The town of Camden has received two proposals for the redevelopment of a 3.5-acre industrial site at 116 Washington St., a longtime industrial site that went through a lengthy brownfields cleanup in recent years.
Entrepreneur Michael Mullins of Rockland submitted a proposal to build what would be called Tannery Park. The “industrial eco-village” would have post-and-beam structures for workshops and studios for entrepreneurs, and a barn to serve as a venue for a year-round farmer’s market and event center.
There would also be a large plaza built atop the foundation of the old mill building to house pushcart vendors for public markets, as well as outdoor events such as film screenings and a winter ice rink.
Mullins owns Cranesport LLC, a commercial real estate company and owner of a small business incubator in Camden.
A second proposal came from Joshua Benthien, CEO and partner of Northland Enterprises LLC in Portland, and Andy Jackson, a project manager and consultant who owns Dovetail Consulting LLC on Peaks Island. They proposed a Millville Apartments, which would feature 50 apartments and amenities such as a fitness room and community room. Site improvements would include new lawn area for a farmers market, new public playground if space allows and walking paths connecting Washington Street with the town’s Riverwalk.
Jackson’s previous projects have included remediation work for Huse School Apartments in Bath and Lofts at Saco Falls in Biddeford. Benthien’s previous projects have included the redevelopment of an abandoned mill building in Sanford.
The town’s planning and development director, Jeremy Martin told the select board at its meeting Tuesday that he expected to receive two more proposals by the end of Wednesday.
Camden’s original deadline for the request for proposals was Oct. 16. Martin said he extended the deadline to 4 p.m. on Oct. 21 in response to two additional developers who requested the extension.
Board members said they plan to talk about the process for evaluating the proposals at their next scheduled meeting.
Industrial site
The site is on a tree-lined, residential stretch of Washington Street.
The property’s manufacturing history goes back to 1855 with the construction of the Gould Plug and Wedge Mill. In 1887 it became the Camden Woolen Co. and employed 125 people. In 1953, the Camden Tannery Corp. took over. In 1997, it was leased to Apollo Tanning. The tannery closed in 1999 and the company applied for bankruptcy in 2000.
The town acquired the property through foreclosure in 2003 and subsequently demolished the building and cleaned up the site.
In 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a $200,000 brownfields and land revitalization grant to the town for the continued cleanup of the property. After a century heavy industrial operations, contaminants include benzoapyrene and arsenic.
The Camden Farmers’ Market operates there in the summer.
In 2019, the town began drafting a request for proposals to redevelop the site or a portion of the site. Camden residents will have the final say on redevelopment at their town meeting.
In July, Camden selectmen noted that redevelopment of the site has been of great interest to the community.
“We received a number of letters on this issue, which is not a surprise,” Selectman Taylor Benzie said during the select board’s virtual meeting at the time. “For a number of years it’s been a hot-button item, sometimes a contentious one.”
The general sentiment among board members was that redevelopment should not infringe on the farmers market and should contribute to the community good.