Courtesy / Joshua Langlais
Miller’s current clinic is at Union + Co. in Bath.
Updated: May 2, 2022
Birthing center in Bath aims to meet growing demand
Courtesy / Wild Tea Cup Photography
Bath midwife Morgan Miller is setting up a new birthing center.
Plans are in the works to open a birthing center in Bath that’s designed to meet growing customer demand.
With the acquisition of 94 Richardson St., Soft Corner Midwifery will increase its clinical space and add a birthing suite.
Soft Corner Midwifery is owned by licensed midwife Morgan Miller, who has grown the business from one person to nine in the last two years.
“We’re creating a cozy, home-like, inviting environment,” Miller said of renovations that are now underway.
The off-market transaction was brokered by Mandy Reynolds of Magnusson Balfour Commercial & Business Brokers at Keller Williams Realty.
The purchase price was $420,000. The seller was Kennebec Meat Co., which originally intended to occupy the 2,164-square-foot building and had begun renovations to accommodate its meat and provisions business. But earlier this year, Kennebec Meat Co. owner Scott Raymond decided to instead buy 215 Water St., in Bath's Historic Downtown District, and open the store there.
Reynolds was a broker on that deal as well.
Pandemic timing
Soft Corner Midwifery is a reproductive care clinic that has been serving clients since 2020 from an office suite at Union + Co., a membership-based co-working, private-office and events venue at 48 Front St. in downtown Bath.
“We pretty quickly outgrew our space,” Miller said.
Miller has been working in the field of reproductive health care nearly a decade. A California native, worked in Oregon at a birthing center before moving to Maine, where her life partner is from, in March 2020.
“It was a strange time to be moving to the area and setting up a practice,” she said. “But that was our goal.”
She began renting space for her clinic in Cape Elizabeth. Shortly afterward, she found Union + Co. and began renting private offices there.
Despite the pandemic, she said, it was an opportune time to get established because there was a provider shortage in the field of reproductive health, particularly for clients seeking care other than hospitals.
The business offers full-spectrum reproductive care, including home birthing. The new facility will included a birthing center.
Growing practice
As her practice grew and she took on staffers and connected with independent contractors, it became apparent that she’d need more space. She knew she wanted to stay in the midcoast as a central area to serve a large demographic that includes Greater Portland and the central and midcoast regions.
The search began when she reached out to municipal planners in Bath and surrounding towns.
“Everyone said, ‘This sounds great,’” she said. “That started our hunt for finding the perfect place, which was a little tricky. Real estate is a little hard to come by and we have particular needs for our facility. It just happened that Bath had the place.”
Search parameters included accessibility. As a clinic with a birthing center, “You don’t want be four hours in the woods without cellphone service,” she said.
Natural and comfortable
Renovations are pretty straightforward, said Miller, who is designing the space.
“A birth center is not a hospital,” she said. The style will include features such as natural finishes and comfortable furnishings. “The retrofitting is similar to what one would do for more of a home renovation versus a clinical site renovation.”
Courtesy / Joshua Langlais
Renovations are underway on Soft Corner Midwifery’s new birthing center in Bath.
There will also be exam and treatment rooms and a tub for water births. Space will be available for other providers such as nutritionists, doulas, massage therapists and acupuncturists.
The goal is to be moved in by this fall at the latest.
Financing for both the purchase and renovation was provided by Gorham Savings Bank and through the U.S. Small Business Administration 504 program, which provides loans advantageous to borrowers for certain commercial purposes in combination with a regular bank loan.
The renovations are expected to cost about $70,000.
The birth center will be open for other providers to use as well.
“The community has been really eager for more of the holistic integrative care model,” she said.
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