Laconia Area Community Land Trust

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Housing Development

Laconia Area Community Land Trust is an experienced and accomplished non-profit developer of permanently affordable family housing. We were named 2005 NH Business of the Year in the Construction/Real Estate/Engineering category by Business NH Magazine and received a Business Excellence Award in 2006 from NH Business Review. Our affordable housing inventory consists of 103 rental units and 1 home ownership home. We currently have 64 additional rental units in our development pipeline. We have invested over 16 million dollars in neighborhood revitalization projects. These projects yield tremendous impact for the community and local tax base. As part of our commitment to the community, we pay full real estate taxes on all our properties.

Our work began when the residents of Laconia’s most run-down, crime-ridden neighborhood asked for help in redeveloping the area. Grossly substandard buildings in the Avery Hill Neighborhood of Laconia were either demolished and rebuilt or completely renovated resulting in 7 buildings containing 14 units of affordable family housing, green space, and a playground. The following photos are of the Avery Hill Development.

Over the next several years, we completely renovated 24 homes scattered throughout Laconia as well as the former Batchelder Street School building to create 65 additional units of safe, decent, permanently affordable family housing. The following photos are before and after pictures of one of those renovated units.

In 2004, we redeveloped the abandoned Vernitron factory site in Laconia. The factory building, which had become an eyesore at the gateway to downtown Laconia, was demolished and replaced with 5 attractive, colonial-style buildings containing 18 brand new apartments for low and moderate income families. This property has received awards and recognition including The Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award from the National Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition – Honorable Mention in the Rural Housing Category (2006); Award for Excellence in Urban Redevelopment by the Laconia Planning Board (2006); and Greater Laconia-Weirs Beach Chamber of Commerce Golden Hammer Award (2006);

The following photos are of the Millview development.

In the fall of 2006, we completed renovation of the Mechanic School building in Lakeport (pictured below). This building, like our Batchelder Street School building, offers 4 one-bedroom units and 2 two-bedroom units.

It is an Energy Star® certified building. A 6-panel solar electric system provides electricity for the building's common areas. The Mechanic School was recognized with a Plan NH Merit Award (2007) and a Greater Laconia-Weirs Beach Chamber of Commerce Golden Trowel Award (2007). We continue to work diligently in this difficult real estate market to develop more single-family homeownership homes.

We are currently working on our first affordable housing development project in Meredith. Plans call for the preservation, relocation, and upgrade of the existing Crestview Manufactured Housing Park located on Boynton Road to make room for the new construction of 32 town-house style workforce housing units. Apartments will range in size from 1-3 bedrooms. Rents will be set at below-market rates. This development will offer permanently affordable homes where low-wage earning, working families in the Meredith area can afford to live on the wages they earn. Construction will begin in Fall of 2008. Units will be ready for occupancy in Summer/Fall 2009.

The total project cost, including the relocation and upgrade of the manufactured housing park, bringing the sewer down Boynton Road, and adding sidewalks, will be approximately $9 million. Financing commitments have been received from NH Housing Finance Authority Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Home Funds, Community Development Block Grant Funds, US Rural Development Funds, NeighborWorks® America, Rural LISC, and LACLT. Meredith Village Savings Bank will be providing the construction loan.