Teardown has begun on the former St. Patrick’s School in Jaffrey, to clear the lot to become a combination of duplexes and workforce apartments.

The way to removing the building, which has been vacant since the school’s closure in 2015, has not been entirely smooth, said Jaffrey Planning and Economic Development Director Jo Anne Carr. Hazardous materials lingered on the site, particularly asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls, which was present as a fire retardant in paint throughout the building.

The site is owned by MJ & MJ Realty Ventures, which plans to build 14 duplex-style  homes, each with two units, and a 30-unit apartment building. While the duplexes are expected to be sold at market rate, the apartments are intended to qualify for workforce housing under the state’s definition of the term. Workforce housing, by statute, is either rental housing which is affordable to three-person households earning up to 60% of the area median income, or for-sale housing affordable for a four-person households earning the total median income.

“Affordable,” as designated in the statute, means the family is spending no more than 30% of their income on housing. For Cheshire County, where Jaffrey is located, an affordable purchase price for a home for a family of four making 80% of the median income is $252,500, or $315,000 for a family of four making the total median income. Affordable workforce housing is expected to be priced within that range. For rentals, for a family making up to 60% of the median income, monthly rent should be about $1,440 for a family of three.

Increasing workforce housing has been a goal of Jaffrey zoning, which has put into place rules allowing greater density where workforce units are included in the development plan.

Carr said  the rental apartments are expected to be built in the second half of the project, after the market rate duplexes, and that they will rely heavily on grant and loan funds that will make the buildings affordable.

“That remains to be seen whether those funds will be included in the state’s budget, but the governor has been generally supportive of housing initiatives,” Carr said. “That’s led us to think positively about funding for the project.”

Though the land is owned and being developed by a private company, the town has been involved with the project by helping to acquire grant funding for removal of the school, securing about $414,000 in InvenstNH funding to cover a portion of the total $775,328 demolition cost.

“We’ve been good partners,” Carr said. “It’s good to see this redevelopment, and things actually moving.”

MJ & MJ Realty has gone through the process to secure the variance needed to allow the apartment building, and Carr said that as the former school is removed, the new building is expected to start in earnest next year. The rest of this spring and summer is reserved for the demolition and removal of the building and sitework, including installing utility and road infrastructure.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.