AUBURN — A Spring Street housing development is on hold for now, but developers say it will happen.
Portland developer Ethan Boxer-Macomber of Anew Development said plans to replace the old Dillingham Funeral home at Spring and Court streets did not qualify for the latest round of Maine State Housing credits.
“So we’ll go back to meet with Maine Housing and look for ways to strengthen our application next time,” Boxer-Macomber said. “We are confident. It’s not a question of if the project will get funded; it’s when.”
The Maine State Housing Authority announced $3.4 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for projects in Augusta, Biddeford, Lewiston, Old Orchard Beach and Portland in December. It included Phylis St. Laurent’s Pierce Place project in Lewiston.
“There were fewer resources this year than in other years and some very competitive projects vying for those resources,” he said.
Selling those credits would have given the Auburn project about $4.5 million in private equity, Boxer-Macomber said.
“That’s a great thing to bring to Auburn,” he said. “It leverages a lot with housing, downtown redevelopment and a new landmark urban building down on that corner plus a lot of construction jobs and property taxes.”
Boxer-Macomber hopes to build a four-story development with 39 rentable housing units with retail, community space or office space on the first floor.
At least nine of the apartments would rent for market rate and the rest would be subsidized.
The L-shaped lot runs along the back of the Engine House building from Spring to Pleasant streets and then back along Spring Street and the funeral home’s parking lot to the KeyBank ATM.
The funeral home buildings, on the northern end of the lot, have been removed. Plans call for turning the space immediately behind the Engine House into a small, open-air plaza.
Boxer-Macomber said two rounds of housing credits become available in the spring and the fall this year. He and members of the Auburn Housing Authority plan to meet with Maine Housing representatives later this month.
“We’re targeting any and all opportunities to apply,” he said. “We know it will go through, it just takes a few attempts.”
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