KITTERY, Maine — The vacant Foreside property as soon as owned by ex-bus depot proprietor James Dineen is inching nearer to being the brand new house of Winter Holben structure + design, three residence items and a gallery for native artists with a rooftop deck.
The deserted constructing at 3 Walker St. presently sits empty after getting used as a single-family dwelling unit and workplace house up to now. The city beforehand acquired the positioning and bought it to The Cheney Firms, an residence rental company primarily based in Newmarket, New Hampshire, in September 2022.
The present Dineen property could be demolished as the primary main ingredient of the proposed overhaul, making approach for a brand new three-story constructing that will go as a replacement.
The unique redevelopment proposal acknowledged a meals and beverage or retail institution may presumably name the Walker Avenue lot house sooner or later. However modified plans now name for neighboring Wallingford Sq. agency Winter Holben structure + design, the design lead on the mission, to maneuver into the constructing, pending approval from the Kittery Planning Board.
Winter Holben structure + design has lengthy needed new house in Kittery’s Foreside
Elisa Winter Holben, principal and chief government officer of Winter Holben structure + design, spoke final week in assist of the mission on the Planning Board’s assembly.
“We’re actually keen about this mission as a result of we’ve been interested by it for a few years. We’ve been in search of a house to name our personal within the Foreside after renting for a few years,” she stated. “We had been in search of the proper location. After working with the proprietor on the mission, we realized this was an ideal location for our agency and such an vital piece of the Foreside, which we actually love. We’d like to name it our house and it will actually assist our enterprise development as longtime enterprise house owners and in addition members in our neighborhood.”
Winter Holben structure + design is presently housed in 7 Wallingford Sq., the staple downtown industrial constructing the place Lil’s Cafe, Maine Meat and Anju Noodle Bar are additionally positioned, amongst others.
Reasonably priced housing is a part of mission proposal
Two of the three proposed residences could be leased as inexpensive housing, each of which might be positioned on the bottom stage of the potential mixed-use constructing. One would have a single bed room, whereas the opposite could be a studio unit, in accordance with plans filed with the city.
“Primarily based on the 2023 MaineHousing Lease Restricted Packages charts, the lease for these items are focused at 60% (of the realm median earnings),” wrote Brandon Holben, principal architect of Winter Holben structure + design, in an outline of the mission. “These rents are calculated to be $1,279/month for the studio and $1,371/month for the one-bedroom, respectively. Each inexpensive items are positioned on the southern aspect of the constructing, offering optimum daylighting.”
The studio unit could be 357 sq. ft and the one-bedroom unit could be 537 sq. ft, if authorized. The third proposed residence unit would go for market price and be positioned on the highest ground.
“We’re enthusiastic about pursuing this,” Brandon Holben stated of the proposal’s housing part.
The house allotted to Winter Holben structure + design would come with a kitchenette, convention room and a number of restrooms. A neighborhood artist gallery could be positioned simply outdoors of the agency’s workplace, giving the constructing “life past our workplace hours,” Elisa Winter Holben stated.
The rooftop deck could be accessible to the constructing’s tenants, offering a view of the Foreside, close by companies and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard over the Piscataqua River.
4 parking areas and snow storage could be positioned behind the brand new construction, plans state.
The Holbens represented constructing proprietor Lane Cheney on the assembly. Cheney is the principal of The Cheney Firms.
The Kittery Planning Board unanimously authorized the preliminary plan for the positioning, sending it one step nearer to receiving the required allowing from the city to proceed.
