February 23, 2026 – Gloucester Daily Times
Plans are for a 100-year-old building on Washington Street to go from use as offices to affordable condominiums.
The office building at 47 Washington St. [will soon be] sold by Action Inc. to Essex County Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that works to get families into homes using affordable housing.
Action Inc., a nonprofit that offers a wide range of services for people in need, had used the building for its heating relief and assistance operations which have since moved its location at 180 Main St.
[The future] new owner Essex County Habitat plans on turning the building into three condominium units for purchase. There will be two, one-bedroom units and one, four-bedroom unit.
Each unit will be offered at a reduced price to purchasers who earn less than 60% of the area median income.
City Councilor at-Large Jason Grow said most affordable housing projects are typically renting units out to people making 80% of the area median income.
“Even 80% units can be out of reach for a lot of folks in Gloucester so when we have a project that comes in at 60%, that’s actually affordable for a Gloucester person to achieve,” said Grow, who is chairman of the City Council’s Planning and Development Committee.
He said giving more people the opportunity to purchase a place to live will allow them to not only put roots down in Gloucester but earn some equity on the property which would not happen if the units were rentals.
“It means somebody who was previously priced out of the purchase market is now in a position to buy a unit, build some equity and then at some point, they hopefully sell that onto the next person in that position and it creates a cycle,” he said.
Next steps for the project include securing the permits before interior renovations can begin. There will no exterior changes to the building..