Two modular homes built by KBS Builders of Paris are lifted onto foundations this week on Great Cranberry Island off Mount Desert Island. Once assembled, they will house two families who will live there year-round starting this fall. Kip Wing photo
CRANBERRY ISLES — To help ensure Great Cranberry Island’s future as a thriving year-round community, two three-bedroom modular homes manufactured in Paris were barged to the island off the Maine coast this week for two young families.
The homes were lifted by a crane onto foundations on land owned by the Cranberry Isles Realty Trust, which is renting the homes starting this fall.
The island, which is the largest of the five in the town of Cranberry Isles, is roughly two miles long and one mile wide. Access is by ferry from either Northeast Harbor or Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island.
“We had 90 inquiries and 29 applications,” Trust President Ken Schmidt said. “We were very concerned about trying to make sure that the people understood that ‘Yes, it’s beautiful here and yes, it’s a real community that people enjoy being part of.
“But there are people I call island dreamers who may have a romantic idea of what it’s like to live on an island,” he said. “It’s isolated and there are still long, cold, windy, raw winters. It’s not for the faint of heart, but the people who live here are strong, good people. And the families we have picked are hopefully people who will fit in beautifully,” Schmidt said.
“They were really strong candidates who weren’t wishful thinking about what island life is like. They were pretty well grounded, and they had an income so they could support themselves. And they were social enough that we believed they would make friends here and become contributing members of the community,” Schmidt said.
One family is originally from Virginia and has been living in Southwest Harbor. The other is from New Jersey. One couple has a baby; the other has a 6-year-old child.
Over the years, summer residents have bought up a number of houses on Great Cranberry Island and Islesford Island, reducing the stock of year-round workforce housing.
“And prices have gone up a lot over time, so it has become unaffordable for many working people to live here year-round,” Schmidt said.
He said buying, barging and assembling the two modular houses and getting them ready for occupancy is costing a total of about $1 million. The Maine State Housing Authority is providing a zero-interest forgivable loan of $420,000. The Trust is using $200,000 from the sale of an old house and is raising the rest.
Two homes built by KBS Builders in Paris are moved this week to foundations on Great Cranberry Island off the Maine coast. Two families have been selected to rent the houses and live on the island year-round starting this fall. Kip Wing photo
The Housing Authority states that, as a condition of the forgivable loan, “Rental housing units must remain as rental housing for a minimum of 45 years and must be leased to full-time island residents as their primary residence.”
Cranberry Isles Realty Trust was formed in 1996 by year-round and summer residents on both islands to try to solve a lack of affordable housing. There have been four workforce rental houses on Great Cranberry for a number of years. Now there will be two more. On Islesford, the Trust has had only one rental house, but it has helped two families buy homes there. The Trust is working on a four-house project for Islesford.
The two new rental houses on Great Cranberry were manufactured by KBS Builders on Route 26 in Paris.
Schmidt said the company has a reputation for building the highest quality homes, well-insulated and very energy efficient. Both houses were barged over from Southwest Harbor by John Goodwin Jr. Construction and placed on the foundation in two parts.
A crew from Coastal Maine General Contracting in Ellsworth will connect the two halves of the homes. Then a plumber, electrician and other tradespeople who have been coming out to the islands for years will finish the work.
“We have also had a lot of local volunteers working on this. It has been a great community effort,” Schmidt said.
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