Two years after a fire caused extensive damage throughout its waterfront facility, Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding has completed its 44,000-square-foot mixed-use marina redevelopment project on Camden’s inner harbor.
The new working waterfront facility was rebuilt to offer spaces for locals, visitors and employees, in addition to seasonal yachters.
The $15 million improvement project was financed through Bangor Savings Bank and included tearing down a hodgepodge of old buildings totaling 31,400 square feet, a new 33,000-square-foot marine service complex and rebuilding an 11,000-square-foot facility. The buildings are elevated to accommodate rising sea levels.
“I want it to be open and inviting to the community and to visitors,” Lyman-Morse’s president, Drew Lyman, told Mainebiz last year when construction was in progress.
Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, a Thomaston yacht builder that also offers technology and fabrication services, bought the Camden yard in 2015 to expand its presence on the midcoast and give it a foothold in the busy harbor. It upgraded infrastructure, added services and increased the employee base to more than 50 today.
But a fire on a June night in 2020 caused extensive smoke damage throughout the yard’s main facility along the yard’s waterfront acreage.
Lyman viewed the situation as an opportunity to build “a 21st-century example” of modern working waterfront infrastructure designed to serve both the customer base and the local community.
Added features include two year-round restaurants, Salt Wharf Restaurant & Rooftop Bar and Barren’s Restaurant & Distillery; a shop called Archive; shared workspace rental spaces; overnight accommodations for boat crews with a shared lounge and dining area; employee workshops; a 120-foot rig shop; a chandlery; a customer lounge with showers, day offices and laundry; and 20-foot-wide harborwalk.