March 19, 2007
New order | As Biddeford labors to shed its rough-and-tumble image, millions of dollars in new investment are steadily reshaping the city
By Jeffrey Bouley
Few things are as hard to shake off as a bad reputation, as Biddeford knows all too well. Even in its heyday, when it teemed with textile mill workers and its downtown bustled with activity, the town wasn't exactly known as a garden spot. Then the mills closed, and this heavily working-class, French-Canadian, Roman Catholic town became a poster child for Maine's post-industrial woes. These days, it's easy to find people in southern Maine who will readily sneer when the subject of Biddeford comes up, or offer their favorite joke poking fun at one or another of the city's maladies.
That may be about to change. Biddeford is increasingly attracting investment money, and with good reason. Located in fast-growing coastal York County, the city presents itself as an eager business-development partner, and its long-underutilized industrial spaces ˆ not to mention the spaces that haven't been developed at all ˆ are becoming more attractive to an array of commercial and residential developers. In recent years, artists ˆ often regarded as harbingers of economic renewal ˆ have fled the high rents and development pressure of downtown Portland and landed in Biddeford's more affordable old industrial buildings. In 2006 alone, Biddeford attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, both downtown and in its fast-growing outskirts along the Maine Turnpike.
"I deal with professionals ˆ real estate brokers, developers, bankers and such ˆ outside of Biddeford, and in recent years the buzz [about the city] has been positive," says Bob Dodge, Biddeford's economic development director. "We have a Massachusetts developer that just recently plunked down $50 million on Route 111. You don't tend to see that in backwater towns that are dying."
The $50 million Dodge refers to is for the creation of Biddeford Crossing, a 520,000-square-foot shopping center ˆ roughly half the size of the Maine Mall ˆ off Exit 32 on the Maine Turnpike that held its grand opening in November. The complex, anchored by Target and Lowe's, could host as many as 30 retail stores and restaurants. An additional $50 million in new commercial and retail development has arrived recently in the Exit 32 area, including Kohl's, Home Depot, KeyBank, Comfort Suites, and Wal-Mart. There's also the $100 million expansion underway by Southern Maine Medical Center and the University of New England; the $10 million development of the Thacher Brook Business Park; and a $10 million redevelopment of the mixed-use North Dam Mill on the edge of downtown.
Dodge seems to have good reason to believe Biddeford is on the brink of reversing a decades-long trend of hemorrhaging local money to the greater Portland area.
He's not alone. Doug Sanford, who's developing the North Dam Mill to include an array of commercial, retail and residential uses, is bullish on the city's prospects. His enthusiasm is understandable, considering what's at stake for him, but it's also rooted in an on-the-ground reality. "It's been a long time coming, but some of us saw the potential and are seeing that potential turn into something," Sanford says. "This is Biddeford's time to shine, and no one is willing to waste the momentum going on right now."
Downtown promise ˆ and MERC
While development has been heavy in recent years on the city's outskirts, civic leaders and business owners have also been looking to revitalize Biddeford's downtown area. City money in the form of façade improvement grants, for example, have helped efforts, but the city hasn't driven revitalization work alone. Instead, Dodge says, it worked to bring businesses together in the area so that they could help bring about change, too. Dodge notes that there are typically 12 to 15 vacancies in downtown Biddeford at any given time right now, or about 10% of the city's storefront spaces ˆ a vast improvement from 10 or 20 years ago, he says.
"We have 500,000 sq. ft. of office, retail and restaurant space downtown, and that's a big commercial zone," he notes. "The mills, if fully developed, would add 1.2 million sq. ft. of potential retail, dining, office, light industrial, residential and live-work space to that."
City officials and developers are looking to rehabbed mills as potential anchors to draw more people downtown, much like the big-box stores along Route 111 draw people to smaller businesses in Biddeford Crossing and other outlying shopping centers. "That could particularly be the case with the North Dam Mill, which is drawing in a lot of different tenants, including various retail businesses, a coffee shop and more artistic/light industrial businesses like design firms and high-end furniture makers," says Rachael Weyand, executive director of Heart of Biddeford, a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization made up of concerned residents, property owners and business owners working to improve Biddeford's downtown. "Doug Sanford has a lot of ideas, and there's still a lot of space for him to expand, with plans for possible restaurants, live-work space and office rentals."
Particularly valuable in the ongoing renovation of North Dam Mill could be the addition of residential units, which is part of Sanford's development plan. "Upper story" residential units would be a huge boon to downtown, Weyand says; if people live over businesses or in buildings that house businesses, they will tend to shop at them, she notes. Just across the river in Saco, for example, redevelopment of the mill on Saco Island has already brought in 90 condominium units, as well as a deli, various professional offices, a Social Security Administration office, classrooms for the University of Maine's University Center extension program and more. And as in Biddeford, there are still more mill buildings yet to develop.
Two other notable mill redevelopment projects near downtown Biddeford ˆ Lincoln Mill and Riverdam Millyard ˆ are less likely to be anchors, but still could play a pivotal role in downtown development. Dodge and Weyand look forward to the possibility that Lincoln Mill might become condo housing, serve as a dorm for the University of New England in Biddeford, or work as a combination of the two. As for Riverdam Millyard, it has not only a number of light industrial tenants but also a large and growing artist community ˆ some of them refugees from Portland ˆ which has helped bring a certain level of energy and hipness to a downtown that was already diverse, with several ethnic restaurants that would be equally at home in Portland.
The mills even helped play a role in bringing at least one new business to downtown ˆ the artist supply store Art Mart. Owner Keith Christy, who owns the Art Mart on Congress Street in Portland, says that much of the reason he decided to locate his second store in downtown Biddeford, after leaving his space in Kennebunk recently, was to be close to the artists who were choosing to live and work in the city, particularly in Riverdam and North Dam, which are both within walking distance of his new store.
"I think the arts are really starting to take off there, especially as artists have been forced to leave Congress Street [in Portland]," Christy says. "The musicians and artists come in and make an area funky and popular, and then the money moves in and they get priced out. In that way, downtown Biddeford really reminded me of Congress Street when I opened my store there 10 years ago. Just like in Portland, I feel like I'm getting in early just as things are beginning to blossom."
Pam Francis, who in November bought Bebe's Burritos, a Mexican-themed restaurant downtown, agrees that the energy in the area is palpable. She had lived off and on in Old Orchard Beach, a 10-minute drive from Biddeford, for a decade, and until recently continued to think of Biddeford in terms of its less-than-desirable reputation.
"I never would have dreamed of living here, much less opening a business in Biddeford," she admits. "But I began to meet people here and saw how involved the local business owners were, and met with Rachael at Heart of Biddeford and was very attracted to what was going on here. I have a background in community economic development, and what I see happening here is very exciting."
Still, work remains to be done. Two prominent storefronts remain empty, and the city is studying solutions to what it believes is a parking problem. And then there's the elephant in the room ˆ the Maine Energy Recovery Co., or MERC, the trash incinerator located in downtown Biddeford. MERC, with its associated burnt-cookie smell and trucks rumbling through downtown, has won Biddeford the sobriquet "Trash Town, USA," and is widely regarded as the single largest deterrent to economic revitalization in Biddeford and Saco.
The continued presence of the facility downtown has been a source of contentious and divisive debate in recent years, but there are indications that the anti-MERC movement may be gaining momentum. The city has been discussing since last fall whether to renew its MERC contract with Casella Waste Systems of Vermont, which owns the facility, and MERC opponents ˆ many of whom are business owners in Biddeford ˆ have become increasingly vocal and creative in offering alternatives to burning trash in their downtown. The city has until June 29 to decide if it will enter into another contract with Casella.
"There is no getting around the fact that MERC is an issue for people," says Steven Sobol, owner of the Riverdam Millyard, which is adjacent to the MERC facility. "But I don't think it is an obstacle to development in any way. To say that would be to invalidate all that I've been able to do here and all that so many others have done. [The mill renovation projects on] Saco Island really aren't that much farther from MERC than I am, and millions of dollars are being poured into those."
How the outskirts feed downtown
A couple years ago, Dodge says, data was published showing that the Maine Mall's sales per square foot were in the top 10 of shopping malls nationwide. Knowing there was that kind of business for a mall 20 miles from a highly populated portion of York County, both the city of Biddeford and the developer of Biddeford Crossing, Packard Development of Newton, Mass., realized there was a significant opportunity to do business in Biddeford while keeping local shoppers close to home ˆ and drawing customers from throughout York County.
Biddeford Crossing and other developments along Route 111 and Exit 32 were proactive attempts to stem that outward flow of money, says Sue Hadairis, vice president of community relations, development and planning for Southern Maine Medical Center ˆ a facility located just a couple miles from Exit 32 that is currently undergoing a $26 million expansion of its emergency department, largely because of development and population growth in the area. "I think the development along Route 111 is a real tribute to the city of Biddeford because it's a highly visible result of their efforts to actively seek new business," says Hadairis. "Biddeford is very knowledgeable about the types of businesses that will benefit the community in terms of new job growth and tax benefits, and they look long-term, not just short-term."
One of the benefits of all this outlying development is a chance for the city to channel resulting tax revenue back to downtown ˆ the place where Biddeford began, and the place where the city's most compelling reinvention is happening. "We have a TIF for [the Biddeford Crossing] area that is set up not to give tax money back to the developers, but rather to invest in the city," Dodge says. "Although there are a few people who have accused us otherwise, the developments on Route 111 will be paying full-value taxes, and we won't be giving them rebates. We want money coming back into Biddeford to invest in other projects, like improvements to downtown."
That may be about to change. Biddeford is increasingly attracting investment money, and with good reason. Located in fast-growing coastal York County, the city presents itself as an eager business-development partner, and its long-underutilized industrial spaces ˆ not to mention the spaces that haven't been developed at all ˆ are becoming more attractive to an array of commercial and residential developers. In recent years, artists ˆ often regarded as harbingers of economic renewal ˆ have fled the high rents and development pressure of downtown Portland and landed in Biddeford's more affordable old industrial buildings. In 2006 alone, Biddeford attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, both downtown and in its fast-growing outskirts along the Maine Turnpike.
"I deal with professionals ˆ real estate brokers, developers, bankers and such ˆ outside of Biddeford, and in recent years the buzz [about the city] has been positive," says Bob Dodge, Biddeford's economic development director. "We have a Massachusetts developer that just recently plunked down $50 million on Route 111. You don't tend to see that in backwater towns that are dying."
The $50 million Dodge refers to is for the creation of Biddeford Crossing, a 520,000-square-foot shopping center ˆ roughly half the size of the Maine Mall ˆ off Exit 32 on the Maine Turnpike that held its grand opening in November. The complex, anchored by Target and Lowe's, could host as many as 30 retail stores and restaurants. An additional $50 million in new commercial and retail development has arrived recently in the Exit 32 area, including Kohl's, Home Depot, KeyBank, Comfort Suites, and Wal-Mart. There's also the $100 million expansion underway by Southern Maine Medical Center and the University of New England; the $10 million development of the Thacher Brook Business Park; and a $10 million redevelopment of the mixed-use North Dam Mill on the edge of downtown.
Dodge seems to have good reason to believe Biddeford is on the brink of reversing a decades-long trend of hemorrhaging local money to the greater Portland area.
He's not alone. Doug Sanford, who's developing the North Dam Mill to include an array of commercial, retail and residential uses, is bullish on the city's prospects. His enthusiasm is understandable, considering what's at stake for him, but it's also rooted in an on-the-ground reality. "It's been a long time coming, but some of us saw the potential and are seeing that potential turn into something," Sanford says. "This is Biddeford's time to shine, and no one is willing to waste the momentum going on right now."
Downtown promise ˆ and MERC
While development has been heavy in recent years on the city's outskirts, civic leaders and business owners have also been looking to revitalize Biddeford's downtown area. City money in the form of façade improvement grants, for example, have helped efforts, but the city hasn't driven revitalization work alone. Instead, Dodge says, it worked to bring businesses together in the area so that they could help bring about change, too. Dodge notes that there are typically 12 to 15 vacancies in downtown Biddeford at any given time right now, or about 10% of the city's storefront spaces ˆ a vast improvement from 10 or 20 years ago, he says.
"We have 500,000 sq. ft. of office, retail and restaurant space downtown, and that's a big commercial zone," he notes. "The mills, if fully developed, would add 1.2 million sq. ft. of potential retail, dining, office, light industrial, residential and live-work space to that."
City officials and developers are looking to rehabbed mills as potential anchors to draw more people downtown, much like the big-box stores along Route 111 draw people to smaller businesses in Biddeford Crossing and other outlying shopping centers. "That could particularly be the case with the North Dam Mill, which is drawing in a lot of different tenants, including various retail businesses, a coffee shop and more artistic/light industrial businesses like design firms and high-end furniture makers," says Rachael Weyand, executive director of Heart of Biddeford, a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization made up of concerned residents, property owners and business owners working to improve Biddeford's downtown. "Doug Sanford has a lot of ideas, and there's still a lot of space for him to expand, with plans for possible restaurants, live-work space and office rentals."
Particularly valuable in the ongoing renovation of North Dam Mill could be the addition of residential units, which is part of Sanford's development plan. "Upper story" residential units would be a huge boon to downtown, Weyand says; if people live over businesses or in buildings that house businesses, they will tend to shop at them, she notes. Just across the river in Saco, for example, redevelopment of the mill on Saco Island has already brought in 90 condominium units, as well as a deli, various professional offices, a Social Security Administration office, classrooms for the University of Maine's University Center extension program and more. And as in Biddeford, there are still more mill buildings yet to develop.
Two other notable mill redevelopment projects near downtown Biddeford ˆ Lincoln Mill and Riverdam Millyard ˆ are less likely to be anchors, but still could play a pivotal role in downtown development. Dodge and Weyand look forward to the possibility that Lincoln Mill might become condo housing, serve as a dorm for the University of New England in Biddeford, or work as a combination of the two. As for Riverdam Millyard, it has not only a number of light industrial tenants but also a large and growing artist community ˆ some of them refugees from Portland ˆ which has helped bring a certain level of energy and hipness to a downtown that was already diverse, with several ethnic restaurants that would be equally at home in Portland.
The mills even helped play a role in bringing at least one new business to downtown ˆ the artist supply store Art Mart. Owner Keith Christy, who owns the Art Mart on Congress Street in Portland, says that much of the reason he decided to locate his second store in downtown Biddeford, after leaving his space in Kennebunk recently, was to be close to the artists who were choosing to live and work in the city, particularly in Riverdam and North Dam, which are both within walking distance of his new store.
"I think the arts are really starting to take off there, especially as artists have been forced to leave Congress Street [in Portland]," Christy says. "The musicians and artists come in and make an area funky and popular, and then the money moves in and they get priced out. In that way, downtown Biddeford really reminded me of Congress Street when I opened my store there 10 years ago. Just like in Portland, I feel like I'm getting in early just as things are beginning to blossom."
Pam Francis, who in November bought Bebe's Burritos, a Mexican-themed restaurant downtown, agrees that the energy in the area is palpable. She had lived off and on in Old Orchard Beach, a 10-minute drive from Biddeford, for a decade, and until recently continued to think of Biddeford in terms of its less-than-desirable reputation.
"I never would have dreamed of living here, much less opening a business in Biddeford," she admits. "But I began to meet people here and saw how involved the local business owners were, and met with Rachael at Heart of Biddeford and was very attracted to what was going on here. I have a background in community economic development, and what I see happening here is very exciting."
Still, work remains to be done. Two prominent storefronts remain empty, and the city is studying solutions to what it believes is a parking problem. And then there's the elephant in the room ˆ the Maine Energy Recovery Co., or MERC, the trash incinerator located in downtown Biddeford. MERC, with its associated burnt-cookie smell and trucks rumbling through downtown, has won Biddeford the sobriquet "Trash Town, USA," and is widely regarded as the single largest deterrent to economic revitalization in Biddeford and Saco.
The continued presence of the facility downtown has been a source of contentious and divisive debate in recent years, but there are indications that the anti-MERC movement may be gaining momentum. The city has been discussing since last fall whether to renew its MERC contract with Casella Waste Systems of Vermont, which owns the facility, and MERC opponents ˆ many of whom are business owners in Biddeford ˆ have become increasingly vocal and creative in offering alternatives to burning trash in their downtown. The city has until June 29 to decide if it will enter into another contract with Casella.
"There is no getting around the fact that MERC is an issue for people," says Steven Sobol, owner of the Riverdam Millyard, which is adjacent to the MERC facility. "But I don't think it is an obstacle to development in any way. To say that would be to invalidate all that I've been able to do here and all that so many others have done. [The mill renovation projects on] Saco Island really aren't that much farther from MERC than I am, and millions of dollars are being poured into those."
How the outskirts feed downtown
A couple years ago, Dodge says, data was published showing that the Maine Mall's sales per square foot were in the top 10 of shopping malls nationwide. Knowing there was that kind of business for a mall 20 miles from a highly populated portion of York County, both the city of Biddeford and the developer of Biddeford Crossing, Packard Development of Newton, Mass., realized there was a significant opportunity to do business in Biddeford while keeping local shoppers close to home ˆ and drawing customers from throughout York County.
Biddeford Crossing and other developments along Route 111 and Exit 32 were proactive attempts to stem that outward flow of money, says Sue Hadairis, vice president of community relations, development and planning for Southern Maine Medical Center ˆ a facility located just a couple miles from Exit 32 that is currently undergoing a $26 million expansion of its emergency department, largely because of development and population growth in the area. "I think the development along Route 111 is a real tribute to the city of Biddeford because it's a highly visible result of their efforts to actively seek new business," says Hadairis. "Biddeford is very knowledgeable about the types of businesses that will benefit the community in terms of new job growth and tax benefits, and they look long-term, not just short-term."
One of the benefits of all this outlying development is a chance for the city to channel resulting tax revenue back to downtown ˆ the place where Biddeford began, and the place where the city's most compelling reinvention is happening. "We have a TIF for [the Biddeford Crossing] area that is set up not to give tax money back to the developers, but rather to invest in the city," Dodge says. "Although there are a few people who have accused us otherwise, the developments on Route 111 will be paying full-value taxes, and we won't be giving them rebates. We want money coming back into Biddeford to invest in other projects, like improvements to downtown."
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