Insider Notebook: Rock Row still on track for summer phase 1 opening, developers say
Courtesy / Waterstone Properties
The building that includes an 80,000-square-foot Market Basket supermarket, at the Rock Row site in Westbrook, is nearing completion and expected to open within 90 days.
The massive Rock Row development in Westbrook is still on track, with the first phase, which includes a Market Basket supermarket, expected to open this summer, according to the developer.
Waterstone Properties also announced this week later-phase additions, including a 5,000-square-foot Chick-fil-A restaurant and a 190-unit, four-story residential complex. Rock Row, on 110 acres bordered by the Maine Turnpike, Larrabee Road and Main Street, will eventually have 1 million square feet of retail, residential and office space if things go as planned.
Josh Levy, Waterstone Properties cofounding principal, said the development is going "full speed ahead" and more announcements are expected in the coming months. The company has letters of intent or is in advanced lease negotiations with more than two dozen national retailers and leading brands, according to a Waterstone news release.
The 400-foot wide, 300-foot deep quarry at the center of the development and the focus on outdoor amenities is also a big draw, given the COVID-19 pandemic, said Levy.
“Rock Row’s outdoor, nature-inspired design and open-air streetscapes are very attractive selling points to everyone in our post-pandemic world,” said Levy. “Being in a place that embraces healthy living and the outdoors — which Rock Row certainly does — is where retailers, businesses and guests want to be as our lives get back to normal. Enclosed, interior malls and contained office parks are at a disadvantage to our open-air concept and have a very tough road ahead.”
He said the project is still on its pre-pandemic schedule. The opening of phase one, which includes an 80,000-square-foot Market Basket supermarket, is expected within 60 to 90 days.
The Chick-fil-A, a family-friendly chicken restaurant, will be the second in the state. The other one is in Bangor. It's expected to open in late 2021.
The 190 residences will be one- and two-bedroom units, and the building will include a fitness center and community room. Residents will also have access to Rock Row’s concierge service, which will provide food and restaurant deliveries, car washing and detailing, dog grooming and walking, personal event planning, dry cleaning and more.
Chick-fil-A and the residential complex will join previously signed Live Nation Maine Savings Pavilion, Market Basket, a 122-room Element Hotel, a 12-screen Cinemark Theater, Starbucks, the Paper Store, a brew and food hall run by Colicchio Consulting and other retail, dining, entertainment and office tenants in the second-largest retail and mixed-use development in New England.
Waterstone Properties bought the quarry site in 2017.
SOS Saco Bay seeks answers on jetty project
SOS Saco Bay is looking for answers a month and a half after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hosted a conference call with municipal leaders and representatives of Maine’s congressional delegation, to discuss the ongoing erosion problem at Camp Ellis in Saco.
The group wrote a letter last week to Army Corps’ Assistant Secretary R.D. James, saying, “With respect, we suggest that Army Corps field personnel should share what the plan is for moving forward. Not just with SOS Saco Bay, but especially with Maine’s newspapers and television stations.”
The 6,600-foot-long jetty as the mouth of the Saco River, made of large granite boulders, was built more than a century ago by the Corps of Engineers has increased the power of breaking waves, causing them to destroy homes and erode hundreds of feet of beach in Camp Ellis, where it's located, officials have said. The erosion has spread farther up the beach in recent years.
A proposed solution is to build a 750-foot spur on the jetty, at a cost of $26.5 million, which would be paid for by the federal government. Congress authorized the money in 2007, but it has yet to be appropriated.
A March 27 meeting was held between Army Corps and local officials on solutins for the jetty. That meeting came after a Feburary one that included Saco officials, Maine Sen. Justin Chenette, D-Saco; Maine’s state geologist, Robert Marvinney; field representatives for U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine; and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District.
David Plavin, vice president of SOS Saco Bay, said Saco’s elected leaders told his group that the conference call on March 27 had gone very well. The organization wasn't included in the call.
“We accepted that as progress," said Plavin in a news release. "But to be blunt, it’s now a month and a half later, and we haven’t heard a peep. We don’t know what’s going on."
Kevin Roche, president of SOS Saco Bay, said municipal leaders, state legislative representatives and staffers for Maine’s congressional delegation have been responsive to the local coastal communities represented by SOS Saco Bay.
“They’ve reported nothing to us, and I’m almost certain that’s because there’s nothing for them to report,” Roche said. “Congress appropriated 27 million dollars almost a decade and a half ago to deal with this problem. It’s just sitting there, and the Army Corps has done nothing with it. In my opinion it’s a poor strategy to let more time slip by, keep citizens in the dark and hope we’ll just wave the white flag.”
Woodland owners virtually focusing on outdoors
Maine Woodland Owners has transitioned the organization's in-person forest educational events to a virtual format, with several online programs set for this month.
The programs provide information on forest management, planning for a woodlot’s future, updates on invasive forest pests, the benefits of donating land, how forests play a role in addressing climate change and a question-and-answer session with a landowner relations officer from the Maine Forest Service.
“These virtual events are a way to keep woodland owners informed even during this time when we can’t gather in the woods," said Executive Director Tom Doak. "While we look forward to the time that we can once again conduct in-person events, we are proud to be able to offer this service for our members and the general public."
Maine Woodland Owners, previously Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine, provides information and technical support for Maine’s small woodland owners and has conserved more than 10,000 acres across the state. Its goal is to increase landowner engagement and long-term woodland stewardship to ensure the health of Maine's forests.
All of the virtual events are open to the public, and free of charge for Maine Woodland Owners members, with a suggested $10 donation for nonmembers. To register for any of the events visit www.mainewoodlandowners.org
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