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Photo / Maureen Milliken
Piscataquis County may be "boring" to some, but it wasn't to house buyers — one of many stories featured in 2019 in the Mainebiz Real Estate Insider.
One of the great things about covering real estate development in Maine is the wide-ranging variety of stories. And many of the best Real Estate Insider features from 2019 have something in common — people taking the reins and making things happen in their community.
Maine's a small state and the ripple effects of things that may seem insignificant can be great. And, as they'll tell you in Piscataquis County, it's never boring.
From Island Falls to Kennebunkport — and a lot of stops in between — here's a baker's dozen of some favorite Real Estate Insiders, one from each month and an extra from October.
As Brunswick's Cooks Corner area continues to develop, much of it a domino effect from the ongoing development at Brunsick Landing, there are also repercussions six miles northwest, at the Topsham Fair Mall.
When Kim's Hallmark moved from the Cook's Corner Mall to Topsham Fair Mall to make way for a new Hannaford, it was the latest of a long line of Maine-owned businesses to locate at the always-busy mall off Interstate 295.
Mall co-owner John Larson said focusing on Maine businesses, including Hannaford, Renys, Lamey-Wellehan, Day's Jewelry and others, has been a recipe for success. And as the shopping area around it has expanded and grown, there's a collaborative spirit among property owners.
“We feel the overall success of the entire area will benefit everyone,” he said. “As the saying goes, ‘a rising tide lifts all the boats’ and we have a fairly sizable vessel in this particular harbor.”
Anecdotal information is great, but even better is crunching the numbers. Rob Edgerly, of Maine Life Real Estate in Scarborough has been breaking down "Maine's hottest" towns for single-family home sales for the past four years.
Why, you may wonder, is Standish the hottest town? Which towns are cooling off? Which are heating up? I sat down with Edgerly to go through the list, which included 34 hot and not-so-hot towns.
His then-prediction for 2019? “I don’t think it’s going to stop,” he said. “We’ve got something really special.”
Dover-Foxcroft, at 4,000 residents the biggest town in Piscataquis County, was named "Most Boring in Maine" by a website early last year. Apparently, no one told homebuyers that. The county didn't make Edgerly's hottest towns list — the volume of home sales in the county of less than 17,000 residents (about the same size as Waterville) didn't meet the minimum threshold. But in relative terms, the county was the hottest area in the state for single home sales in 2018, with an increase of 21.5% in 2018 over 2017.
“It’s a great place to raise kids,” said Donna Jones, of Dewitt-Jone Realty in Milo. “The schools are good, and they can get outside to play. I guess it’s boring if you want to go the mall."
Jeff Chaisson and Josh Michaud, who own Expenet Technologies, a computer and technology company, in Wilton, opened a craft brewery on Main Street in April. Before the 31-seat tasting room was even officially open, they were getting visitors from as far awas as Machias.
It's just the latest development project for the pair in the Franklin County town's evolving downtown.
They moved Expenet, which was in the building that now houses the brewery, to 343 Main St., the former Masonic Hall. That building also is home to Wilton Hardware, which Chaisson owns. He also owns 430 Main St., the former hardware store building, which now features Life’s Perks Coffee Co.
Chaisson said the week the brewery opened that it already felt different from their other ventures. “People just seem really happy we’re here,” he said. “And they’re really happy to be here.”
When the starch mill in Island Falls closed in 2009, it was the final blow to an economic decline that had started several years before for the Aroostook County town with a year-round population of 900. Businesses have left, leaving most of the storefronts in Main Street's clapboard buildings vacant.
The town knows that bringing business back is a long haul, not a quick fix, but its residents are willing to do the work, starting with a feasibility study for a sewer system, and several other infrastructure and other plans in the works.
"We are very positive," said Town Manager Jutta Beyer. "We know it can work. We just need to do something, just to get it going."
A development project doesn't have to be a big one to have an impact. In Washington County, several organizations collaborated on providing a 560-square-foot house for a homeless veteran in Cherryfield. Those involved said the project will lead to two houses next year and possibly a group of affordable, energy-efficient houses in the future.
The house was built by students in Massachusetts, but the project will include local students in the future, said Bobbi Ann Harris, housing services director for Downeast Community Partners, a nonprofit that provides quality of life resources in Hancock and Washington counties. The plan is eventually to build an entire complex of very small energy-efficient homes to help ease the affordable housing crisis Downeast.
"We want to make sure this one is a success, see how it works out," she said. "We're really excited."
Celeste Bard and Patric Santerre, owners of Arcadia designworks in Portland, have forged a conneciton to Santerre's hometown over the years.
The company drew plans for Millinocket's public pool bath house more than a decade ago. More recently, Arcadia has designed renovation of 230 Penobscot Ave., the former Miller's department store, which is is being renovated into coworking and retail space by nonprofit Our Katahdin. Arcadia is also designing the $1.5 million renovation of the MIllinocket Public LIbrary.
They were spending so much time making the three-hour drive north, Bard and Santerre this year bought a building in Millinocket that they are developing into a live-work space.
"People are really working hard to make a positive impact and we felt [buying the building] was an opportunity to contribute," Bard said. "It was kind of an aligning of planets that brought us, really drew us, to that part of Maine."
When University of Maine at Augusta opened the first student residence in the college's 54-year history, it wasn't on the Augusta campus, but a 10-minute drive down Interstate 95, at Stevens Commons, in Hallowell.
The 36-student Stevens Hall is part of the developing mixed-use campus that was once a girls reform school, then state offices, before being vacant for more than a decade.
The move was a win for both UMA and Mastway Development, of Hallowell, which will own the building and is leasing it to the college. Mastway, owned by Matt Morrill, bought the nine-building, 63-acre complex on Winthrop Street in Hallowell in 2015 for $215,000, and Stevens hall is the third building to be developed on the site.
"People were patient," Morrill said of the time it's taken to develop the property. "It's turning out really nice, and I think people are seeing that."
The former Wok Inn restaurant at 1207 Forest Ave. in Portland was vacant for six years, but all the sudden this summer, the 4,926-square-foot building was in demand. Owner BVM Portland LLC signed a lease with Sweet Dirt Inc., a registered medical cannabis dispensary and grower based in Eliot, after weighing a number of potential tenants.
The owner "was inundated" with interest, said Jennifer Small, of Malone Commercial Brokers, who represented the landlord.
While cannabis companies have been seeking property for the past five years, state and municipal actions this year, have sparked retail activity in places that were not considered hot properties before.
"It was just waiting for the right tenant," Small said. "It's a unique opportunity to bring some use and revitalization for the building."
Every year in November, Maine Preservation releases a list of "endangered historic places." The idea is to get the buildings, their importance, and the possibilities for development, out there, said Greg Paxton, executive director of the Yarmouth-based nonprofit.
At least for the endangered class of 2018, it's working. Two of the five buildings, in the year since they were named, moved from endangered to "in progress," there were possible solutions for two more and there was news in two of the general categories — working waterfronts and historic dams.
Historic property conservation and redevelopment, Paxton said, can be an economic catalyst for a community. "We have 39 million people visit the state ever year — a community can make a substantial difference, it can be an attraction for positive economic impact."
While Kennebunkport conjures images of tourists crowding its quaint streets and stately seaside homes, those who live there know it's more than that. And they're afraid of losing the foundation of the town if those work work there, or young families, can't afford to live there.
Residents have formed a nonprofit to look at housing solutions, starting with a six-house development on town property. They plan for more in the future.
"It's about the future of the town," said Patrick Briggs, a selectman and president of the Kennebunkport Heritage Housing Trust. But. he added, "It's not just a Kennebunkport thing. It's a model that can be replicated in the rest of the state to address the need for affordable housing."
Who doesn't love an ugly duckling story? Especially when the evolution into swan happens seemingly overnight. The former Portland public works building at 82 Hanover St., in West Bayside, is 100% occupied two years after its sale to developer Tom Watson and his partners in 82 Hanover LLC.
Tenants already established or with space under construction include The Whiskey Barrel country bar; a tasting room owned by Banded Brewing, of Biddeford; Wilson County Barbecue, a collaboration between the owners of the Ri Ra Irish Pub and Watson; Batson River Social Club, owned by Kennebunk's Batson River Distillery.
And it's not just about eating and drinking. The building also includes Cyclebar, Fortune Teller Tattoo, Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering, Knickerbocker Group interior design, Exterus Business Furniture and the offices of Port Property.
"It truly is a case of 'build it and they will come,'" broker Anthony Struzziero, of Porta & Co, who represents the owner, told Mainebiz.
It's hard to miss the vacant building at 99 Western Ave. in Augusta. It looks like two large houses — maybe a Victorian and a Colonial — connected by a large brick office building, with a bunch of smaller additions tacked on. Looming close to the street, it's obviously vacant.
Real estate broker and property owner Jim Pepin, who works a block down the street at Sprague & Curtis, bought the building in December and plans to redevelop it, possibly into 52 one-room and studio apartments to help ease the Capital City's housing crunch.
The building for a short time in the '60s housed the University of Maine at Augusta before it moved to north Augusta. Its architectural history is kind of a mystery. But it's most recent history is a sad one that Pepin hopes to turn around.
"It's going to take a lot of work, whatever I do," he said. "But I'm very excited. This is a true win-win situation, it's taking a blighted property and doing something with it."
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