved to be built, with all but 44 units already permitted — a boom in the development of housing of all kinds that has made Lewiston an important piece of the state’s housing goals, and given local officials a reason to be optimistic about the region’s future.

According to a breakdown from the city’s economic development department, 146 units will be completed within the next year, another 400 are planned to be built over the next two years, and 779 are in the pipeline for the next three to four years.

The new development includes some high-profile projects like the ongoing Choice Neighborhoods initiative downtown, the Continental Mill redevelopment, and the Lowell Street Lofts near Central Maine Medical Center.

Over the last several years, officials in both cities have prioritized new housing development, and while Auburn also has nearly 500 units in the queue, a variety of factors have led to seemingly unstoppable momentum for new housing in Lewiston, with a combination of federal and state funding from the Choice Neighborhoods initiative and MaineHousing, available historic mill space that was ripe for redevelopment, and a swell of other market-rate projects.

“As the second largest city in the state, we really need Lewiston’s close partnership if we’re going to meet our production goals, and city leadership, local practitioners and developers are clearly putting in a lot of effort to make progress,” said Greg Payne, senior advisor on housing policy for Gov. Janet Mills’ office. “Seeing all the projects that are in Lewiston’s pipeline is really exciting.”

HOUSING GOALS

The Lewiston-Auburn area has begun to close the gap on the overall production and development attention received by greater Portland and southern Maine.

According to the Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the Twin Cities set building permit records in 2024, with over 3,500 permits issued in the two cities between new construction and renovations for residential, industrial and commercial properties.

The Greater Portland Council of Governments’ recently updated housing dashboard says the region has fallen behind its housing production goals in each of the last two years after exceeding the goals in 2021 and 2022. The regional goal of adding 24,000 new housing units by 2030 means producing roughly 2,400 each year. But the state’s most populous area permitted 1,652 building permits last year, and 1,787 in 2023.

Between Lewiston and Auburn there are more than 1,800 units in the pipeline, plus more development activity in other Androscoggin County towns including Lisbon and Durham.

According to MaineHousing, the goal in Androscoggin County is to produce 6,500 more units by 2030, part of the state’s ambitious housing goal of adding 84,000 new housing units by 2030.

“With over 1,200 units in the pipeline, Lewiston is certainly doing its fair share to help meet the state of Maine’s housing goals,” said Mayor Carl Sheline. “In order to have new housing you need three things: developers, a supportive local government, and demand, and Lewiston is fortunate to have all three.”

Since 2018, Auburn has added more than 600 units brought on by increased interest in the region stemming from the pandemic, along with an active push for new housing by former Mayor Jason Levesque and the former City Council. While current Mayor Jeff Harmon ran on a platform of reigning in Levesque’s policies — particularly around zoning — Auburn has 490 housing units in the pipeline.

Of those units, 132 are permitted, while 358 have been approved by the Planning Board but not yet permitted.

Earlier this month, Gov. Janet Mills touted her administration’s success in pushing for new housing, particularly through state and federal funds and tax credits that have resulted in more than 1,500 new units, with at least 1,400 more under construction and more than 2,200 units in the pipeline, which she said is “the most ever in MaineHousing’s history.”

The governor’s comments came as the state announced $13 million for new projects in Portland and Lewiston, which will add a combined 88 units at the former Martel School and the Soleil development at the corner of Ash and Bates streets downtown. Both are Lewiston Housing projects.

But the announcement also came with news that the funding was the last of MaineHousing’s current pool of money for affordable housing, and that the agency was forced to reject additional projects that would have added 260 units.

Despite all the good housing news, the statewide rental market “continues to be suffering under immense pressure,” Payne said, meaning the supply is still not meeting the demand, and prices aren’t going down.

Payne said his office and state lawmakers have been supportive of new legislation meant to encourage more housing, from making sure officials have accurate housing data, to ironing out wrinkles in how historic tax credits are utilized.

“We’re in the place where we understand we just need to keep pulling all the levers at our disposal to address it,” he said.

‘BUYING POWER’

Real estate professionals, developers and city staff say the affordability of the Lewiston and Auburn area — especially compared to southern Maine — has made the region an attractive option for prospective homebuyers, and officials say the saturated and costly greater Portland market has helped push more development attention toward Lewiston.

According to the most recent report from the Maine Association of Realtors, the median home sales price in Androscoggin County is $350,000.

In Cumberland County, the median is $570,000. In York County, it’s $525,000. The median in Androscoggin County is also less than the current statewide median of $425,000.

Jeff Harris, president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said the large gap in price, especially with how it affects mortgage payments, makes a big difference for many would-be homebuyers who have been priced out of other areas.

“When you take the interest on the dollar, buying power and so forth, that would stand to reason why a lot of people would look to Lewiston-Auburn,” he said. “I think you’re seeing some push from southern Maine because it’s a little more affordable, but it may be a little more affordable to build, too.”

Nate Libby, director of economic and community development in Lewiston, said the number of housing units approved “is a significant increase in permitted housing developments compared with two or three years ago, suggesting we’re entering a new period of growth.”

“Beyond what’s in the pipeline of permitted developments, we are in talks with several other developers on a variety of other housing and commercial investments,” he said.

Shanna Cox, president and CEO of the chamber, said she attended a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for Sanctuary Estates, a 31-lot subdivision in northeast Lewiston near Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary.

During the ceremony, she told those gathered that the brand new homes “will help capture and attract professionals and executives who have often had to look outside of our region for newly built homes.”

Cox said the chamber has recently been talking to developers of all types of housing — from small scale and single-family projects, to infill and larger multi-family developments. She said they are seeing people move to the region and are either renting as they look for homes, building or buying. And many are coming from the Portland or Saco-Biddeford area.

“Some are choosing to commute, others are working remote, and some are getting great jobs right in L-A,” she said. “Both affordability and availability are drivers for the influx, and we couldn’t be more happy to welcome them.”

‘LOOK NORTH TO LEWISTON-AUBURN’

Last month, the Portland Press Herald reported that it’s becoming more difficult to sell multi-unit buildings in Portland due to high prices, local regulations like rent control, and luxury developments, and that prospective buyers are looking toward Lewiston and Auburn.

In Portland, the average two-unit sold for more than $700,000 last year. In Lewiston and Auburn, it was $335,000.

But, according to developers and real estate experts, it’s not just the prices that have people looking elsewhere — it’s the overall development atmosphere.

“The city has shown a willingness to sort of roll up its sleeves and work with developers to figure out how to make projects work,” said Paul Goodwin, senior development manager for Chinburg Properties, which will build nearly 400 units and 25,000 square feet of commercial space at the Continental Mill over the next five years. At the center of the campus, the Picker House Lofts built by The Szanton Co., opened earlier this year.

The city has also been liberal in its use of tax increment financing and credit enhancement agreements with private developers in order to get projects past the finish line. Chinburg will see roughly $9 million in new tax revenue returned to them over the life of a TIF approved by officials last year. The project is estimated to cost $80 million.

Economic development staff have said market-rate rents in Lewiston do not support the full cost of development with today’s construction costs, and TIFs can help rope in much-needed tax revenue, housing and economic activity.

Goodwin said the city has also worked with Chinburg to identify off-site improvements that will not only benefit its development, but the entire riverfront district.

‘That sort of proactive engagement is really great and not every community has the ability to do that, and Lewiston does,” he said.

Goodwin said that while Lewiston’s historic mill buildings attracted Chinburg, which has a track record with adaptive reuse projects, the Lewiston and Auburn area “has a lot going on” and he believes the city has been in need of new housing stock.

“Because it’s historically been on the backburner, there’s not a lot of new product, and we think there are plenty of people in Lewiston-Auburn who would love to have a new apartment, with new appliances and amenities,” he said.

When asked what City Hall has been hearing from developers, Libby said similar things.

“We understand from developers that while the Portland-area market is seeing a lot of activity, the costs of development, a more burdensome regulatory environment, increased competition and market saturation are causing developers to look north to Lewiston-Auburn,” he said.

Harris said the current average cost for developers before even putting a shovel in the ground is $97,000, and in southern Maine that cost has been growing.

“When you get further south, you’ve got a lot more restrictions,” he said.

Libby said they’ve heard that developers like working in Lewiston due to its willingness to invest in infrastructure and provide development incentives, an ample supply of affordable land, and strong demand for housing.

“Obviously, that’s the kind of feedback we want to hear, and we welcome the interest and investment,” he said.

GOOD AND BAD NEWS

Craig Saddlemire, cooperative development organizer for Raise-Op and chair of Lewiston’s Housing Committee, agrees that Lewiston and Auburn are “very attractive for housing investment right now.”

The committee is slated to present its annual housing scorecard to Lewiston officials next month. According to a draft of the report, some of the negative trends stemming from the housing crisis have slowed, while others persist, but the committee says some positive progress has been made.

“The most positive trends are the growth of investments being made in residential housing, the growth in renter wages relative to rents, and the queue of new affordable homes that will become available within the next 2-3 years,” the report states.

Saddlemire said the amount of affordable housing on the horizon — more than 200 units —  is a good sign given the need. But, even those numbers are not keeping up with demand. According to the committee’s report, the waitlist for low-income public housing in Lewiston is 1,546, a figure that has risen steadily each year. In 2021, it was 1,067.

In 2024, fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $1,110, a 12% increase from 2023.

The overall mix means housing mobility is still low. Buyers coming from the southern Maine markets may be more able to afford Lewiston prices, but the steady rise in price isn’t helping locals.

Saddlemire said while the median household income has grown, single-family home prices still remain “very far out of reach for the average local household looking to buy their first home, and that makes it hard for moderate-income renters to graduate to homeownership.”

Saddlemire said the proportion of locally owned properties is also slowly declining, as more investors from outside of the community are purchasing property.

The bottom line from the report reads, “the city of Lewiston needs to continue investing in its housing supply, promoting both affordability and availability for all housing types.”