Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
More than a dozen new apartments are coming to a previously vacant historic building in downtown Bangor.
Pike Project Development bought the Pearl Building on the corner of State and Harlow streets this past spring and began renovating the second through fifth floors into 14 studio-style apartments, according to Zack Pike, one of the company’s developers.
The Bangor-based company hopes to have the units completed next summer but doesn’t yet know how much they’ll be rented for. Each is designed to have an open floorplan and one full bathroom, Pike said.
Once online, the units will help improve a local and statewide housing shortage that has contributed to home prices staying high after spiking years ago. The project is also an example of how housing can be created in existing buildings rather than built from scratch and can revive historically significant properties.
“It’s really rewarding to give these buildings new life, and the upper floors are often neglected for commercial uses, especially in a five-story building,” Pike said. “The whole idea is to take these buildings, breathe new life into them and make them as wonderful as they had been in the past.”
The Pearl Building was constructed soon after the Great Fire of 1911 swept through that section of the city, leaving a path of destruction. The building served as office space with the Pearl & Dennett Co., a large insurance and real estate company, occupying the ground floor, according to a 1915 Maine Chamber of Commerce Journal.
“We’ve been doing work downtown for quite a few years and I can’t remember ever seeing any activity on the upper floors,” Pike said. “It feels like it was abandoned office space.”
Today, two commercial spaces are available on the ground floor. One holds Log Jam Vintage, which opened in May 2025 and sells a variety of men’s and women’s clothing and accessories made during and before the 1990s. The other is empty.
While the building’s lower floor was in good condition, the upper floors needed a significant amount of demolition and repair work due to years of neglect. Most immediately, the roof needed to be replaced, as a leak had caused water damage, and masonry needed to be repaired, Pike said.
The company, which specializes in restoring historic buildings in Bangor and beyond, previously helped renovate 33 State St., located diagonally across the intersection, as well as 24 State St. next door, which holds Orono Brewing Company, among other buildings.
With any restoration project, Pike said workers try to keep as many original features in a building as possible. For this project, the building’s original windows will be repaired and remain in place.
“We’re reglazing them and fixing the broken glass,” Pike said. “One of the unique features of the building are the curved windows on the corner of State and Harlow Streets. We’re repairing those curved windows and putting them back into place.”
Aside from providing more housing options in Maine’s third-largest city, Pike said the new units will benefit local businesses eager for employees and patrons who live nearby.
“More people in the downtown area are going to inevitably help the downtown businesses as well the overall atmosphere and spirit of the downtown,” Pike said. “More people here means a more thriving community.”