Norway apartments named development of the year
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

NORWAY – Norway Family Apartments on Cottage Street was named the Outstanding Development of the Year at the Governor’s Annual Affordable Housing Conference Sept. 29.

The 18-unit affordable housing project, built last year by Community Concepts Inc., “represents the very best in affordable housing, smart growth, and community development,” Maine State Housing Authority Director Michael Finnegan said in presenting the award.

More than 450 housing leaders from throughout Maine attended the MSHA-sponsored conference at the Augusta Civic Center.

“It was built in an area where family units were badly needed,” said Dan Simpson, the housing authority’s director of public information, on Friday. “It is also architecturally compatible with downtown Norway. We thought it was a good-looking development.”

Simpson said the housing authority has been emphasizing the need to create affordable housing to enhance downtown areas, and Norway Family Apartments “responds to our goal of reviving downtowns.”

Simpson said Community Concepts, in designing the units in several separate buildings, with sidewalks and play areas, took care to try to have the development fit in with its surroundings.

“It doesn’t look too modern. It fits in with the downtown,” he said. “It’s work force housing,” he said, where rental costs are supplemented by low-interest rate MSHA loans and grants.

The development was created on a site across from the New Balance Athletic Shoe manufacturing plant, with the thought that some of the units could serve employees of the footwear manufacturer.

Dennis Lajoie, who supervised the project as the real estate specialist for Community Concepts Inc., was unavailable for comment on the award.

Simpson said the same goal of community revitalization was the driving force behind another award presented at the conference.

The city of Westbrook was honored for its support of a project that converted the former Westbrook High School, a downtown brick building on Main Street, into assisted housing for senior citizens, and designating a downtown neighborhood for housing improvements.

Two people also received awards.

Mark Adelson, Portland’s administrator of Community Development, was honored for his contributions to affordable housing development in Portland in recent years. Linda Gifford, owner of Central Maine Title Co. in Augusta, was honored for her efforts in helping first-time homebuyers find affordable housing.

Simpson said neither the Norway project nor the Westbrook project was inexpensive to create, but that “it’s worth it to spend a little extra money if you are working to prevent sprawl.”

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com

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