FARMINGTON – Three major construction projects are underway this fall that include new in-town housing units, a memory care center and an auto parts store.
A $1.5 million housing project will replace three deteriorating apartment buildings at 82 High Street, off Sawtelle Lane. The funding is through a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for housing assistance, a $500,000 federal home loan bank grant and a $540,000 bank loan.
The project will raze the three, two-story aging wood frame apartment buildings and replace them with three, new two-story, modular four-unit buildings. Cousineau Inc., the project’s contractor, will be having the modular apartment units installed after existing structures are torn down.
Thirty years ago local churches, Western Maine Community Action and the Maine Housing Authority established 82 High for low or moderate income residents after purchasing a privately-owned housing development. At the time of the purchase by the 82 High Street organization, the residential neighborhood was overcrowded with substandard trailers and scheduled for demolition. Over the years the organization has continually worked to improve the neighborhood with new mobile homes and has upgraded apartment buildings. It now consists of 17 mobile homes and three apartment buildings with a total of 12 apartments. All living spaces are 100 percent occupied, with the 82 High Street organization maintaining an active waiting list.
The new apartment units are expected to be installed through this month and next, with a ribbon-cutting in November.
Across town, construction of the $4 million Woodlands Memory Care of Farmington located at 175 Knowlton Corner Road is in its first phase of site work. A ground-breaking ceremony was held nearly two weeks ago on the 20,000 square foot, 36-bed facility for residents with Alzheimer’s disease and related memory loss conditions. The project is expected to be completed in a year from now.
Nearby on Wilton Road in front of Walmart, construction of a new 7,381 square foot AutoZone Parts store is taking shape.
According to its website, AutoZone is the leading retail automotive parts store retailer and a leading distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the U.S. Stores are located in 49 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Brazil.
The Farmington store’s 37-space parking lot will be accessed from Walmart’s main driveway, with the median already cut open for turning traffic. Maples or oaks are proposed as landscaping around the site.
We need a Applebees