Sponsored by:   Key Bank

When:  Wednesday, November 10, 2010  |  Time:  7:30 – 9:00 AM
Where:  Hilton Garden Inn, Auburn Riverwatch, 14 Great Falls Plaza, Auburn, ME

About the Event:

Lewiston’s downtown housing landscape features many significant challenges. We have some of the oldest housing stock in the State—over 70% of our downtown rental housing was built before 1940—and the residents in this area have among the State’s highest poverty rates. Many of these properties have effectively outlived their useful life, and rents in the market do not provide owners with enough equity to sufficiently re-invest in physical improvements to the properties.

Over the past decade, Lewiston has embarked upon an effort to infuse the local market with higher quality, affordable housing options.  Our efforts to date have ranged from new construction to adaptive re-use, from townhomes
to large-scale apartment complexes, from family to senior living.   Since
2003, over 150 new units have been built or are in various stages of development.

Of course, it today’s development environment, no one entity can afford to build new housing alone.  The City has reached out to development partners, both private and non-profit, and “mixed and matched” various funding sources to assemble viable development projects. 

Today’s presentation will discuss the strategies and challenges to developing successful affordable housing projects in today’s economy and discuss when and how municipalities can play a role in making these deals happen.

Speakers include JIM HATCH of Developers Collaborative, DENNIS LAJOIE, Director of Real Estate & Subsidiary Operations for Community Concepts, Inc, and MARK MCCOMAS, Acting Director of Economic and Community Development for the City of Lewiston. 

Join us on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 from 7:30 – 9:00 AM at the Hilton
Garden Inn, Auburn Riverwatch.   An RSVP is requested on, or before,
November 4, 2010. Payment is expected at the time of registration. No refunds will be granted to anyone who registers, but fails to attend or who cancels after November 4, 2010.

Registering for this Event: 

Click here to register.
$25.00 per person   |  Register After Nov. 4th: $35.00 per person

Founded in 1985 and celebrating its 25th Anniversary, MEREDA is an organization of commercial real estate owners, developers and related service providers, whose mission is to promote an environment for responsible development and ownership of real estate throughout the State of Maine.