BIDDEFORD — The Convent at Mission Hill, a 15-unit affordable senior apartment complex in the restored convent of the former St. Andre’s Catholic Church, is expected to house its first tenants in the coming weeks.

“It’s unbelievable,” Guy Gagnon, executive director of the Biddeford Housing Authority, said Wednesday of the restoration, which was completed to the strict standards of the National Park Service and Maine Historic Preservation Commission. “Inspectors have commented that it’s the best woodwork they’ve seen as far as being able to reconstruct what was there.”

The Biddeford Housing Authority and Southern Maine Affordable Housing purchased the century-old, 12,000-square-foot convent from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland last year, as well as the former St. Andre’s school, rectory and church, which is connected to the convent.

The redevelopment of the entire campus – now known as Mission Hill – represents an investment of more $5 million by the two nonprofits.

An open house for the Convent at Mission Hill, located on the corner of Bacon and High streets, is slated for 3-6 p.m. Friday. Gagnon said work on the building is nearly complete, and he hopes tenants will be able to move in by April 1.

The apartments will house residents who are ages 55 and older and earn no more than 60 percent of the median income, which is just over $40,000 a year. Rent will vary by unit but cost under $700 a month.

“If you look at the market right now in Biddeford, those rents are substantially lower,” Gagnon said. “We’re happy to be able to provide that quality housing for seniors.”

Less than 50 feet from the convent is the former St. Andre’s School, which has housed 35 affordable senior apartments for 15 years. BHA and SMAH have just completed a renovation of that building, and they plan to continue working on projects there, such as planting a community garden, to enhance tenants’ quality of life.

Three tenants who were sitting on a picnic table next to the former school Wednesday afternoon said they were “very happy” with the work that’s been done on the building.

The restorations of the remaining buildings on the campus – the rectory and the church, whose steeple towers over the neighborhood and can be seen from several blocks away – have yet to begin.

Gagnon said plans to turn the rectory, which is the smallest building on the campus, into a community center and three apartments have been approved by the National Parks Service. BHA and SMAH are hoping to start construction on that building in the summer, he said.

Gagnon’s vision for the church, which includes a large basement suited to holding events and a cavernous, ornately designed ground floor, has always been to turn it into a space for youth education and recreation. He said BHA and SMAH are working on getting organizations involved in making that plan come to fruition.

In the meantime, Gagnon said they will try to at least get the church up to code to allow for some activities to start taking place there, even if the building isn’t yet restored.

“I’m pretty optimistic about it,” he said.

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].