Work begins on affordable Main Street condos for artists, with

living and retail space.

WESTBROOK – At the start of the new year, artists will have three new affordable spaces in which to live and sell their work in downtown Westbrook.

Construction began Monday on a three-unit live/work residential community for artists. The building at 917 Main St., is the latest project of Westbrook Housing. It will have three condominium units for artists, which will consist of upstairs living spaces and downstairs retail spaces for the artists to sell their work.

The project targets the growing artisan community in the city and is believed to be the first such affordable housing for artists built by a housing authority in Maine, and perhaps the nation.

The $622,523 building project is being funded through federal Neighborhood Stabilization Act money. The building is expected to be completed by mid-January. It is being constructed on the site of an old building that was built in 1840 as a Universalist church. That old building was recently torn down to make way for the new.

John Gallagher, executive director of Westbrook Housing, said at a groundbreaking ceremony for the project on Friday that the modern building with energy-efficient “green” features will actually recreate what used to exist along Main Street in the city’s downtown: mom-and-pop businesses with the owners living above their shops.

“It’s kind of like what’s old becoming new again,” Gallagher said.

Mayor Colleen Hilton, who spoke at the ceremony, said the project is a collaboration between the city and Westbrook Housing and will not only improve the quality of life in the city, but also boost its economy.

“This project – with both its housing and Main Street retail storefronts – is unique in Maine and probably the nation,” she said.

A similar project exists in Portland, where a company called Random Orbit Inc. converted the old Sacred Heart School in the Parkside neighborhood into eight affordable condominiums for artists a few years ago.

That Parkside Studios project differs from the Westbrook project in that it was a private-public partnership with the city of Portland. Also, the artists living there have workshops and studios in the building but can’t sell their art from that location because of zoning regulations, said Peter Bass, the Portland project’s developer.

He said he doesn’t know of any other such affordable live/work artist housing in Maine.

Bass worked unofficially as a consultant with Westbrook Housing on the new project in the city. “From the start, I thought they had a good idea,” he said.

He said all the units in the Portland building are occupied and that such housing for artists is greatly needed.

Next to be determined is who will live in the new Westbrook building. Each unit will have a 200-sqare-foot retail/studio area at street level, as well as a half-bathoom and one-car garage at that level. The second and third floors will have 1,200 square feet of space, including two bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room and a full bath.

There also will be small balconies on each unit that afford a view of the Presumpscot River.

Gallagher said specific details on the cost of the units and the criteria that artists must meet to qualify to buy them are still being worked out and should be available in about a month.

However, he said, the price is expected to be about $175,000 per unit. To qualify, artists don’t have to live in Westbrook, but must meet income guidelines. Gallagher said that most likely the maximum income that artists could earn and still be qualified would be 120 percent of median income. He said that would translate to about $68,000 per year for a family of two and about $74,000 annually for a family of three.

Also, Gallagher said, there probably will be something in the selection process to ensure that the artists chosen specialize in different areas of art. That’s because it would be better to have three different types of artwork for sale in the three retail shops rather than have all the work be similar, he said.

Bass said that the artists who live in the Parkside building were chosen by a review panel. One criterion the panel looked at was how central a role art played in the applicants’ lives, he said.

He said the artists in the building do a range of work that includes painting, pottery, stained glass, etching and metalworking.

Jan Curran, a Westbrook artist who paints, is excited about the new housing. She and her husband, Andy Curran, also a painter, own Paper Moon, a retail store on Main Street in which they sell their artwork along with other cards and gifts.

Jan Curran said that having more artists just a couple blocks away on Main Street will be good for business.

“That will just bring more awareness of art in our district and more people who are interested in art will come,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a really positive influence.”

She said such affordable housing is important for artists, “because in this economy, it’s very difficult to survive on an artist’s income.”

Curran said she and her husband, who now live in the Prides Corner area, might even apply for the housing when they find out what the guidelines are.

Not everyone is excited about the new housing, however.

Raymond Foote, who owns the former American Journal building located just behind the new housing site, was upset that the historic building that stood there was torn down.

Once a church, it housed a variety of businesses over the years. The last one was a consignment shop, but the building had been vacant about three years.

It had been condemned by the city. Gallagher said Westbrook Housing would have liked to have preserved the building but couldn’t.

“It had a nice history,” he said, “but it really wasn’t salvageable.”

Foote also objected to public money being used for a project that he doesn’t believe will lead to a revival of economic development in the downtown. The city has been predicting that for years and it hasn’t occurred, he said.

Keith Luke, director of economic and community development for the city, said the project is funded with federal stimulus money and is focused on neighborhood stabilization, “alleviating blight in a targeted area of the city.”

“I’m excited about it,” he said.

Work on Westbrook Housing’s new affordable live/work condominiums for artists at 917 Main St. got under way with a groundbreaking ceremony Friday. Digging in with shovels were, from left, John Gallagher, executive director of Westbrook Housing; Bill Burney, state director of Housing and Urban Development; Lewis Emery, president of the board of Westbrook Housing; Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton; Aaron Bourassa, project manager for Great Falls Construction, the general contractor for the job; and Michelle Flaherty Philbrook, president of the Westbrook Community Chamber.
Staff photo by Tess Nacelewicz