March 21, 2005
Betting on Biddeford | Developers hope to transform two former mills downtown
By Sean Donahue
Developer Doug Sanford has an affection for old buildings. Rather than building new projects, he's spent 20 years buying and rehabilitating old structures ˆ mostly small apartment buildings and commercial spaces ˆ in downtown Biddeford. So in 2004, when he toured the former Biddeford Textile mill that dominates the city's lower Main Street, he saw what he describes as the opportunity of a lifetime.
Though more than 100 years old, the 360,000-square-foot space had been a functioning textile mill until 2001, making it structurally sound and mechanically up-to-date. Then there were the intangibles: rows of large windows overlooking the Saco River; original wood beams and floors in good condition; an open floor plan and a location near both an Amtrak station and I-95. Sanford has envisioned developing housing on the mill's top floor, light industrial or professional spaces in other parts of the building, and a small retail and restaurant community at street level.
While all of those possibilities remain on the table, Sanford hasn't rushed into any decisions. After buying the building last March from Sunbeam Corp. for an undisclosed price and spending the next year cleaning the space and removing old equipment, he's now ready to start a formal planning process. That slow pace, he says, isn't just to help him decide on the best mix of uses ˆ it also will help him determine what the city and neighbors want to see at the mill. "The community has to embrace this project," says Sanford. "The community has to say 'We're both going after the same thing, so we're going to work to help you get there.'"
Sanford's project is just one high-profile mill redevelopment that Biddeford officials and residents are watching right now. In January, Deer Isle resident Steven Sobol bought the Riverdam Millyard, a 330,000-square-foot complex just up the river, and last year a group of investors led by Saco resident Sam Zaitlin announced plans to buy a 400,000-square-foot mill building on Saco Island, with plans to lease space to biotechnology and education tenants (as of mid-March, the group was still negotiating terms of the deal). Because the brick mills dominate Biddeford's downtown, their reuse could be a major factor in a revitalization process that shows other signs of stirring: A year ago, local merchants and property owners formed the Heart of Biddeford program, modeled on the Main Street Maine program, to foster the growth of retail, residential and entertainment options downtown.
To these developers and local merchants, the odds for a downtown Biddeford renaissance seem favorable given the city's location between Portland and Portsmouth, N.H. But after watching for years as other communities in York County have boomed, they've realized they can't just wait for redevelopment to cross the city line. Instead, many in Biddeford are looking for ways to link separate projects under the broader goal of downtown revitalization. And they'd like to get the city more directly involved. "If we focus on a couple of key things, and get a little more help and funding from the city, we can completely open the gates as far as development in downtown Biddeford is concerned," says Rachael Weyand, who joined Heart of Biddeford as program director in January.
For their part, Biddeford's mill developers see potential models in Lewiston and Brewer. Both cities were instrumental in helping plan and fund portions of large mill projects, such as Solo Properties' Island Point development in Lewiston and developer Michael Stern's proposed mixed-use development at Brewer's former Lincoln Pulp and Paper mill ("Reviving the riverfront," Feb. 7). In those cases, though, public-private partnerships were made easier by the fact that the cities owned part or all of the sites being redeveloped.
Still, Biddeford already has taken steps to foster downtown development, says Economic Development Director Bob Dodge. Nearly two years ago, the city implemented long-overdue zoning changes that allow for mixed-use development in the mills. The city also has pledged to give Heart of Biddeford $20,000 annually for the next three years. And Dodge says the city is prepared to use resources such as community development block grants for infrastructure improvements and tax-increment financing in certain cases.
Downtown merchants and property owners, who've seen the city extend such attention to recent retail developments along Route 111, hope projects in the city's center will receive similar treatment. But Mayor Wallace Nutting, who has met with mill developers and helped form the Heart of Biddeford group, says he's committed to helping bring what he calls the city's underutilized resources back to life. "It's one of the reasons I ran for mayor ˆ I was tired of hearing jokes about my home town," says Nutting. "Revitalizing downtown is the thrust of what we're trying to do. I think that balances against the development we have happening out on Route 111."
A long to-do list
Like Doug Sanford at the Biddeford Textile mill, Steven Sobol was impressed by the potential he saw in the Riverdam Millyard, a sprawling structure located across from the controversial Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash incinerator (see "Smokestack lightning," p. 34). It, too, offered historical character, a mix of potential uses and unparalleled views of the Saco River. But unlike the Biddeford Textile mill, Riverdam wasn't empty ˆ the mill came with 30 tenants, ranging from artists occupying small offices to light industrial users such as Eastern Bag Connection, which cleans and recycles nylon construction bags.
Building from that mix of tenants, who occupy about a third of the 330,000-square-foot mill, Sobol hopes to fill the remainder of the space with artists, craftspeople and light-industrial or commercial users ˆ a post-industrial take on the old industrial mill. "This mill should be a living museum to the mills' history, filled with people who are creating or producing things," Sobol says.
Sobol's got a lot of work ahead of him, however, before he can begin leasing new spaces. The Riverdam Millyard had fallen into disrepair under previous landlords; it sports water-damaged walls and ceilings, and broken windows are covered in plastic sheeting. Since purchasing the building in January for $945,000, Sobol has spent most of his time removing trash and debris from the mill ˆ 30 tons in all. Now, his challenge is to bring the structure and electrical systems up to fire code.
A complete renovation of Riverdam, including what Sobol admits are "shoot-the-moon" ideas such as a passenger elevator, would cost $1.4 million. Still, as he embarks on the first phase of the necessary repairs, Sobol says he's interested in ways the city or other community organizations can get involved in the process. His first step was to apply to the Saco-Biddeford Area Economic Development Corp. for a $750,000 loan, which is pending. "A loan can help get me on my feet," says Sobol. "I can build from there and go after other sources of funding later."
Meanwhile, because the Biddeford Textile mill is in good shape, Doug Sanford could easily start leasing space for industrial or warehouse uses. In fact, he's already signed up a few such tenants, but only on month-to-month leases while he tries to develop a master plan for the site. He's talking with architects, engineers and other professionals with more experience tackling large, mixed-use redevelopments who could become partners in the project. And this spring he'd like to host design charettes with community members to plan potential uses.
However the mix shakes out, though, he anticipates making a big investment. Renovation costs to develop housing units would run at least $100 per sq. ft., he figures. And even though the building's electrical system is in good shape, Sanford is concerned about having to replace the heating system, which still is connected to the central steam plant that heats both his mill and the WestPoint Stevens mill next door.
But he already knows there will be one big hindrance to any kind of development: parking. The mill's small parking area doesn't offer enough space to accommodate the hundreds of cars that a commercial, retail and residential facility would attract. Since downtown merchants have long complained about Biddeford's parking situation, Sanford wonders whether the city could come up with a solution. "I need the city to offer [tax increment financing] for a parking garage," says Sanford. "This development would be a big part of downtown."
Learning from Lewiston
The potential impact of mill redevelopment on downtown Biddeford hasn't gone unnoticed at City Hall. Bob Dodge is particularly interested in seeing whether plans include affordable and mid-priced housing for area workers, who've long been squeezed by York County's housing price gains.
Having a new cadre of downtown residents would go a long way toward creating the vitality that merchants and city officials would like to see, says Dodge. To that end, the city likely would consider creating a TIF district around the mills, he says, assuming that development projects match community goals. But, first, city officials need to see a concrete proposal. "If Doug pulls together a great package of proposals and the funding gap is $2 million for parking or something, would the city of Biddeford be willing to TIF that? I think clearly that would be very appealing to our elected officials and to the community at large," he says.
That's exactly how the process worked in Lewiston earlier this winter, when developer Travis Soule proposed redeveloping a mill building along the Androscoggin into a retail and residential complex. Soule's company, Solo Properties, wanted to take on the project, but was concerned about the site's limited road access. So Soule went to the city with a rough development plan and asked whether he could get assistance with road and other infrastructure improvements ˆ help, he said, that would make it just a little less risky for him to develop the buildings.
Solo ended up with a deal that put $7.5 million in city money toward the infrastructure, and, if the project goes smoothly, the city offered the firm the chance to redevelop a second mill nearby. "You've got to identify particular things you need help with; you can't just go to the city and say, 'What are you going to do for me?'" says Soule.
Bringing specific requests to city officials also is a goal of the Heart of Biddeford group. By working with local merchants to identify high-priority projects or specific areas where businesses need help, Weyand expects to report back to City Hall with ideas that help bring the amorphous topic of "downtown revitalization" into sharper focus.
And even though the group's focus is the downtown retail district, Weyand also is talking with Sobol and Sanford about their projects. Coordinating efforts ˆ or at least communicating ˆ makes sense, she says, since new residential, commercial and arts activity in the mills would spill over to the entire downtown. "The activities start to feed off each other," says Weyand. "We want that kind of urbanism here."
Talk of a urbanized, revitalized Biddeford leads both developers and city officials to consider longer-term possibilities, such as knocking through a section of mill, named the "Great Wall of Pepperell" after the mills' nineteenth-century owner, Pepperell Manufacturing, that runs for blocks along Main Street. Such a move would physically link the mill complexes with downtown shopping and could make the riverfront a community resource, with parks and walking trails.
But before a riverfront park or anything else is built, mill developers have to meet their immediate goals. Sobol is focused on getting Riverdam Millyard up to code so he can lease out at least another 30,000 sq. ft. of space, the amount he needs to break even on the mill's operating costs. Sanford still needs to settle on the right mix of uses for the Biddeford Textile mill, and knows that any assistance the city may propose must be approved by the city council.
For that reason, Sanford says it will probably be three years before he realizes the potential he sees in the vacant mill. "This is a big project," he says, "and these things have a lot of moving parts."
Though more than 100 years old, the 360,000-square-foot space had been a functioning textile mill until 2001, making it structurally sound and mechanically up-to-date. Then there were the intangibles: rows of large windows overlooking the Saco River; original wood beams and floors in good condition; an open floor plan and a location near both an Amtrak station and I-95. Sanford has envisioned developing housing on the mill's top floor, light industrial or professional spaces in other parts of the building, and a small retail and restaurant community at street level.
While all of those possibilities remain on the table, Sanford hasn't rushed into any decisions. After buying the building last March from Sunbeam Corp. for an undisclosed price and spending the next year cleaning the space and removing old equipment, he's now ready to start a formal planning process. That slow pace, he says, isn't just to help him decide on the best mix of uses ˆ it also will help him determine what the city and neighbors want to see at the mill. "The community has to embrace this project," says Sanford. "The community has to say 'We're both going after the same thing, so we're going to work to help you get there.'"
Sanford's project is just one high-profile mill redevelopment that Biddeford officials and residents are watching right now. In January, Deer Isle resident Steven Sobol bought the Riverdam Millyard, a 330,000-square-foot complex just up the river, and last year a group of investors led by Saco resident Sam Zaitlin announced plans to buy a 400,000-square-foot mill building on Saco Island, with plans to lease space to biotechnology and education tenants (as of mid-March, the group was still negotiating terms of the deal). Because the brick mills dominate Biddeford's downtown, their reuse could be a major factor in a revitalization process that shows other signs of stirring: A year ago, local merchants and property owners formed the Heart of Biddeford program, modeled on the Main Street Maine program, to foster the growth of retail, residential and entertainment options downtown.
To these developers and local merchants, the odds for a downtown Biddeford renaissance seem favorable given the city's location between Portland and Portsmouth, N.H. But after watching for years as other communities in York County have boomed, they've realized they can't just wait for redevelopment to cross the city line. Instead, many in Biddeford are looking for ways to link separate projects under the broader goal of downtown revitalization. And they'd like to get the city more directly involved. "If we focus on a couple of key things, and get a little more help and funding from the city, we can completely open the gates as far as development in downtown Biddeford is concerned," says Rachael Weyand, who joined Heart of Biddeford as program director in January.
For their part, Biddeford's mill developers see potential models in Lewiston and Brewer. Both cities were instrumental in helping plan and fund portions of large mill projects, such as Solo Properties' Island Point development in Lewiston and developer Michael Stern's proposed mixed-use development at Brewer's former Lincoln Pulp and Paper mill ("Reviving the riverfront," Feb. 7). In those cases, though, public-private partnerships were made easier by the fact that the cities owned part or all of the sites being redeveloped.
Still, Biddeford already has taken steps to foster downtown development, says Economic Development Director Bob Dodge. Nearly two years ago, the city implemented long-overdue zoning changes that allow for mixed-use development in the mills. The city also has pledged to give Heart of Biddeford $20,000 annually for the next three years. And Dodge says the city is prepared to use resources such as community development block grants for infrastructure improvements and tax-increment financing in certain cases.
Downtown merchants and property owners, who've seen the city extend such attention to recent retail developments along Route 111, hope projects in the city's center will receive similar treatment. But Mayor Wallace Nutting, who has met with mill developers and helped form the Heart of Biddeford group, says he's committed to helping bring what he calls the city's underutilized resources back to life. "It's one of the reasons I ran for mayor ˆ I was tired of hearing jokes about my home town," says Nutting. "Revitalizing downtown is the thrust of what we're trying to do. I think that balances against the development we have happening out on Route 111."
A long to-do list
Like Doug Sanford at the Biddeford Textile mill, Steven Sobol was impressed by the potential he saw in the Riverdam Millyard, a sprawling structure located across from the controversial Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash incinerator (see "Smokestack lightning," p. 34). It, too, offered historical character, a mix of potential uses and unparalleled views of the Saco River. But unlike the Biddeford Textile mill, Riverdam wasn't empty ˆ the mill came with 30 tenants, ranging from artists occupying small offices to light industrial users such as Eastern Bag Connection, which cleans and recycles nylon construction bags.
Building from that mix of tenants, who occupy about a third of the 330,000-square-foot mill, Sobol hopes to fill the remainder of the space with artists, craftspeople and light-industrial or commercial users ˆ a post-industrial take on the old industrial mill. "This mill should be a living museum to the mills' history, filled with people who are creating or producing things," Sobol says.
Sobol's got a lot of work ahead of him, however, before he can begin leasing new spaces. The Riverdam Millyard had fallen into disrepair under previous landlords; it sports water-damaged walls and ceilings, and broken windows are covered in plastic sheeting. Since purchasing the building in January for $945,000, Sobol has spent most of his time removing trash and debris from the mill ˆ 30 tons in all. Now, his challenge is to bring the structure and electrical systems up to fire code.
A complete renovation of Riverdam, including what Sobol admits are "shoot-the-moon" ideas such as a passenger elevator, would cost $1.4 million. Still, as he embarks on the first phase of the necessary repairs, Sobol says he's interested in ways the city or other community organizations can get involved in the process. His first step was to apply to the Saco-Biddeford Area Economic Development Corp. for a $750,000 loan, which is pending. "A loan can help get me on my feet," says Sobol. "I can build from there and go after other sources of funding later."
Meanwhile, because the Biddeford Textile mill is in good shape, Doug Sanford could easily start leasing space for industrial or warehouse uses. In fact, he's already signed up a few such tenants, but only on month-to-month leases while he tries to develop a master plan for the site. He's talking with architects, engineers and other professionals with more experience tackling large, mixed-use redevelopments who could become partners in the project. And this spring he'd like to host design charettes with community members to plan potential uses.
However the mix shakes out, though, he anticipates making a big investment. Renovation costs to develop housing units would run at least $100 per sq. ft., he figures. And even though the building's electrical system is in good shape, Sanford is concerned about having to replace the heating system, which still is connected to the central steam plant that heats both his mill and the WestPoint Stevens mill next door.
But he already knows there will be one big hindrance to any kind of development: parking. The mill's small parking area doesn't offer enough space to accommodate the hundreds of cars that a commercial, retail and residential facility would attract. Since downtown merchants have long complained about Biddeford's parking situation, Sanford wonders whether the city could come up with a solution. "I need the city to offer [tax increment financing] for a parking garage," says Sanford. "This development would be a big part of downtown."
Learning from Lewiston
The potential impact of mill redevelopment on downtown Biddeford hasn't gone unnoticed at City Hall. Bob Dodge is particularly interested in seeing whether plans include affordable and mid-priced housing for area workers, who've long been squeezed by York County's housing price gains.
Having a new cadre of downtown residents would go a long way toward creating the vitality that merchants and city officials would like to see, says Dodge. To that end, the city likely would consider creating a TIF district around the mills, he says, assuming that development projects match community goals. But, first, city officials need to see a concrete proposal. "If Doug pulls together a great package of proposals and the funding gap is $2 million for parking or something, would the city of Biddeford be willing to TIF that? I think clearly that would be very appealing to our elected officials and to the community at large," he says.
That's exactly how the process worked in Lewiston earlier this winter, when developer Travis Soule proposed redeveloping a mill building along the Androscoggin into a retail and residential complex. Soule's company, Solo Properties, wanted to take on the project, but was concerned about the site's limited road access. So Soule went to the city with a rough development plan and asked whether he could get assistance with road and other infrastructure improvements ˆ help, he said, that would make it just a little less risky for him to develop the buildings.
Solo ended up with a deal that put $7.5 million in city money toward the infrastructure, and, if the project goes smoothly, the city offered the firm the chance to redevelop a second mill nearby. "You've got to identify particular things you need help with; you can't just go to the city and say, 'What are you going to do for me?'" says Soule.
Bringing specific requests to city officials also is a goal of the Heart of Biddeford group. By working with local merchants to identify high-priority projects or specific areas where businesses need help, Weyand expects to report back to City Hall with ideas that help bring the amorphous topic of "downtown revitalization" into sharper focus.
And even though the group's focus is the downtown retail district, Weyand also is talking with Sobol and Sanford about their projects. Coordinating efforts ˆ or at least communicating ˆ makes sense, she says, since new residential, commercial and arts activity in the mills would spill over to the entire downtown. "The activities start to feed off each other," says Weyand. "We want that kind of urbanism here."
Talk of a urbanized, revitalized Biddeford leads both developers and city officials to consider longer-term possibilities, such as knocking through a section of mill, named the "Great Wall of Pepperell" after the mills' nineteenth-century owner, Pepperell Manufacturing, that runs for blocks along Main Street. Such a move would physically link the mill complexes with downtown shopping and could make the riverfront a community resource, with parks and walking trails.
But before a riverfront park or anything else is built, mill developers have to meet their immediate goals. Sobol is focused on getting Riverdam Millyard up to code so he can lease out at least another 30,000 sq. ft. of space, the amount he needs to break even on the mill's operating costs. Sanford still needs to settle on the right mix of uses for the Biddeford Textile mill, and knows that any assistance the city may propose must be approved by the city council.
For that reason, Sanford says it will probably be three years before he realizes the potential he sees in the vacant mill. "This is a big project," he says, "and these things have a lot of moving parts."
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