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OmniMegaGiraffe t1_j987par wrote

I mean, Downtown Bangor is currently in the process of gentrification. I'm happy that businesses are coming back, but instead of building affordable housing, they're focusing on deluxe apartments.

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biglymonies t1_j98pmm5 wrote

I've said it here before, but the "deluxe" apartments fill a large niche gap in the market in Bangor - high-earners who don't want to own a home in the area.

When I was living in Bangor, my options for rentals at the time were:

  • A couple of shitty crackdens on the low number streets for $600-700/m
  • New and Old Capehart apartments for $1,100-1,300/m
  • A single family home next to Broadway Park for $1,500/m
  • A "luxury" downtown apartment that I actually liked (with reserved parking!) for $2,500/m

I ended up picking the expensive place, which was a good thing for everyone in the area who was looking for a place to live at that time who also made less than or had a worse credit score/history than me. My neighbors were all physicians, business owners, or fellow tech people who also opted to live in that building over in other parts of town.

The sad part is, the "quality" of those "luxury" apartments is on par with units in other parts of the country that were going for 1/3 of the price.

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Seyword t1_j98qg5n wrote

$2500 a month to live in Bangor? 😬

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biglymonies t1_j98ty2z wrote

Yeah lol. We wanted to live near family for a bit before we moved back out of state. Neither of us are really in love with the area, so we figured getting a nicer apartment might make things more enjoyable for us.

I've lived in Bangor off and on since high school, and that apartment was definitely my favorite place I lived. It was newer, clean, didn't smell like cat piss, had central air, quiet upstairs neighbors, and reserved parking spots for us and guests.

The extra cost was definitely worth not having to deal with the stuff I went through at my previous Bangor rentals lol.

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snackexchanger t1_j98uujf wrote

I had a similar experience a couple years ago. I was renting a very nice, newly built, 600 sq ft apartment in Portland for $1800. Moving up to Bangor I was looking for something similar. Couldn’t find it. A comparable apartment within walking distance to work was $2,500/month and I couldn’t justify paying more for the Bangor apartment than I had been paying in Portland. I ended up in an 1,100 sq ft apartment in Orono for $1,200/month.

As someone who makes much more than the average Bangor salary I would have happily paid more for a place but I couldn’t justify paying that much more for no more space or amenities so I ended up competing with college kids. And who is going to rent to a college kid when the other option is a couple that works works full time and had previously been renting a place 50% more expensive?

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raggedtoad t1_j9a5epj wrote

Watch out, I made a similar point in a housing cost discussion a few weeks ago and got accused of supporting "trickle down housing" lmao.

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biglymonies t1_j9a9czi wrote

Oh fuck, you weren't kidding

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raggedtoad t1_j9aai58 wrote

There it is!

Yes, people actually believe building more quality housing units is bad for working class Mainers.

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AssumptionLivid6879 t1_j9b4e5d wrote

Over building “affordable housing” without filling out the spectrum of cost is what turns cities like Bangor into Drug Dens.

Historically Bangor has only developed public/private low income and no income expansions, which is why it brought such a strong collapse in the 80s/90s. The city then tried to curb all growth and expansion in the 90s by building new zoning laws, further backfiring the attraction of high income talent (why Hampden/Hermon blew up in popularity).

Most units outside of the 95 corridor are either trailer parks, “affordable” apartments (that are now drug dens), or private low jncome housing like Penquis.

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DamienSalvation t1_j98ozhv wrote

Building deluxe apartments make other housing cheaper and in about 20 years they'll be regular apartments.

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OmniMegaGiraffe t1_j98qm69 wrote

I hope the housing gets cheaper soon then.

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DamienSalvation t1_j98u6jv wrote

Well that's the econ 101 version. Unfortunately, there are many more factors and most places aren't building enough housing to meet demand.

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AssumptionLivid6879 t1_j9b3a79 wrote

To be honest they need more of a focus on deluxe and luxury apartments, townhomes, and condos. People that tend to live in deluxe and luxury are much more likely to support local food, local stores, and farmers markets. Most of Bangor’s housing supply already is affordable housing, public housing, and private/public low income housing.

Most of Bangor’s existence post-lumber was creating affordable housing, creating assisted living, creating section 8, supporting the homeless and the very low income. Most of the buildings outside of the 95 corridor is dedicated to those concepts (penquis is huge, a lot of trailer parks, a lot of public housing). If the city keeps building support for section 8 housing, and at-risk individuals, the city will only reflect those people and will lose any attraction to visit or grow.

More luxury and higher end builds need to be done in the city, because it will keep the small businesses floating. The current population shops at Walmart, Applebees, etc, and does not support local businesses to focus on surviving.

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