Workforce Housing Project Officially Starts with Groundbreaking: From Old Shoe Factory to 42 units

By Michelle Kingston

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

DOVER — The Housing Partnership broke ground last month on its newest workforce housing project, Woodbury Mill, in an abandoned shoe factory.

Located at 1 Dover St., on the corner of Dover and Park Streets, the $9.8 million renovation of the mill will bring 42 affordable apartment units in five stories to the community.

According to Marty Chapman, the executive director of The Housing Partnership in Portsmouth, the apartment complex will also include a community room and common areas with laundry facilities and storage units.

The mill will undergo complete renovation, while preserving its original interior and exterior elements, such as beams, columns and windows, Chapman said.

These apartments are considered affordable housing, being offered at below-market rental prices to income-qualified working households. They are also considered Tax Credit housing, being projects that are funded in part by the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.

Some of the 50,000-square-foot housing project’s funding is provided by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, Northern New England Housing Investment Fund, Centrix Bank, The Federal Home Loan of Boston and the city.

The construction manager for the project is Pine Brook Corporation out of Kittery, Maine.

Chapman said the projected construction completion date is March 2014.