The Center has purchased the historic Gehring House property in Bethel, Maine, to redevelop as middle-market housing to support the community.
Below are some frequently asked questions about the project. If you have further questions about the project, please contact Amy Scott.
Yes. The Gehring House is on the National Register of Historic Places, and our renovation complies with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
The apartments do not have income restrictions. They are designed to be financially in reach for people working in the Bethel area. We use area median income and research on Bethel-area salaries to determine affordable rental rates.
The apartments have standard 1-year leases.
There are six 1-bedroom, two 2-bedroom, and one studio apartments.
In the future, the Center plans to build new units on the adjacent acreage to further expand local housing opportunities.
The Gehring House was constructed in 1896. It is one of the most architecturally and historically significant buildings in Bethel. The house served as the home of Dr. John George and Mrs. Marion True Gehring and the clinic where Dr. Gehring treated patients from all over the United States. Please visit the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society to learn more about this fascinating history.
The Center has been working in Bethel since our inception in 1997. Read an overview of our programming in Bethel and surrounding towns and check out these projects: the Mahoosuc Way, Maine West, and Bike Borderlands.
The Center uses a mix of funding sources to make the Gehring House redevelopment financially feasible. Sources include impact investment funds, tax credits, and private gifts and grants. If you are interested in contributing to this important community project, please contact Kristen Sharpless, Director of Development.
The Center is a regional innovation and investment partner creating rural vibrancy by connecting people, economy, and the forested landscape. Legally, we are non-profit organization; a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation registered in the state of New Hampshire. We work across the Northern Forest region of northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
To help address the housing crisis in Northern Forest communities, we broadened our suite of programs in 2017 to include property development. We focus on downtown properties that have the ability to catalyze community redevelopment.
In our first housing project, the Millinocket Housing Initiative, we invested $1 million to renovate 6 dilapidated houses and created 11 units of housing.
Our second project redeveloped an 11,000-square-foot building on Main Street in Lancaster, NH, to create 6 new apartments and commercial space to house a local food market.
Our newest projects include redeveloping a 15,000-square-foot building in St. Johnsbury, VT, which will create 10 apartment and 2 renovated storefront spaces, and a project in Tupper Lake, NY, that will create 8 apartments and a single-family house.
The Center uses a variety of capital sources to fund property purchases and development. We raise private donations and grants, grants from public agencies, tax credits, and impact investment dollars – a mix of funding that enables the Center to take on challenging property development projects that do not attract commercial developers. By using low-cost capital and gifts and grants, we are able to create high-quality living spaces and make them affordable to middle income renters.
The Center’s development model includes ownership and management of most properties for up to 10 years, at which point we will sell the properties to another property manager or as condominiums. In either case, the goal is to ensure that properties remain available as long-term housing for local residents.
The Center redeveloped the historic Parker J. Noyes 11,000-square-foot building on Lancaster’s Main Street to support the local economy and create a more vibrant downtown.
In its first impact investment fund, the Center raised $1 million to enhance Millinocket’s rental housing market as part of our broader community revitalization efforts.
The Center has purchased 560 Railroad Street in St. Johnsbury and plans to redevelop the building as a mix of small commercial rentals and middle-market housing.
