The 525-acre site, which once supported a nearby harness racing track, is seeing a different type of competition as businesses jockey to develop the mixed-use complex.
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Like harness racers driving down the stretch, some companies big and small are racing to The Downs, a new mixed-use development in Scarborough.
Crossroads Holdings Inc., formed by two sets of local brothers to buy the 525-acre site for $6.7 million in January 2018, aims to create a “live-work-play” community with residential, commercial and recreational features, including 10 miles of new trails.
Linking the residential development on the Route 1 side and the commercial development toward Payne Road, a town center near the existing Scarborough Downs racetrack and grandstand will include a sports complex and a public park. That will serve as a new anchor for the 20,000-population town.
“It’s a legacy thing for us, right in our home town,” says Crossroads Holdings principal Roccy Risbara. “This is going to take a long time, but I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made, and the big users we’ve attracted so far will help us set the tone and the pace of the project.”
That includes Bedford, Mass.-based ESG Associates, which plans to put up a sports complex that could include pools, ice rinks and indoor and outdoor fields, as per an agreement signed last year. Still to be decided are whether the town will opt to become the lead tenant with a community center inside or build a standalone facility on its own.
As for the Scarborough Downs racing facility leased by the Terry family that sold the property to Crossroads in 2018, Risbara says they’ll continue to operate it in 2020 with an option to continue in 2021.
“Structurally it’s sound, but rehabbing it will be a challenge,” he says of the grandstand. They’ll figure that out later as WEX Inc. proceeds on its planned $50 million operations center near the track and grandstand.
In January, the Portland-based financial technology provider signed a deal to have the center built to accommodate its growing workforce. The facility, which will consolidate six South Portland offices under one roof and include a cafeteria, fitness center and access to nearby day care, will hold up to 1,200 employees.
‘Scalable modern facility’
Safet Cobaj, WEX’s vice president for global real estate, told Mainebiz that the company had put out a request for proposals for the development of an operational campus in greater Portland, and that the criteria consisted of location and accessibility, expansion potential, availability of nearby housing, amenity space and overall cost.
“The objective is to combine our operational group in a scalable modern facility,” he says. “We received multiple offers from local developers, but were excited with the overall benefits and advantages of the Crossroads proposal to develop a facility within The Downs.”
Risbara says he’s confident that WEX’s tentative agreement with Scarborough on a $2.25 million tax break for the company will get the green light on Feb. 19, saying: “It is important the town does that for WEX.”
He also noted that some WEX employees and their families are already living in the Downs’ residential area, which has attracted a wide cross section of people from millennials to retirees.
“As we develop restaurants and shops,” he predicts, “there could be very little reason for residents to go out on Route 1 or Haggis Parkway or the Turnpike.” Meanwhile in the Innovation Park, two industrial lots out of 54 total are under construction — for South Portland-based AV Technik and Scarborough-based educational materials provider Scorebuilders.
Another nine lots are under contract as the real estate community watches with interest.
“I’m most intrigued by the turnkey nature of the pad sites they are offering in the Innovation District,” says Justin Lamontagne of NAI The Dunham Group.
“These developers are making it easy by creating ready-to-go pad sites, already cleared and leveled, stubbed for utilities, and with DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] approvals in hand.”
But he says it remains an expensive endeavor, saying the success and activity so far is indicative of the limited industrial inventory statewide. “Some businesses have no choice but to build new and are willing to pay a premium to grow their companies.”