Shaheen helps fund new apartment units at Laconia's Normandin Square

LACONIA — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) toured the site of proposed new housing units downtown Friday afternoon, alongside Laconia Housing Executive Director Catherine Bowler, Mayor Mike Bordes, City Manager Kirk Beattie, among others.

Shaheen continued her “affordability tour” around the state on Friday, with stops in Franklin, where she visited the high school, and in Laconia, where she viewed Laconia Housing’s Normandin Square property. She secured $750,000 in congressionally-directed spending for proposed apartment units there. 

Normandin Square Apartments, a 60-unit community where the majority of units are classified as affordable housing, is expected to undergo renovations, adding new units to rent. The $750,000 is earmarked for those renovations.

“As President [Donald] Trump’s reckless tariffs add more than $10,000 to the cost of a new home — contributing to housing prices in New Hampshire hitting near record highs — increasing the supply of affordable housing is one of my top priorities in Congress,” Shaheen wrote in a statement. “I was proud to secure federal funding that will directly increase our state’s supply of housing by supporting renovations at the Normandin Square Apartments and providing real relief to Granite Staters in the Laconia community who are struggling to find housing they can afford.”

The project is expected to result in the creation of eight, one-bedroom apartment units, bringing the total number at the property up to 17. There’s also 48 two-bedroom units and, following the renovation, there will be two, three-bedroom units, for a total of 67 apartments, seven more than exist today. The waitlist for those units is almost 600 people long.

“We have a high demand for one-bedroom [units], Bowler said. “So this is what we’re trying to convert.”

The intent is to increase the availability of affordable housing inventory for moderate-income people in the city. They’re hoping the renovation can conclude sometime between January and March 2027.

“It’s going to be very nice,” Shaheen said.

“We’re about to pass the biggest housing bill that’s come out of Congress in 30 years.”

The property was originally constructed in the 1930s as the Scott & Williams Factory, a shoe-manufacturing facility. In 2004, LHA — Union Avenue Limited Partnership was formed to develop and operate a rental housing development, and Laconia Housing & Redevelopment Authority purchased the property, intending to create 60 apartment units. The ground floor of the building is owned by HealthFirst Family Care Center, RGH Wellness Center, The Boys & Girls Club and Normandin Square Apartments. 

“If you’re walking down the hall, you’ll hear the creaking, and it’s the old floors,” Bowler said.

Bowler led Shaheen through various areas of the property on Friday, including a boiler room on the first floor.  

“At some point, we would like to replace the boilers,” Bowler said. “And we use them at quite a few of our properties.” 

Over the past several years, the housing authority has been busy.  

“Laconia Housing, over the past five years, we’ve created 40 units,” Bowler said. Most of those are for seniors residents, which helps keep them out of nursing homes. “They love the environment, because they stay in their own homes.”

“We’ve had seven, eight people that passed away this winter,” she said. “It’s been a tough winter.” 

Residential apartments are located on the second through fourth floors, and are accessible by elevator. Laconia Housing has owned, managed and operated the property since its completion and initial occupancy in 2004. During the original construction, three units were designated for the city to use for police department needs. Those units have gone unused since the construction of the police station on New Salem Street. The building also contains storage spaces that are oversized and underutilized, and represent an opportunity for additional housing.  

The new units are meant to be affordable for households earning less than 80% of the area median income, which is $60,150 at present. Laconia Housing has a waitlist totaling more than 800 applicants, nearly 600 of whom are seeking housing at Normandin Square.  

“Our monthly meetings are so exciting, because there’s so much going on,” Laconia Housing board member Patrick Wood said.