New Housing Planned & Underway
The Kogod Family Center for Medical Education at Mount Desert Island Hospital under construction. ISLANDER PHOTO BY MALACHY FLYNN
WELCOME TO THE MDI HOUSING SOLUTIONS INITIATIVE LATEST UPDATES
October 16, 2023: The inaugural post of the MDI Housing Solutions Initiative “Latest Updates” focuses on new housing planned or under construction by the MDI non-profit community.
Island Housing Trust is in the early stages of their final phase of the Ripples Hill neighborhood. The Ripples subdivision is approved for a total of 19 homes. Phase 1 (2011) included six year-round homes; Phase 2 (2017) added three more. Phase 3 will complete the development with the construction of approximately 10 more homes. Island Housing Trust currently has a waitlist of 50 households.
Mount Desert 365 is continuing their efforts to seek approvals for the Heel Way project in the Town of Mount Desert. Located in the village of Northeast Harbor, the site currently contains one single-family home. The Heel Way project proposes an additional single-family home and two two-family dwellings, all of which would provide homeownership opportunities that will remain affordable to median-income year-round residents in perpetuity. While there is strong support for the project, there have been delays due to concerns from neighbors about additional development in the area.
The YWCA of Mount Desert Island is moving forward with concepts for their development of new housing at Hamilton Station, a 27-acre property along Route 3 purchased by the organization in March of 2023. While still in the initial planning stages, YWCA MDI hopes to develop attainable housing with an atmosphere of 'neighborhood', with approximately 50 rental units, aimed at the working ''missing middle" of the population, who want to live year-round on MDI.
Acadia National Park (ANP) is underway with their design process for Harden Farm, which would provide suite-style small-scale apartments for their seasonal workforce. ANP has also closed on a Jordan Pond Road (Seal Harbor) parcel (~4 acres) located within the national park administrative boundary and are finalizing designs for a 5-bedroom and 3-bedroom residential units. The site is currently used as a public works yard so no clearing will be needed for construction. Upon completion, Friends of Acadia will be donating the land and improvements to Acadia for use as housing (with a focus on seasonal housing but it could be used off-season as needed).
As part of the college’s Broad Reach Campaign, the College of the Atlantic is nearly finished with the construction of their new dorm, a highly sustainable building that will house on campus 46 of the 350 students enrolled at COA. In addition, the college has secured several properties in town traditionally rented by students during the school year. Previously at these properties students had to start their leases well after the first term began and to leave well before the end of the school year, due to the lucrative market for short-term rentals. Additionally, the College of the Atlantic partnered with Mount Desert 365 to build 15 units of student housing in Northeast Harbor. The college also owns land in Bar Harbor that is envisioned as potential future housing for staff, faculty, and the wider community. Either due to retirements or growing programs, the college anticipates hiring 2 to 3 new faculty or staff positions each year for the next 5 years.
Mount Desert Island Hospital is well underway with the development the Kogod Center for Medical Education. This 8-room unit is a residential housing and collaborative learning space for residents, medical students, and interns.
The Jackson Lab’s Hemlock Lane development on Main Street in Bar Harbor includes 24 rental units and houses approximately 40 employees. Units are a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedrooms and managed through a partnership with the MDI Housing Authority. The development also includes community open space for residents. They currently have a waitlist of 71 individuals / households.
The MDI Housing Solutions Initiative is not a non-profit organization, but instead envisioned as a community-driven coalition-building effort to find points of collaboration and locally appropriate solutions to the housing crisis in the Acadia Region. This effort is partially funded by a grant from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development’s Housing Opportunity Program (HOP).