Insights from local experts and executives The Region this issue: [42] Maine [44] Massachusetts [46] New Hampshire [48] Rhode Island MAINE Changing Landscape Conversion of Apartments to Condominiums Raises Concerns [by Jack Carr, P.E., RS, LEED-AP] Maine's lawyers and property managers involved in the condominium market are discovering the condo real estate rules are presenting a changing landscape due to the patchwork quilt of local condo ordinances and permitting rules spreading throughout the state. No longer is the Maine Condominium Act the only reference to be reviewed when their developer client calls. Southern Maine is seeing an expanding market in new condos with apartments being converted to condos from Portland to Biddeford. While new residential developments are receiving negative push-back from neighbors in such communities as Scarborough, Westbrook, and Portland's Munjoy Hill neighborhood due to perceived impact on infrastructure, the conversion of multi-family buildings causes different concerns. CONDO CONVERSION ORDINANCES Municipalities noticed a few years ago the potential impact on their citizens and infrastructure of apartments being converted to condominiums. They reacted by drafting condo conversion ordinances to be debated at wellattended municipal meetings. Most of the ordinances were targeted at protecting the current tenants in the apartments to be converted. Portland's Article VII "Condominium Conversion" 42 CONDOMEDIA