Historic farmhouse will become affordable housing under new plan

KENT — Plans are being made to turn a circa-1828 former farmhouse into an apartment house. The conversion is a project of Kent Affordable Housing.

The property is in a section of town that is zoned “rural� on Maple Street and is a 10-minute walk from the center of town. It is on 2 acres of land, enough for a second unit to be built eventually.

The property is known as the Millard Stuart house. Suttman said the building, which has 15 rooms, has enough space for four affordable housing units, which could include two one-bedroom apartments, one three-bedroom apartment and one two-bedroom apartment.

The farmhouse is substantially deteriorated and will need significant renovation.

“It’s unbelievably bad,� Suttman said.

A  mailing from Kent Affordable Housing shows photos of the building’s interior and notes that there are now four bathrooms and three kitchens “all in need of serious attention.â€�

However, it notes, “the building is basically sound, due to a magnificent chestnut post-and-beam frame, which has kept the core sound, despite the ravages of time and weather.�

Suttman said the budget for redeveloping the building is $650,000, but the estimate is very preliminary.

The majority of the financing for the redevelopment would come from state and federal programs.

The organization is also planning to raise additional funds to cover any potential funding gaps.

“These things take a lot of time and attention to detail,� Suttman said.

There is no clear timetable for when the project would start or be completed.

Kent Affordable Housing was founded in 1990 and currently owns and operates the South Commons apartment building on South Commons Road.

The building, which was built in 2003, contains 24 apartment units.