Biddeford enters moratorium on condo conversions

Condo conversions at Pepperell Mills could be detrimental to the downtown area, some say.

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Presidium’s plans to convert 154 units at the Pepperell Mill campus into home ownership apartments are on hold. The city passed a moratorium on converting the units into condominiums earlier this month. Contributed / Pepperell Mill

The Biddeford City Council voted 6-2 on Oct. 15 to enter into a moratorium on downtown condominium conversions.

Presidium, the owner of the Pepperell Mill campus had planned to convert a number of existing apartments into condos, however the council approved the moratorium saying it was concerned about how taking those units out of the rental system would effect the downtown and the city as a whole, especially with the lack of housing in Biddeford.

The order, which was passed as an emergency measure retroactive to Oct. 6, puts on hold Presidium’s plans to convert 154 rental units into ownership units within the next three years.

According to the order plans to convert eight or more units can be submitted but cannot be approved while the moratorium is in place.

Prior to the moratorium passing, Chris Rhodes, a partner with Presidium, said the company would offer tenants the opportunity to buy their unit or any other unit on campus without competition or bidding wars with the general public.

The company would also offer each tenant last months’ rent free and 3.5% of the purchase price toward closing costs or their down payment, he said.

“We wanted to have a very thoughtful approach on how to look after each and every tenant that we have in our campus,” Rhodes said.

Tenants who would prefer to continue renting their unit would have three years to do so, Rhodes said.

The cost of units would range anywhere from $200,000 to $800,000, with the majority of the units landing in the $300,000 to $400,000 range.

“We’ve taken great care that balances tenant support with community benefits,” Rhodes said. “We’ve worked closely with town leadership for over five months.”

Derek Schroeder, a current resident of Pepperell Mill, said he plans to buy his unit when the option is available.

In the current housing crisis, home ownership is out of reach for working professionals within the communities they serve, Schroeder said.

“This has been the opportunity that I’ve been hoping and praying for for years,” he said.

Other Pepperell Mill residents were not supportive of the conversions.

Sam Drummey, a Biddeford student whose family resides in a Pepperell Mill apartment, said her family is not in a position to buy their unit.

“We have the privilege of being fairly confident we can find another property in the downtown,” Drummey said. “However, many other renters do not have that certainty.”

The effect of converting 154 units to condominiums in the downtown area could be astronomical on the culture of downtown Biddeford, some residents said.

City Council President Liam LaFountain said the city is currently “ill equipped” to handle a conversion at the mills, and the ripple effect on the downtown and the city as a whole.

There is a future of potentially 150 residents being displaced, LaFountain said, creating additional market pressure for those who are already struggling to find housing.

The city is also currently trying to achieve goals with the unhoused community and with those that are most vulnerable in terms of housing, and this project would make that more difficult, he said.

“This isn’t creating any new units,” LaFountain said. “What it’s doing is making current units more exclusive and less available, less attainable for residents of Biddeford.”

With the moratorium passing, the condominium conversions will be put on hold until the city can figure out how to handle the potential impact on the downtown.

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