Westbrook Mayor Michael Foley, left, and developer Jack Sole spoke Tuesday at the groundbreaking of an apartment complex on Seavey Street. Robert Lowell / American Journal

Ground was broken Tuesday on a 186-unit apartment complex at 35 Seavey St. in Westbrook.

The first phase, Seavey Terraces, will have 65 units with a majority of workforce housing and some market-rate units.

Developer New Ventures is partnering with the nonprofit Avesta Housing to construct the Maple Grove development on 3 1/4 acre site. The development is within walking and biking distance of the Hannaford store and downtown shops and restaurants.

New Ventures is a partnership of developer Jack Soley and builder Tim Hebert of Hebert Construction.

It couldn’t have happened without the city of Westbrook and Avesta Housing, Soley told a large gathering, including city officials, that witnessed a ceremony kicking off construction on Tuesday.

“The groundbreaking for this workforce housing development is timely, as MaineHousing, the governor’s Office of Policy Innovation & Future, and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development recently published their State of Maine Housing Production Needs Study, which found that Maine needs between 76,400 to 84,300 new housing units to support Mainers and Maine businesses, now and in the future,” a press release from New Ventures said.

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