Keene housing plans now on hold, Fate of building on Emerald Street up in the air, buyer says
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
PETER J. CLEARY
Keene Sentinel Staff
Plans to put housing for low-income, senior or disabled people on Emerald Street are on hold for now, as a building Southwestern Community Services was looking at has been sold to another buyer.
The Keene-based social-service agency was recently working on a deal to buy Cheshire Tire Center at 120 Emerald St. in Keene. The auto repair shop is moving to 580 Main St.
The Emerald Street building is no longer on the market, though, as William F. Fenton, owner of the Fenton Family auto dealerships, has bought it. Fenton said he is still considering what to do with the building.
Southwestern Community Services had plans to put 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments, primarily for singles and couples, in the building. The rents would have been set according to the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. It also was going to put six condominium units with no income limitations in the building.
Affordable housing has long been deemed as lacking in the city. And the agency has been looking to put more affordable housing in the downtown area, James A. Stitham, its housing director, has said.
There have been recent additions of low-income and senior housing in the city, though none are downtown. The new developments include a 40-unit townhouse complex on Washington Street and Stone Arch Village on Court Street, with 24 units for families and 33 for the elderly.
Part of the difficulty in building new housing is the time involved in getting grants needed to fund it, according to Keith F. Thibault, the agency’s director of housing and economic development. Land sellers often aren’t able to wait through the months-long grant application process.
The agency had applied for state money for the Emerald Street building, but that didn’t come through, Thibault said. He’s hoping to apply for more money for a different property next year.
The agency would still consider the Emerald Street property if Fenton wanted to sell it, Thibault said, but he’s also looking at other places both downtown and on the outskirts of the city.
“We’re in the hunt,” he said.