Construction of 65 Munjoy Street Finally Underway This Month

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Construction Workers on Site in the Cold Earlier This Week.

Construction Workers on Site in the Cold Three Days Ago.

The Scene at 65 Munjoy Street Yesterday.

The Scene at 65 Munjoy Street Yesterday.

By Carol McCracken

The long-awaited construction of an eight (8) unit condominium building on .15 acres of land at 65 Munjoy Street on the Hill began on December 1st according to a press release issued by Ethan Boxer-Macomber, project manager, and a partner in the Adams Apple development team.  The other partner is Peter Bass, a Hill resident.

The piece of property which has served as a parking lot for area neighbors was a piece of property formerly part of the adjacent Adams Elementary School. The school was named for Mirada Adams who taught school for seventy-two (72) years in Maine – fifty (50) of them on Munjoy HIll.   The school was demolished and replaced by the East End Community School on North Street on the Hill. Following that, a reuse committee convened co-chaired by Dan Haley and Matt Thayer, both Hill residents and property owners. Avesta Housing, for whom Ethan Boxer-Macomber formerly worked, proposed a large condominium development of the site.  Due to the recent recession, the development was drastically downsized, and this .15 acres of land was left undeveloped. The City issued an RFP for its development and Adams Apple was the sole responder to it.

This spring a group of neighbors, led by the aforementioned Matt Thayer, filed a lawsuit against Adams Apple, for poor design of the building.  This summer the lawsuit was settled out of court with the developer making a number of alterations to the building exterior – including larger windows in the front.

In the recently issued press release, Macomber said he expects the first wall panels to arrive this week followed by trusses in the coming weeks.  Phase ! of the process was completed late last month.  That was the clean-up of this former industrial site  Dust, which had been a concern of neighbors, was virtually non-existent because of the soil being very moist due to fall ran that preceded the start of the work.

The project is expected to be completed sometime next year.