PHOTO An architect's rendering of The Nightingale, a workforce housing development in Portland providing 165 studio and one-bedroom apartments to tenants with low and moderate incomes

For 80 years, a seven-story brick structure has stood on Portland, Maine’s State Street as a beacon of care. How fitting that the former Mercy Hospital will continue its legacy of caring for people, thanks to its transformation into homes for local workers.

The Nightingale project is the first phase of a larger effort to redevelop the former Mercy Hospital campus. It will feature 165 studio and one-bedroom apartments affordable to tenants who are earning lower and moderate incomes. In its very walkable part of the city, the project also will incorporate small commercial retail and self-storage uses, potentially including a café and medical clinic.

“Workforce housing” enables teachers, police officers, firefighters, health care workers, and more to live near job centers, affordably. Shortening commute times gives workers more time to take care of themselves, their families, and their communities, and additional economic and environmental advantages result from people not driving long distances.