February 20, 2006
Downtown establishment | Commercial developers eye Scarborough for growth, and the town says it's ready for them
By Douglas Rooks
When Ram Properties decided last month to relocate from its downtown Portland office to a commercial site on Route One in Scarborough, it reflected a significant change in perception of this one-time resort and bedroom town. Today, Scarborough is newly ambitious about establishing its commercial and industrial base and, eventually, a downtown area. Ram, founded by Howard Goldenfarb in 1971, is best known as the firm that spurred the revival of the Old Port district, taking derelict buildings and redeveloping them at a time when most had given up on the area. By this summer, though, Ram's home won't be the brick buildings of Portland's densely populated commercial district, but an 18,000-square-foot commercial building inspired by classic New England barn architecture that now houses Centervale Antiques, a retailer and wholesaler founded by former Unum Vice President Steve Center.
Ram immediately will convert about 5,000 sq. ft. of the building for its own use, as Centervale Farm closes its retail outlet to concentrate on wholesaling and antique shows. Once Centervale is out, Ram will take over the entire space and look for tenants to fill the building. The 6.5-acre property also has room for expansion, and may be suitable for office space as well as retail.
It was Todd Goldenfarb, Howard's son, who led the site search that ended in Scarborough. Among the concerns that led the firm to choose Scarborough were the fact that Ram had earlier sold its headquarters at 121 Middle St. in Portland and that parking was tight in downtown Portland.
Still, it's unlikely that a decade or two ago Scarborough would have made the cut in the selection process, despite its proximity to downtown Portland. The community was then seen as little more than a bedroom community with only small-scale commercial development along Route One. Recently, though, Scarborough has begun fulfilling its ambition to create a community and business center of its own, independent of Portland to the north and Saco to the south.
Infrastructure improvements have included an expanded connection to the Maine Turnpike that replaced a seasonal exit for the Scarborough Downs racetrack, and the town's development of Haggis Parkway for industrial and commercial uses. And business owners increasingly are looking at commercial opportunities in the town. "Steve Center did a great job bringing something new to Scarborough in terms of design sophistication, and we'd like to build on what he accomplished," said Howard Goldenfarb.
Ram's move is one of a large number of transactions, recent and planned, that could establish a new image and direction for Scarborough, already one of Maine's largest and fastest growing towns. Among them are Maine Medical Center's Scarborough campus, which recently received state approval for a $27.3 million expansion of its surgery center on Route One, and plans for a new retail complex at the Orion Center in the town's Oak Hill section. As proposed by Dead River Properties, the Orion Center would replace a small industrial park on 16 acres with a 65,000-square-foot anchor store and several restaurants, stores and possibly a supermarket. In between these bigger projects are smaller developments, including new Mercedes, BMW and Land Rover dealerships.
Combine this commercial activity on Route One with big-box retail projects such as the $60 million Scarborough Gallery project planned near the Maine Mall, and you might expect to find concern within the community about the potential impact of such growth. But opposition so far isn't apparent in Scarborough, despite the town's sometimes contentious politics and recent outbreaks of resistance to residential growth.
That may be because the town has a concerted plan to expand its commercial base, with the goal of maintaining at least 25% of its tax valuation in that category, according to Town Manager Ron Owens. Commercial development, as called for by the town's new comprehensive plan, will be focused along Route One, leaving the historic shoreline largely untouched and allowing much less dense development in the more rural area west of the Maine Turnpike, Owens said. "Twenty years from now, I think you'll find that Scarborough will be a very different place," he said.
Route One turnaround
Much of that transformation will come in the form of redevelopment, said Joe Ziepniewski, who's been the town planner for 20 years. "There isn't a lot of open space along Route One, so we're seeing new kinds of businesses and new kinds of projects." He cited the new Mercedes dealership, which replaced a scattering of small businesses that included a building contractor and a nail salon.
And in that process, town officials and real estate developers are looking to the example set in 1992 with the construction of Centervale Farm. The retail center was a significant addition for Scarborough, Howard Goldenfarb said. "It showed the community the potential for better design, and how new construction could improve the quality of the Route One corridor," he said.
Not long afterward, the town began working on its first design standards for commercial construction, which are credited with changing the character of an area once known for its strip malls and mom-and-pop businesses. The standards regulated signage, setbacks, entrances and landscaping to provide a more human-scale appearance to new developments. A new tire store, for instance, locates the work bays away from the main road, making it look more like an office building than a garage.
While each large project must pass muster in its own right, Owens said that Route One appears to have adequate capacity for considerable expansion in the Oak Hill area, where the town's municipal center, completed in 1998, and many of the new commercial projects are focused. Previously, the question of capacity was an issue in Dunstan, on the town's southern edge, where neighbors strenuously opposed Dunstan Crossing, billed as Maine's first "Great American Neighborhood" project when it was proposed in 2002 by local developers John and Elliott Chamberlain. (The developers and the town eventually settled on a scaled-down proposal, which is currently before the Scarborough planning board.)
It's easy to see why Scarborough residents may be more concerned about residential than commercial growth. In 1990, there were 12,518 people living in town. Then, population expansion took off, soaring to 16,970 in 2000 ˆ an increase of more than 35% in a decade. That pace made it the fastest growing community in Cumberland County, along with Falmouth, and Owens said that the latest estimates put the population at nearly 20,000, which would make Scarborough the ninth largest municipality in Maine, ahead of Augusta, Westbrook and Waterville.
Ironically, many of the same issues that were contested in the Dunstan Crossing case ˆ more concentrated commercial and residential development, "walkable" neighborhoods, and reduced numbers of trips by car ˆ are now established in ordinances and a new comprehensive plan that should be finished later this year. That plan includes an effort to make Oak Hill the downtown of the future, calling for up to five housing units per acre, up from four currently, and for the integration of highway entrances, sidewalks and public amenities.
If the commercial redevelopment takes place as planned, Scarborough will have the urban center it has lacked; in the 19th century, the area contained a half-dozen villages, like Oak Hill and Dunstan, whose names remain but whose buildings have largely vanished. That center, in turn, will create the balance between commercial and residential development that Scarborough is seeking. Paul Lesperance, the town assessor, said the town's total taxable valuation is $3.26 billion, of which $613 million ˆ or about 20% ˆ is commercial or industrial property. Non-commercial property is classified as $1.8 billion in "residential" ˆ year-round homes ˆ- and $864 million of "recreation/water" ˆ the largely seasonal homes that dot the ocean shoreline.
Keeping at least 25% of the valuation in commercial property ˆ which Owens said was a floor, not a ceiling ˆ is important to keeping the tax rate down, and fits the town's goals for diversity among employers. "We aren't dependent on one big mill or factory, and we also don't want to be dependent on one class or taxpayers," he said.
Mixing it up
Keeping up the town's commercial valuation has been a challenge, Lesperance said, because residential property has appreciated faster than commercial property throughout southern Maine (though the addition of the $60 million Scarborough Gallery should help tip the balance). Ron Owens added that taxpayers appreciate the importance of maintaining a commercial base, and that residents generally support development that doesn't create a greater demand for more expensive town services such as schools. Since most of the proposed new commercial development is redevelopment, it also has access to existing roads and utilities.
That said, a greater mix of development could include housing located over stores and offices. "We believe that diversity is good, that a diverse community is a stronger community," Owens said.
If creation of a downtown and tiers of commercial and residential development sounds like a tall order, it can be achieved ˆ but only over time, said Andy Hyland, a principal at Port City Architecture in Portland. Hyland lives in Falmouth, and has served on town planning groups there as well as assisting in the design of Falmouth Village, four new buildings at a key intersection of Route One that has created a visual center, and developing retail hub, for Portland's smaller northern neighbor. Hyland said communities like Falmouth and Scarborough have the opportunity, because of strong growth pressure, to remake themselves into something closer to the traditional downtown.
These new urban centers are defined in part by the ability of people to live close to work and shopping, with pedestrian and bicycle paths complementing public transportation to reduce the amount of daily driving. The goal is to put buildings, not vehicles, back at the center of the built environment. "You can't expect it to happen all at once," Hyland said. "It definitely takes time. At first, many people may not notice the changes, but at some point you can see the difference."
After the success of Falmouth Village in attracting both local and national retailers such as Books Etc. and Staples, the town has pushed ahead with more ambitious standards, reducing setbacks to bring buildings closer to the street, adding sidewalks and connections between parking lots, and ˆ in the latest village plan ˆ requiring second stories for new buildings, which would likely include offices and apartments. Looking south, Hyland said Scarborough's work revising and updating ordinances to reflect a new vision for the town seems to have poised it to direct growth and not just react to it.
The addition of a real estate firm like Ram Properties is a natural fit with that vision, said Ziepniewski, the town planner. Ram's 1987 redevelopment of the Atlantic House, an old hotel on the Scarborough waterfront near Black Point, into condominiums brought respect for its work, and an expectation of innovative ideas for other properties in town. But Howard Goldenfarb added that change always has a price ˆ one often noticed most by those who've lived in town the longest. "In every coastal town in Maine, there are people who can remember when there were no traffic lights," he said. "Every town has had to deal with growth."
But based on what he's seen from Scarborough's planning effort, one that he says balances the plans of developers and the needs of residents, Goldenfarb expects his company to be equally comfortable with the fit. "We're still five minutes away from Portland, the rent is less and there's a lot more space," he said. "We're looking forward to being here for a long time to come."
Ram immediately will convert about 5,000 sq. ft. of the building for its own use, as Centervale Farm closes its retail outlet to concentrate on wholesaling and antique shows. Once Centervale is out, Ram will take over the entire space and look for tenants to fill the building. The 6.5-acre property also has room for expansion, and may be suitable for office space as well as retail.
It was Todd Goldenfarb, Howard's son, who led the site search that ended in Scarborough. Among the concerns that led the firm to choose Scarborough were the fact that Ram had earlier sold its headquarters at 121 Middle St. in Portland and that parking was tight in downtown Portland.
Still, it's unlikely that a decade or two ago Scarborough would have made the cut in the selection process, despite its proximity to downtown Portland. The community was then seen as little more than a bedroom community with only small-scale commercial development along Route One. Recently, though, Scarborough has begun fulfilling its ambition to create a community and business center of its own, independent of Portland to the north and Saco to the south.
Infrastructure improvements have included an expanded connection to the Maine Turnpike that replaced a seasonal exit for the Scarborough Downs racetrack, and the town's development of Haggis Parkway for industrial and commercial uses. And business owners increasingly are looking at commercial opportunities in the town. "Steve Center did a great job bringing something new to Scarborough in terms of design sophistication, and we'd like to build on what he accomplished," said Howard Goldenfarb.
Ram's move is one of a large number of transactions, recent and planned, that could establish a new image and direction for Scarborough, already one of Maine's largest and fastest growing towns. Among them are Maine Medical Center's Scarborough campus, which recently received state approval for a $27.3 million expansion of its surgery center on Route One, and plans for a new retail complex at the Orion Center in the town's Oak Hill section. As proposed by Dead River Properties, the Orion Center would replace a small industrial park on 16 acres with a 65,000-square-foot anchor store and several restaurants, stores and possibly a supermarket. In between these bigger projects are smaller developments, including new Mercedes, BMW and Land Rover dealerships.
Combine this commercial activity on Route One with big-box retail projects such as the $60 million Scarborough Gallery project planned near the Maine Mall, and you might expect to find concern within the community about the potential impact of such growth. But opposition so far isn't apparent in Scarborough, despite the town's sometimes contentious politics and recent outbreaks of resistance to residential growth.
That may be because the town has a concerted plan to expand its commercial base, with the goal of maintaining at least 25% of its tax valuation in that category, according to Town Manager Ron Owens. Commercial development, as called for by the town's new comprehensive plan, will be focused along Route One, leaving the historic shoreline largely untouched and allowing much less dense development in the more rural area west of the Maine Turnpike, Owens said. "Twenty years from now, I think you'll find that Scarborough will be a very different place," he said.
Route One turnaround
Much of that transformation will come in the form of redevelopment, said Joe Ziepniewski, who's been the town planner for 20 years. "There isn't a lot of open space along Route One, so we're seeing new kinds of businesses and new kinds of projects." He cited the new Mercedes dealership, which replaced a scattering of small businesses that included a building contractor and a nail salon.
And in that process, town officials and real estate developers are looking to the example set in 1992 with the construction of Centervale Farm. The retail center was a significant addition for Scarborough, Howard Goldenfarb said. "It showed the community the potential for better design, and how new construction could improve the quality of the Route One corridor," he said.
Not long afterward, the town began working on its first design standards for commercial construction, which are credited with changing the character of an area once known for its strip malls and mom-and-pop businesses. The standards regulated signage, setbacks, entrances and landscaping to provide a more human-scale appearance to new developments. A new tire store, for instance, locates the work bays away from the main road, making it look more like an office building than a garage.
While each large project must pass muster in its own right, Owens said that Route One appears to have adequate capacity for considerable expansion in the Oak Hill area, where the town's municipal center, completed in 1998, and many of the new commercial projects are focused. Previously, the question of capacity was an issue in Dunstan, on the town's southern edge, where neighbors strenuously opposed Dunstan Crossing, billed as Maine's first "Great American Neighborhood" project when it was proposed in 2002 by local developers John and Elliott Chamberlain. (The developers and the town eventually settled on a scaled-down proposal, which is currently before the Scarborough planning board.)
It's easy to see why Scarborough residents may be more concerned about residential than commercial growth. In 1990, there were 12,518 people living in town. Then, population expansion took off, soaring to 16,970 in 2000 ˆ an increase of more than 35% in a decade. That pace made it the fastest growing community in Cumberland County, along with Falmouth, and Owens said that the latest estimates put the population at nearly 20,000, which would make Scarborough the ninth largest municipality in Maine, ahead of Augusta, Westbrook and Waterville.
Ironically, many of the same issues that were contested in the Dunstan Crossing case ˆ more concentrated commercial and residential development, "walkable" neighborhoods, and reduced numbers of trips by car ˆ are now established in ordinances and a new comprehensive plan that should be finished later this year. That plan includes an effort to make Oak Hill the downtown of the future, calling for up to five housing units per acre, up from four currently, and for the integration of highway entrances, sidewalks and public amenities.
If the commercial redevelopment takes place as planned, Scarborough will have the urban center it has lacked; in the 19th century, the area contained a half-dozen villages, like Oak Hill and Dunstan, whose names remain but whose buildings have largely vanished. That center, in turn, will create the balance between commercial and residential development that Scarborough is seeking. Paul Lesperance, the town assessor, said the town's total taxable valuation is $3.26 billion, of which $613 million ˆ or about 20% ˆ is commercial or industrial property. Non-commercial property is classified as $1.8 billion in "residential" ˆ year-round homes ˆ- and $864 million of "recreation/water" ˆ the largely seasonal homes that dot the ocean shoreline.
Keeping at least 25% of the valuation in commercial property ˆ which Owens said was a floor, not a ceiling ˆ is important to keeping the tax rate down, and fits the town's goals for diversity among employers. "We aren't dependent on one big mill or factory, and we also don't want to be dependent on one class or taxpayers," he said.
Mixing it up
Keeping up the town's commercial valuation has been a challenge, Lesperance said, because residential property has appreciated faster than commercial property throughout southern Maine (though the addition of the $60 million Scarborough Gallery should help tip the balance). Ron Owens added that taxpayers appreciate the importance of maintaining a commercial base, and that residents generally support development that doesn't create a greater demand for more expensive town services such as schools. Since most of the proposed new commercial development is redevelopment, it also has access to existing roads and utilities.
That said, a greater mix of development could include housing located over stores and offices. "We believe that diversity is good, that a diverse community is a stronger community," Owens said.
If creation of a downtown and tiers of commercial and residential development sounds like a tall order, it can be achieved ˆ but only over time, said Andy Hyland, a principal at Port City Architecture in Portland. Hyland lives in Falmouth, and has served on town planning groups there as well as assisting in the design of Falmouth Village, four new buildings at a key intersection of Route One that has created a visual center, and developing retail hub, for Portland's smaller northern neighbor. Hyland said communities like Falmouth and Scarborough have the opportunity, because of strong growth pressure, to remake themselves into something closer to the traditional downtown.
These new urban centers are defined in part by the ability of people to live close to work and shopping, with pedestrian and bicycle paths complementing public transportation to reduce the amount of daily driving. The goal is to put buildings, not vehicles, back at the center of the built environment. "You can't expect it to happen all at once," Hyland said. "It definitely takes time. At first, many people may not notice the changes, but at some point you can see the difference."
After the success of Falmouth Village in attracting both local and national retailers such as Books Etc. and Staples, the town has pushed ahead with more ambitious standards, reducing setbacks to bring buildings closer to the street, adding sidewalks and connections between parking lots, and ˆ in the latest village plan ˆ requiring second stories for new buildings, which would likely include offices and apartments. Looking south, Hyland said Scarborough's work revising and updating ordinances to reflect a new vision for the town seems to have poised it to direct growth and not just react to it.
The addition of a real estate firm like Ram Properties is a natural fit with that vision, said Ziepniewski, the town planner. Ram's 1987 redevelopment of the Atlantic House, an old hotel on the Scarborough waterfront near Black Point, into condominiums brought respect for its work, and an expectation of innovative ideas for other properties in town. But Howard Goldenfarb added that change always has a price ˆ one often noticed most by those who've lived in town the longest. "In every coastal town in Maine, there are people who can remember when there were no traffic lights," he said. "Every town has had to deal with growth."
But based on what he's seen from Scarborough's planning effort, one that he says balances the plans of developers and the needs of residents, Goldenfarb expects his company to be equally comfortable with the fit. "We're still five minutes away from Portland, the rent is less and there's a lot more space," he said. "We're looking forward to being here for a long time to come."
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