Bayside Anchor Brings New Support to Portland Neighborhood

Bayside Anchor Apartments is aptly named, bringing new stability to its Portland, Maine, neighborhood.

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Kaplan Thompson Architects

The new 45-unit Bayside Anchor Apartments gets its name because … Read More The new 45-unit Bayside Anchor Apartments gets its name because it's a stabilizing force in its Portland, Maine, community. The Portland Housing Authority’s local property management offices have relocated to the first floor of the development along with a Head Start preschool and a community policing office.

Kaplan Thompson Architects

Developed by the Portland Housing Authority and Avesta Housing, … Read More Developed by the Portland Housing Authority and Avesta Housing, Bayside Anchor is at the heart of its neighborhood. The city of Portland was supportive of the project, and the City Council awarded both a zoning change and $500,000 in federal HOME funds to the project.

Sara Olson

The development features five studio, 34 one-bedroom, and six tw… Read More The development features five studio, 34 one-bedroom, and six two-bedroom apartments.

Kaplan Thompson Architects

The $7.8 million Bayside Anchor Apartments is built to Passive H… Read More The $7.8 million Bayside Anchor Apartments is built to Passive House standards to be extremely energy efficient.

The 45-unit development delivers needed housing opportunities to the poorest census tract in the state and serves as the social hub for the area with large community spaces, a Head Start preschool program, and community policing offices on the ground floor.

“It’s a community resource center as well as mixed-income housing,” says Jay Waterman, development director at the Portland Housing Authority (PHA), which partnered with Avesta Housing to create the property.

The development began as a winner in a 2013 national competition by Enterprise Community Partners and Deutsche Bank that sought ways to lower development costs. Utilizing cost-effective design and construction methods, Bayside Anchor was built at a low cost of about $158 per square foot and $170,000 total development cost per unit, according to developers.

There wasn’t one step to reducing costs. Instead, it was more like 100 steps, ranging from having a polished concrete slab on the first floor to furnishing units with open kitchen cabinets without doors.

Even with a goal of containing costs, the project is loaded with ambition. Bayside Anchor is built to Passive House standards to be extremely energy efficient. The super-insulated building envelope uses a double-wall construction. Panelized outer walls were manufactured off-site while interior walls were built on-site. The project is expected to reduce heating costs by 90%.

The development, which is near public transit lines, is also unique in that it does not have any on-site parking. Instead, residents can park in nearby lots owned by PHA.

Located in a gentrifying neighborhood, Bayside Anchor delivers a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments targeted at residents who earn 40%, 50%, and 60% of the area median income. To serve the lowest-income and formerly homeless individuals, there are nine project-based vouchers. The property also has nine market-rate apartments.

The $7.8 million development is financed with low-income housing and renewable energy tax credits purchased by Boston Capital. MaineHousing and the city also provided HOME funds.