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May 3, 2021

Land swap is first piece of proposed 340-unit Biddeford development

an aerial view of a city with small houses, but also big shapes that denote large mill buildings a large circle encompasses a grassy area along a river while a smaller circle inside that is around a building Image / Google Maps The yellow circle is around the area of the proposed Diamond Match project, in Biddeford, while the red circle is around the Gloves Etc. building at 1 Diamond St. U.S. Route 1 runs directly to the right-hand side of the project and Main Street runs from the upper left diagonally down to the lower right. Developer Tim Harrington's Lincoln Street project is circled in green.
By Maureen Milliken

A proposed land-for-development swap between the city of Biddeford and developers Tim Harrington and Kevin Lord is the first step in a proposal that could lead to as many as 340 new apartments and condos downtown.

The developers, Tim Harrington and Kevin Lord, are asking that the city swap a vacant 9.8-acre parcel along the Saco River that once housed the Diamond National match factory, and in exchange, the developers would complete a park on the site that is the finishing piece of the city's Riverwalk.

Lord and Harrington have acquired at 1 Diamond St., 3.9 acres adjacent to the city land, and, once the city parcel is added, plan to pursue a development that would include four buildings housing both apartments and condominiums. The 1 Diamond residential project would also include Diamond Match Park, which the city first drew up a conceptual plan for 10 years ago, and reworked last year.

The development plan also hinges on Harrington and Lord acquiring another property, details of which haven't been made public. If they don't make that deal happen, they must pay the city $1 million for the city property.

The assed value of the city land is $220,000, and estimates for that development of the park are between $750,000 and $1 million according to city documents. The city also said it plans to work with developers on sewer and other infrastructure improvements.

The Biddeford City Council is taking up the land swap proposal at its Tuesday meeting after tabling it April 20. The proposal spans three zoning districts and would require contract zone approval from the Planning Board.

a drawn conceptual plan with orange buildings and greenery on a river
Courtesy / City of Biddeford
A conceptual plan provided to the Biddeford City Council shows where the buildings for the Diamond Match residential complex would go. The Gloves Etc. property acquired by the developer is at top right.

Project would develop long-vacant land

Harrington and Lord recently acquired the 1 Diamond St. building, a 12,000-square-food steel warehouse built in 1960, is known locally as "the glove factory." They are proposing to tear down the building and put up a new one on its footprint, as well as adding three other buildings and a 454-space parking garage to the site once the 9.8-acre city parcel is added.

The city parcel is undeveloped, and has been vacant for nearly 60 years. It was once the site of the Diamond National lumberyard, which burned in two fires in 1963, one of which also burned down a large part of the surrounding residential neighborhood. The property has a Main Street address, but is is behind residential properties on the street with no direct Main Street access but is accessible from Horrigan Court, at the west end.

Diamond Street is a mostly undeveloped street, now just accessible from U.S. Route 1, which is Elm Street in Biddeford, but on paper runs the length of the property to Main Street.

The city last year hired Mitchell & Associates landscape architects, of Portland, to draw up a new conceptual plan for the Diamond Match site park, which would have 1,200 feet of river frontage. The city's objective is to develop a community park that retains as much of the natural character as it can of the site, incorporating existing site features, historic remnants, natural features and reuse of existing on-site materials in a sustainable design, the plan says.

Under the agreement of the city, the city would take over and maintain the park, but it would be privately owned by the developer.

Harrington is developer of the Lincoln Mill, on nearby Lincoln Street, a 240,000 former textile mill that he is developing into 148 luxury apartments, a 33-room hotel, and restaurant and retail space. He and Lord are founders of Batson River Brewing & Distilling, in Kennebunk and Portland. 

Harrington is also partner and creative director of the Kennebunkport Resort Collection luxury hotel group, which was acquired by New York investment firm EOS Investors LLC last year. He also invested $20 million in a Southwest Harbor resort.

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4 Comments

Anonymous
December 11, 2021

How nice. The developers own the land but the city pays to maintain it. How does that make sense?

Anonymous
December 11, 2021

First thing which comes to mind after the affordability and gentrification component is traffic, my goodness traffic. On the best of days now, traffic bottlenecks in that area exist during busy periods and times when trains choke up alternate routes.

What’s the traffic mitigation plan? Especially so with development starting on the other side of the street. It always seems we hear they, whomever they are, have considered the issue. However, nothing constructive ever seems to be done about it.

I certainly hope that in addition to the development of green space, the developers have to pay a substantial portion of the traffic mitigation costs.

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