The Ramada Hotel and Conference Center on Pleasant Street in Lewiston is pictured Thursday. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
LEWISTON — A $3.7 million grant from MaineHousing may be coming to Lewiston after all.
According to documents obtained by the Sun Journal, Lewiston Housing has signed a purchase and sale agreement with the owner of the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center and would turn the hotel into transitional housing with the help of state funding that was originally slated for a Park Street shelter.
Officials from MaineHousing and Lewiston Housing confirmed the potential deal Thursday. MaineHousing spokesman Scott Thistle said the state put its support behind the alternative plan once the purchase and sale agreement was in place.
The state housing authority had previously said Lewiston Housing had missed a deadline for the $3.7 million grant due to an application and licensing process toward a proposed Park Street shelter that took longer than anticipated. However, Thistle said that if it moves forward, the Ramada proposal achieves the goals of the grant, and is a more long-term solution compared to previous shelter plans.
The Ramada project would differ from the previous proposal, which was denied by the council this week, because it would provide more stable housing for individuals by using housing choice vouchers, while also offering case management services.
Reached Thursday, Lewiston Housing Director Chris Kilmurry said the project may be using the “same bucket of money” as the previous proposal, but said its focus is “completely different.” He said the funding from MaineHousing is meant for solutions to homelessness, whether it is short-term emergency shelters or more long-term solutions like transitional housing.
The proposal from Lewiston Housing would redevelop the hotel into 118 units of mostly efficiency apartments, he said. While the Park Street shelter would’ve focused on individuals with the “most need,” he said this project would be for people on the “opposite end of the spectrum.”
“This is really meant to give people a place to land, with some breathing room to get back on their feet, and then move on to more permanent housing,” he said. “This will operate and look like a typical multifamily property, and we’re just adding in case management and navigation services to help those people be more successful.”
According to a copy of the purchase and sale agreement between Lewiston Housing and the hotel owner, Emerald Hospitality, the total purchase price would be $7.5 million.
In an email to MaineHousing officials, Kilmurry outlined the proposed budget for using the grant, stating $2 million would be used toward the purchase price of the hotel; $650,000 would pay for two years of services, including four case managers; $800,000 would go toward building costs like required electrical supply upgrades, emergency signs and kitchen wiring, with $250,000 remaining for “miscellaneous.”
The hotel is in the “highway business” zone, which allows multifamily housing after a recent change.
The purchase and sale agreement was signed Friday, June 16, after Lewiston Housing had been informed that its Park Street proposal would not be funded, but prior to a City Council hearing Tuesday on a potential license for it.
During the meeting Tuesday, Councilor Lee Clement asked Kilmurry if Lewiston Housing had an alternative plan that it had “not yet divulged to the city.” Kilmurry responded that he didn’t but would love to “figure one out.”
Asked specifically about the Ramada, Kilmurry said he’d love to buy the property and has looked at it many times.
“If I can, I will,” he said.
When the Sun Journal reached out to city administration Thursday regarding what city requirements, if any, would be needed for the project, a city spokeswoman said “the potential proposal came as another surprise to the city.”
The statement from Angelynne Amores, director of marketing and communications, said that when Lewiston Housing was questioned during the council meeting this week, it “neglected to share further information.”
“Perhaps, (Lewiston Housing) felt it was premature to divulge business in this setting, however, as you can see from the purchase and sale agreement dated June 16, (Lewiston Housing) had plenty of time to request an executive session with council,” she said.
The purchase and sale agreement says the closing date on the sale would be on or before Oct. 31.
Kilmurry said Thursday that they’re still in the “due diligence period,” adding that he had been looking at the property for awhile before the opportunity arose to “pivot” from the Park Street project.
At MaineHousing, Thistle said, “We’re looking at it very carefully, and we still have a lot of due diligence to do, but we think it could be a very good resource for the area.”
He said because Lewiston Housing also hosts the new hub coordinator position in Androscoggin County as part of the state’s homeless system redesign, the plan made sense.
“If this works out, this development fits a piece of the ladder of solving homelessness, and adds a resource in this hub that doesn’t currently exist,” he said.
If the proposal moves forward, it would utilize what are known as project-based housing vouchers, which come from the same pool as Lewiston Housing’s Section 8 housing vouchers, but are specific to the site, Kilmurry said.
He said a huge segment of the population that comes to Lewiston Housing seeking a Section 8 voucher fall into the state definition of homeless.
“I don’t think people understand how hard it is for even people with means to find an apartment, let alone people living paycheck to paycheck and who have other things going that make things complicated,” he said.
A section of the Ramada was previously used as an emergency shelter during the pandemic, operating from November 2020 through 2021.
According to its website, the hotel features a 15,000-square-foot banquet and meeting space, and a 117-seat theater room. It also features the Fusion Restaurant and Lounge.
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