Cape Elizabeth doesn't build a lot of affordable housing. By the developer's count, it's been more than 50 years since the town's last affordable project. That's about to change.
Cape Commons, a mixed-use building with 18 affordable apartments and two commercial spaces, is officially a go. The Cape Elizabeth Planning Board approved the project unanimously in August, and according to WMTW, the approval became final on Wednesday, Sept. 23, when the appeal period ended without a challenge.
The developer, GreenMars Real Estate Services, is the one making the 50-year claim, and it says the site itself hasn't had a use in over 20 years.
"Our goal is to bring business and housing to this town," Oscar Wilkerson of GreenMars told WMTW.
What's planned
According to a GreenMars announcement published by High-Profile Monthly, Cape Commons will go up at 316 Ocean House Road, on an underused lot next to Town Hall. The Planning Board approved it on Aug. 18.
Here's what's in the plan:
- 18 affordable rentals in a mix of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms
- Six live-work units, with open first-floor space and separate living space above, for people who want to run a studio or small business from home
- About 2,000 square feet of retail at street level, split between two storefronts, pitched as a spot for a restaurant or café
- A 15,000-square-foot building with access to 51 parking spaces and a new access driveway
All of the apartments will be for households earning no more than 80% of the area median income. GreenMars put that at $77,920 for one person, $89,040 for two and $100,160 for a three-person household. GreenMars expects to start construction in 2027, and Wilkerson told WMTW the same thing: work is set to begin next year.
"Cape Commons will transform a long-vacant property into much-needed workforce housing," Wilkerson said in the announcement. "We're pleased that Cape Elizabeth's Planning Board recognized the project as an opportunity to expand the town's affordable housing supply and return a long-vacant property to productive use."
He also told WMTW he's glad to see the town take on the issue. "Right now there is an affordable housing need across the state of Maine," Wilkerson said. "It's really cool to watch towns like Cape Elizabeth step up and take that charge head-on and bring much-needed housing to the town."
Why the town wants it
Town Manager Patrick Fox said town leaders are excited about the housing and the businesses. "We're just looking forward to that vitality it will bring and the added economic development opportunities for the town center and our existing small business district," he told WMTW.
Fox noted the site is within walking distance of many of the town's schools, a pharmacy, a grocery store and the town library. He said workforce housing would help the people who work in Cape Elizabeth every day. "Every community is looking to have diversified housing stock available for people," Fox said. "So certainly some workforce housing that helps support the people that work here on a daily basis across all the different industries and businesses would be great."
Approvals haven't always come easily in Cape Elizabeth. At a Maine Monitor housing panel in Belfast on Oct. 1, Maine Affordable Housing Coalition director Laura Mitchell pointed to a project in Cape Elizabeth that went through 33 public hearings as an example of excessive bureaucracy. The Monitor's account didn't name that project, and it isn't clear it was Cape Commons. Either way, an unchallenged approval is a good sign for a town that hasn't added affordable housing in half a century.
No general contractor, construction cost or financing package has been made public. GreenMars is busy elsewhere, too: MaineHousing's pipeline lists a 20-unit GreenMars project, Nasson 3 in Springvale, under its affordable homeownership program, with completion likely in 2027.
Why it matters for Contractors
Cape Commons is a small mixed-use building, but it has more moving parts than a plain apartment job: ground-floor retail that could become a restaurant or café, six live-work units, studios through two-bedrooms, a new driveway and a 51-space parking area. That's work for site and paving crews, framers, roofers, MEP subs, storefront and glazing installers, and whoever ends up doing a commercial kitchen fit-out if a restaurant signs on. With construction expected in 2027 and no builder named yet, the next few months are the time for contractors who want in to introduce themselves to GreenMars. In a town that hasn't seen an affordable project in decades, being part of the first one is worth something.