A new workforce housing project at Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley hopes to alleviate some of the pressures of securing affordable homes, providing a new dorm-style living space.The Saddleback House cost $10 million and took two years to build.Inside the state-of-the-art facility, there’s 43 rooms with enough space to house 60-70 workers, the majority of them, ski resort employees. “We wanted to make sure that we had affordable, inclusive housing right here on the mountain, and this location just happens to be ski in, ski out. So, it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Jon Tower, CEO. The facility features a mix of private and shared dormitory-style rooms, laundry on each floor and an open-concept kitchen that can accommodate up to 30 people at a time. “Part of the idea here is to really reflect the strength of the saddleback community and the people who make it all happen. The employees,” Tower said.The affordability aspect comes from federal guidelines that won’t allow for any resident living in the building to be charged more than 30% of their income. “There were all sorts of hurdles that our team was able to jump through to finally get this completed, but just in the nick of time, it’s finished now. People from the saddleback team will be moving in here next week,” Tower said. The building is part of a revitalization project in the Rangeley area that started in 2020 when Arctaris, a Boston-based investment firm bought Saddleback Ski Resort.”By pulling more people up here, that means that there’s more availability for people who live here on a seasonal basis or year-round basis in Rangeley,” Tower said.If there are rooms available after Saddleback staff are taken care of, we’re told they’ll be offered to employees at other businesses in the area, which feeds into Arctaris’ goal of using the ski mountain as a vehicle to help drive the economy in Rangeley.
A new workforce housing project at Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley hopes to alleviate some of the pressures of securing affordable homes, providing a new dorm-style living space.
The Saddleback House cost $10 million and took two years to build.
Inside the state-of-the-art facility, there’s 43 rooms with enough space to house 60-70 workers, the majority of them, ski resort employees.
“We wanted to make sure that we had affordable, inclusive housing right here on the mountain, and this location just happens to be ski in, ski out. So, it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Jon Tower, CEO.
The facility features a mix of private and shared dormitory-style rooms, laundry on each floor and an open-concept kitchen that can accommodate up to 30 people at a time.
“Part of the idea here is to really reflect the strength of the saddleback community and the people who make it all happen. The employees,” Tower said.
The affordability aspect comes from federal guidelines that won’t allow for any resident living in the building to be charged more than 30% of their income.
“There were all sorts of hurdles that our team was able to jump through to finally get this completed, but just in the nick of time, it’s finished now. People from the saddleback team will be moving in here next week,” Tower said.
The building is part of a revitalization project in the Rangeley area that started in 2020 when Arctaris, a Boston-based investment firm bought Saddleback Ski Resort.
“By pulling more people up here, that means that there’s more availability for people who live here on a seasonal basis or year-round basis in Rangeley,” Tower said.
If there are rooms available after Saddleback staff are taken care of, we’re told they’ll be offered to employees at other businesses in the area, which feeds into Arctaris’ goal of using the ski mountain as a vehicle to help drive the economy in Rangeley.
