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Courtesy / Marshall Communications
Waterville dentist Anna O'Keefe talks to Mike Ouellet, of Ouellet Construction, at the future site of O'Keefe's dental practice at FirstPark in Oakland. A groundbreaking was held Friday.
A Waterville dental practice broke ground Friday for a new building at FirstPark in Oakland that will double the practice's space, more than a year after the deal was struck for the property.
The building at 93 FirstPark Drive, which is Lot 15 in the park, is the first new construction start in the 285-acre commerce and technology this year, after a record sales year in 2020.
Anna O'Keefe is moving her dental practice from 325 Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville, and will double the size of her business with the 5,200-square-foot space.
The building, being constructed by Brunswick-based Ouellet Construction, will be designed to protect staff and patients from airborne viruses, and is expected to open in the fall.
O'Keefe said that the practice has been working on establishing new space for "a number of years," and signed the initial paperwork on March 13, 2020. "To see it come to fruition is pretty amazing." O'Keefe said.
As the project got delayed by the pandemic, she said her team and patients have shown over the past year how resilient they are.
She said she's more comfortable about the move now than she would've been without the pandemic. "We've done something arguably harder over the past year," she said in a video news conference.
While the groundbreaking may have been delayed while the practice coped with the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for the building's design have benefited. It will include ventilation equipment that will escalate the amount of hourly air changes and provide better filtration of recirculated air.
The practice worked with Design Ergonomics, A.E. Hodsdon Engineering and Androscoggin Bank to create the plans and financing for the new facility, according to a news release about the project.
Jim Dinkle, FirstPark's executive director, said that it's gratifying to help retain and grow local businesses. He said FirstPark has had a lot of interest from businesses in Maine, as well as out of state, who, like the dental practice, are attracted by the location and the fact that building lots are pre-permitted, streamlining the approval process."
Brendan O'Keefe, the practice's business manager, said, "We have outgrown our current location in Waterville, so when the opportunity came up to build a state-of-the-art facility for our staff and patients inside FirstPark, we jumped at the chance."
He said that the fact the site is pre-permitted, combined with the location, made it a good fit. "We were able to design and build our own facility that will be easy to access off I-95," Brandan O'Keefe said. The practice can also begin accepting new patients with the larger building, he said.
The O'Keefes, both Colby College graduates, along with partner Dr. John Poirier, said they plan to use the new site to grow the business and create jobs, including hiring another dentist, additional front office staff and a hygienist.
Four properties in the park, three of them developed, were sold last year, and Dinkle said there is increasing interest in its 11 undeveloped lots. KRDA hired SVN | The Urbanek Group Advisors as its commercial and industrial real estate broker in early 2020.
Earlier this year, the park authority said it is considering expanding FirstPark drive north past T-Mobile at 133 FirstPark Drive, which would open lots 19-22 for development. Dinkle said they are looking into grant funding for the project, which is estimated at $1 million.
In February, a social media campaign was launched to reach more than 149,000 businesses and individuals in Italy, China, France, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand and specific areas of the United States. The ad was intended to drive traffic to the FirstPark website from businesses looking to expand or relocate in Maine, FirstPark officials said.
FirstPark is also in the planning stages for a reshoring campaign — luring businesses back to the U.S. from overseas — to attract more businesses to relocate to the business park.
Dinkle said the park has a lot to offer prospective tenants — it is on Oakland's sewer system, has fiber-optic cable, is right off Exit 130 of Interstate 95 and is in a Foreign Trade Zone. The shovel-ready lots are lined by new sidewalks, even in the undeveloped west campus area.
Aside from the offices of the Kennebec Regional Development Authority, which oversees the park, there are 16 businesses in the park, including a T-Mobile call center that has been the park's anchor business since 2005.
Other tenants are Inland Foot & Ankle; Inland Orthopaedics; Inland Wound Care; Teresa J. Farrington, D.O.; Maine Eye Doctors Bell & Parks; Perry Fitts Boulette & Fitton CPAs; Gateway Financial Partners; Maine Medical Partners – Oakland Specialty Care; MaineGeneral Orthopaedics; Waterville Community Dental Center; Twin Pines Family Medicine; SurgiCare; MaineGeneral Urology; Bioenergetic Healing.
Last year, FirstPark made the final bond payment to the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, paying off the mortgage on the park's development in 1999. The park is overseen by the Kennebec Regional Development Authority, which represents the 24 towns and cities in Kennebec and Somerset counties that partnered on the park's creation.
With the mortgage on the $3.5 million loan to create the park paid off, this is the first year member towns will get their annual assessment back in full. The park was slow to develop after the recession caused by 9/11 and the 2007-10 Great Recession, but the park as gained traction the past two years.
"Each time a new business locates to FirstPark, it also benefits the 24 communities by creating revenue for those cities and towns to use and invest back into their communities," Dinkle said.
The town of Rome will vote June 8 on whether to withdraw from the agreement. If residents agree to withdraw, it would involve a legal process and not be automatic. Residents at the March 12 annual town meeting voted 178-75 to withdraw, but the vote was moot because no public hearing was held. A public hearing was held April 5 on the June 8 vote.
The other towns and cities that make up the authority are Anson, Benton, Canaan, China, Clinton, Cornville, Fairfield, Farmingdale, Gardiner, Hartland, Manchester, Norridgewock, Oakland, Palmyra, Pittsfield, Readfield, Sidney, Smithfield, Solon, Starks, St. Albans, Waterville and Winslow.
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