Proposed Seven-story Apartment Building for the Elderly at 178 Kennebec Street.  David Lloyd, Archetype Architects, is the Architect.

Jennifer Packard Weber,  Engineer Stephen Bushey, (M) and Richard Packard, SA. Developers of 1006 Congress Street.

Two workshop items before the planning board this afternoon advanced to a public hearing and vote, despite some issues still to be resolved.

Plans for a seven-story mixed use building including fifty-one (51) units of one (1) bedroom and efficiency apartments for elderly residents at 178 Kennebec Street were outlined by its development team late this afternoon.

The first floor will feature a lobby as well as artists studios/retail space owned by Ross Furham according to Nathan Szanton of The Szanton Company. The second floor to the seventh floor will consist of housing for the elderly (55+).  Some of the units will be “affordable housing and at least eleven (11) units will be ADA accessible.  On-site parking for nineteen (19) vehicles will be provided,  Six of them will be for the retail space on the first floor.  There will be no central air-conditioning in the building.  Parking and air-conditioning are two issues still to be resolved in time for the public hearing and vote of the planning board.  Amy Cullen, is the Project Manager, for 178 Kennebec Street.

An application for a “map amendment” to permit the development of a mixed-use development comprising commercial and retail uses for property at 1006 Congress LLC.  The amendment would allow a wide range of uses not allowed currently, such as retail, restaurants, neighborhood center and general businesses and professional offices.  Formerly a church, the size and historic structure would limit industrial uses and the owner Richard Packard, SA and Jennifer Packard Weber.  Weber and civil engineer Steve Bushey made convincing cases to the planning board that the building is not suited for industrial use.  (Nearby is Bunker Brewing Co. with Xpress Copy, currently located at 100 Fore Street, scheduled to move in there by the end of the summer.)

The Packards, PK Realty Mgmt & Investments, said they bought the property in August of 2017.  It had been vacant for two years and previous to that was a church.

Both workshop items will advance to a public hearing and a vote by the planning board.  The latter needs also to be approved by the city council.