BRUNSWICK, Maine — Hundreds of new housing units are going up on the former naval air base here along with hundreds more in other areas of town.
Yet housing remains far short of demand as this well-situated midcoast Maine town, the ninth largest in the state with a population of about 22,000, morphs from a place where people live to one where they also work. On top of the new projects, a recently passed ordinance aims to increase the number of affordable units in new developments.
Finding space is becoming a challenge. The building flurry near the entrance to the Brunswick Landing, a center of business activity, will take up the remaining space there once the almost 400 units are built over the next couple years. That will spread any new housing to other parts of Brunswick, including Cooks Corner, where the town has approved a 202-unit rental development across from Mid Coast Hospital, another major employer.
“The overall lack of available housing that people can afford really hinders the ability for companies to grow and hire,” said Kristine Logan, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which administers Brunswick Landing.
Brunswick Landing concentrates a lot of the town’s work activity. It occupies about half of the former air base’s 3,300 acres and is where 188 apartments, 63 condominiums, 85 single-family homes and 60 units of housing for new Mainers are in various stages of development. Some 2,600 people work at the 140 businesses there, and about 1,000 already live there.
The landing started in 2011 as an innovation space using former buildings at the decommissioned base. Businesses located there now include rocket company bluShift Aerospace, Brunswick Executive Airport, Flight Deck Brewing, STARC Systems, Maine Technology Institute and Wild Oats Bakery and Cafe. It also has its own electric company.
Wild Oats and Flight Deck have become major social draws for people in the area, including from nearby Bath and Topsham.
On a recent weekday, Zoe Brush, 18, drank coffee with her friend 19-year-old Isaac Ensel at Wild Oats. Brush has lived in Georgetown, about a half-hour drive away, her whole life, but her parents closed on a house in Brunswick two months ago.
“They looked for two years,” she said. “It’s definitely a crazy time to be trying to get housing.”
Russell Hewey, 34, the director of food and beverage at the Brunswick Hotel, moved to the area four years ago from Sanford and has seen housing prices increase dramatically. He lives near the new developments on the landing and understands why people are drawn to Brunswick’s arts and history culture.
“The influx of people can be good for the community because it will be good for business, but it can be detrimental with increased traffic,” he said. “It’s definitely a change of lifestyle.”
The town is one of the few in Maine to tack inclusionary zoning requirements onto new housing developments. In June, it approved amendments that require new rental housing projects with more than 15 units to include at least 15 percent affordable apartments for households with incomes of 80 percent or less of the area’s median income. That comes to about $1,300 for a one-bedroom apartment. Portland also has an affordable housing ordinance. The new requirements ended a moratorium on new developments that was less generous with affordable housing.
A lot of people who work in Brunswick don’t actually live there, according to Sally Costello, Brunswick’s economic development director. Beside the landing, two other major employment centers in Brunswick are Bowdoin College and Mid Coast Hospital.
The new requirements aim to make Brunswick more affordable to those seeking jobs and wanting to live there and to help businesses. Brunswick’s biggest challenge is that people who work there can’t necessarily live there, Costello said. The last big building boom for single-family homes in Brunswick was in the 1980s, with few built since.
“We’ve got an aging housing stock,” Costello said. “We’re really excited that we have all these apartments going up, but we also need townhomes, condos and single-family homes.”
The town also is looking at new ways to increase housing. A 63-unit project scheduled for completion next summer includes 20 percent affordable housing and sustainable elements including heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers. The town is giving special property tax breaks to the project, where apartments will run from about $1,300 monthly to around $2,000 with utilities and internet, special property tax breaks.
Developer Dave Holman of Holman Homes said the four-story apartment building in progress on Admiral Fitch Drive already has 11 potential tenants on a waitlist. Some work in Brunswick, while others just want to live there.
“Brunswick is a bit unique in that it’s not just a rural residential town,” he said. “It has a pretty high density of major employers, as well as Bowdoin College, and it’s a nice community to live in.”
