Building project to provide affordable housing in Lee

LEE – New affordable housing units should be opening up this summer, thanks to the 57 Main Street Project currently under construction.

“It’s been a really long process to get to this point,” said Elton Ogden, president of Berkshire Housing Development Corporation Inc. (BHDC), the project’s developer. “Just to have started construction is a relief.”

The 57 Main Street Project has been in development since 2008, when BHDC began discussions with the Consolati family about purchasing and renovating the building they owned at that location for use as affordable housing.

“[In] 2008 we began talking to the family and got a purchase and sale agreement,” said Pres. Ogden.

He added the Consolati family was interested in converting the building into affordable housing because they’d previously made an effort to rent it out at prices working people could afford.

“They always tried to keep the rents affordable,” said Pres. Ogden.

The development is being sponsored by Berkshire Fund Inc., who will own the building through an LLC. The property will be managed by Berkshire Housing Services Inc., a subsidiary of the BHDC.

Construction began on the site in early September and is expected to be completed by early summer.

The finished project will contain 16 residential units and three retail spaces; 15 of the 16 units will be designated as affordable housing. The three retail spaces and one of the residential units will be rented at market rates.

This means, in order to rent one, a single-person household can make no more than $36,240 a year, a two-person household can make no more than $41,004 a year and a three-person household can make no more than $46,560 a year.

Six of the residential units will have two bedrooms, while 10 will have one. The rent charged will be between $650 and $850 a month, depending on the unit. One of the units will be handicapped accessible, as will the building itself.

The building’s previous tenants will have first dibs on the units, even if they don’t meet the income requirements for them.

“They get grandfathered in,” said Pres. Ogden.

This means the number of open low-income housing units will be significantly less than the number of units being created.

“We have three vacants, at this point,” said Pres. Ogden, although he thinks more vacancies may open up.

Those interested in applying to live in the new units once they’re created should contact Berkshire Housing Services, who will place them on a waitlist for a lottery.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on November 15, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry