The Railyard development on Langdon Avenue in Concord’s South End is nearing completion, but not yet ready for new tenants. 

In downtown, the former New Hampshire Employment Security building, now renamed the Isabella apartments, is nearing completion, with tenants signing leases this week to move into the 64 units, priced at market rate. For a studio rent is $1,700, while one-bedrooms begin at $2,100 and two-bedrooms start at $2,750. 

The two long-awaited projects will bring 160 new apartments to Concord, where rental vacancy rates are less than 1%. More are in the works: With an onslaught of development, the city could see over 1,000 units come online in the next few years.

Within the construction process, labor shortages have added hurdles for developers across the city, said Matt Walsh, Concord’s deputy city manager of development. 

“There’s a real limited number of subcontractors that are in the marketplace that contractors can rely upon,” he said. “Throughout the development world, this lack of labor has been slowing projects down.” 

Dakota Partners, a Massachusetts developer, began accepting applications for its first units at the Railyard in February. City-approved plans for the development include nine buildings with nearly 200 apartments when completely built. 

Of the nine buildings, three are slated to be complete in the first phase this fall – one that will house 12 units, another with 36 and the final with 48 – along with a clubhouse that is currently purposed as a leasing center. 

Building A, the smallest of the three, is nearing its certificate of occupancy, according to Walsh. 

 To receive a certificate of occupancy, several city departments must sign off on the project – from the planning department to ensure that the developer followed all approved permits, to the fire department with life safety code requirements. 

“It’s a multi-department, multi-division sign-off process, which is how all certificates work in the city,” he said. 

The buildings will offer one- and two-bedroom units restricted to residents who make 30 to 60 percent of the area’s median income. Ten units will also be rented to clients from the Concord Coalition to End Homeless, through the use of a project-based voucher – meaning that when a tenant moves out, the rental subsidy will remain with the unit. 

With median home prices hitting $500,000 in New Hampshire, Dakota Partners advertises the Railyards as meeting “the demand for safe and affordable housing in Concord,” on their website. 

Dakota Partners is also behind a 98-unit project on Old Loudon Road in East Concord, by Walmart.

To apply for an apartment at the Railyards, visit therailyardnh.com.

For the Isabella, visit theisabellaapartments.com.