Bath Housing gave prospective tenants tours of its new income-restricted apartments in downtown Bath last week.

The 520 Centre Street affordable housing project is part of the Bath Housing Congress Avenue Corridor vision, which aims to create new housing opportunities for people of all income ranges. The apartments will be available to rent starting July 1. Monthly rent will be $1,850 and include utilities such as heat, hot water, electricity, air conditioning and garbage collection.

The 18 two-bedroom apartment complex at 520 Centre St. offers affordable housing rates for households earning up to 80% of the area median income (roughly $65,500 in Bath as of June) and a new ground-floor office for the nonprofit Bath Housing. Leases will be limited initially to people earning less than $57,800 as a single person, $66,050 for two people or $74,300 for three people, though that will fluctuate as the median income changes.

The building features high-performance insulation, LED lighting, rooftop solar system offsets, improved air quality systems and a centralized heat pump. A BIW employee shuttle will be available for pick-ups nearby.

According to Bath Housing Executive Director Debora Keller, a steady stream of people came into the new apartment building during the showing on Thursday, June 12, to see the construction that had happened over the past year. Some new tenants wanted to see their new apartments, and other prospective tenants were interested in renting.

“For Bath Housing, this is the first new construction that we have done since 1984,” Keller said.

Keller said the former Bath Housing administrative office will be converted into the new apartment complex project called Anchorage South. All the approvals for permits and financing are in place for building in the first quarter of next year. Adjacent to the 520 Centre Street apartment complex is 540 Centre Street, with 24 one-bedroom apartments. Construction began last month, and estimates are that it will be completed by next year.

As of June 12, Bath Housing had received seven to eight applications from a handful of families seeking new housing. Reaching full occupancy could take several months.

“The whole region needs housing that is available to people at a range of incomes, and at our core, that is what Bath Housing is trying to do,” Keller said.

Bath Housing developed its master plan for the Congress Avenue Corridor in January 2024 and has been working out its plan for the past three years, Keller said.

Bath Housing is accepting applications for the 520 Centre Street apartments with no application fees, and apartments are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Two housing projects, separate from Bath Housing, built in the past decade were the Uptown opening last May 2024, and before the Uptown, the Huse School apartments opened in July 2017.

A grand opening is in the planning stages for October 2025, but during the Thursday showing, residents of Bath Housing’s other properties got to see the inside of the building, and curious community members got to see the two-bedroom apartments.