Pappas tours new Avesta Housing River Turn Apartments
CONWAY — On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas toured Avesta Housing’s newly opened 40-unit River Turn Apartments rental housing project off Technology Lane in Conway with Avesta officials.
Afterward, he noted that it was a good example of efforts to make a dent in New Hampshire’s housing crunch.
“It’s great to see this building completed by Avesta,” said Pappas, a Democrat representing District 1, after visiting a first-floor, two-bedroom unit and a third-floor, one-bedroom apartment.
“The need for housing continues to outpace the amount of building that we see around the state. This is a good new project that Avesta opened that offers rental housing at and below market rates to help meet that extraordinary need,” said Pappas.
He said at the federal level he is continuing to support an increase to the low income tax credit for housing and Community Development Block Grant funding which he said are both “key tools” for projects such as River Turn.
“I also support ways that New Hampshire at the state and local level is working to address the need through zoning in that make senses,” said Pappas.
The 40-unit, three-story, elevator-serviced rental apartment facility is the first of four eventual buildings planned to be built at the site, with the fourth building possibly to be built for senior housing, according to Avesta’s Todd Rothstein, director of construction services, who along with Ryan Fecteau, senior officer for policy and planning, both of Portland, Maine, led the half-hour tour Wednesday afternoon.
“We received more than 200 rental applicants: health care, police, firefighters. There is a great demand,” Rothstein told Pappas, as the group toured an attractive two-bedroom unit on the first floor.
They said the first building features 11 two-bedroom units and 29 one-bedroom units, with the one-bedroom units measuring 570 square feet and the two bedroom units offering 904 square feet of living space. Each has a kitchen and living room and one bathroom along with ample closet space and vinyl flooring in the living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms and carpeting in the bedrooms.
Avesta broke ground on the project in June 2022 and completed it in December 2023. Officials gathered on a brisk September day in 2023 for the formal groundbreaking ceremony after construction was well underway.
Based in Portland, Maine, Avesta is a non-profit that owns and manages 110 properties with 3,200 apartments that house 5,000 residents in affordable housing properties in Maine and New Hampshire.
At that groundbreaking event, Avesta chief executive officer and president Rebecca Hatfield cited the collaborative effort involved in creating affordable housing, recognizing New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority (a leading provider of investment, asset management and development services in the affordable housing industry), Bangor Savings Bank, Preti Flaherty, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, the N.H. Community Development Authority and the town of Conway, which sponsored Community Development Block Grant funding.
She also cited the strategic support of the Mount Washington Valley Economic Council, MWV Housing Coalition, North Country Council and state Sen. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro), as well as the contributions of Lassell Architects, project general contractor Hutter Construction of New Ipswich and HEB Engineers of North Conway.
Also among those speaking was Rob Dapice, executive director of New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, saluting the efforts of Avesta and all involved, including Jac Cuddy, executive director of the MWV Economic Council, who serves as vice chair of the authority’s board of directors.
“As you know, housing is a problem across New Hampshire, really across a lot of the country,” Cuddy said, and particularly in Mount Washington Valley, where he applauded efforts of the MWV Housing Coalition and Avesta to bring this project to fruition.
During Wednesday’s tour, when asked about delays, Avesta’s Rothstein said they experienced some supply chain electrical issues but that the project in the end was only six months off the original planned fall 2023 opening.
General contractor was Hunter Construction of New Ipswich. Electrical contractor was DW Electric of Conway; A.J. Coleman and Son of Conway was site contractor and Precision Temperature Control of Bedford was the mechanical heating and ventilation contractor.
The cost of the project was $12.7 million and that a variety of funding sources were utilized, including a $700,000 Community Development Block Grant assisted by the town of Conway and low income federal tax credits from New Hampshire Finance Housing Authority.
Avesta bought 37 acres from the MWV Economic Council for the project. It originally looked at property off the base of Tasker Hill Road in Conway but that proposal ran into stiff local opposition from abutters, leading Avesta to refocus on other properties, leading to the selection of the property abutting the MWV Technology Center campus.
The Conway Planning Board gave conditional approval to the project in June 2020.
The 12,619-square-foot building features solar panels, and efficient heat exchangers that cool the building in summer and provide heating in winter.
The exterior of the building is stylistically broken up into different materials and design colors to attractively offset it from appearing to be one large structure.
There is an outdoor pergola and a garden is planned for tenants’ use.
Rental rates are based on federal Housing and Urban Development rates, which are calculated based on median income levels.
Rental rates start at $565 including utilities and go as high as $1,800 for market rate units.
Ten units are at market rate; and the rest are income restricted. For more, go to avestahousing.org.
Pappas’ afternoon tour followed a stop at the Kennett High Career & Technical Center Wednesday morning, during which he learned about the various initiatives the school is involved with in vocational training, including the Eastern Slope Aviation Academy.
“I crashed the plane during the simulator,” Pappas said. “It wasn’t the instructor’s fault. I was a bit too heavy (on the throttle). I got to see a variety of stuff that offer so many opportunities for students,” he said.
His visit also included a stop at Children Unlimited in Conway, where he heard there was a waiting list of 75 for services. “There is a great need. We’ve got to continue to support and expand child care to keep it affordable,” Pappas said.