Chinburg expects spring groundbreaking on Saco Island mill rehab
Chinburg Properties, which plans to invest $18 million to refurbish Building No. 4 on Saco Island into living and commercial space, expects a May or June groundbreaking on the property if a hearing scheduled with Saco’s planning board Tuesday night goes as planned.
“Our next step is a planning board hearing in Saco [Tuesday night],” Matt Assia, director of asset management for the Newmarket, N.H.-based developer, said at the Biddeford + Saco Chamber of Commerce + Industry annual meeting at the Ramada Saco on Tuesday. “We need to amend the site plan that was approved in 2007.” The 2007 plan for which the company gained approval covered both the Saco Island and East Side projects.
“We feel confident the total process in Saco will go quickly,” he said, adding that Chinburg expects a 14- to 16-month construction cycle for the mill project. The historical mill, which originally manufactured textiles when it was built in the 1880s, later housed tannery and other businesses before being abandoned in 1983.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Craig Pendleton said the building, which is missing most of its windows and has fallen into disrepair over the 30-plus years it has stood unused, will be turned from an eyesore that is known for its broken windows into a modern complex with retail and living spaces.
Assia said plans call for the 237,600-square-foot project to be turned into 150 studio-, one- and two-bedroom apartments on its upper two floors and for the first and second floors to include some apartments, but mostly commercial space. The building was sold for $600,000, according to the Mainebiz Real Estate Insider.
“Folks have expressed interest for a restaurant,” Assia said. “And the market here is accepting of higher end apartments.”
When a chamber member questioned how the long time without windows and protection from the harsh environment has impacted the building and how Chinburg will deal with it, Assia said his company completed a similar project with lots of damage, the Newmarket Mills, in New Hampshire in 2012.
We have the past experience to do this,” he said. “We have an in-house construction firm, and it takes a lot of experience and Yankee ingenuity [to do it].”
He added, “We are trying to accentuate the character of the mill, it’s exposed brick and beams. You do as little as you can to take the history of the mill and make a new living and work environment.”
He said Chinburg prefers to heat the building with natural gas and is talking with Unitil, but if that proves to not be an option, other choices include propane or oil. Another option, which he says the company is not in the position to do now but is looking into, is geothermal, as it is used in the nearby train station.
Chinburg, founded in 1986 by Eric Chinburg, performed its first mill renovation in 1996, and since then has completed 15 mill projects. Its current portfolio includes eight properties in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
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