Patriot Insurance starts work at former motel site
Courtesy Patriot Insurance Co.
An architect's rendering shows what the new headquarters of Patriot Insurance Co., now under construction at the site of the former Down-East Village Motel on Route 1 in Yarmouth, will look like upon completion next fall.
YARMOUTH — After 10 months under contract, Patriot Insurance Co.’s purchase of Down-East Village Motel and Restaurant at 705 U.S. Route 1 was finalized Oct. 14.
Site prep began immediately and the company expects to be in its new headquarters in Yarmouth by October 2017.
Patriot paid $1.8 million for the property, which has since been cleared of four motel buildings, a restaurant, office and pool. Patrick Powers of Powers Real Estate represented the seller, Down East Village Inc. Roxane Cole of Roxane Cole Commercial Real Estate LLC represented Patriot.
Herb and Barbara Ferrell opened the Down-East Village in 1950, when motor hotels were booming nationwide. Their son Ed and his wife Sue eventually took over and operated the motel and restaurant until the sale.
The property, situated on seven acres bordered by Route 1 on one side and the Royal River on another, is one of the first projects to go through Yarmouth's new Route 1 Character-Based Code approval process. The code seeks to retain a pedestrian focus, traditional New England architecture and well-designed landscaping.
Patriot, a policyholder-owned mutual company, began as Patriot Mutual, a health insurance company, in 1966. In 2002, the company began writing property and casualty, merged with Frankenmuth Mutual Insurance of Michigan in 2007, but remained a Maine-based subsidiary. Patriot has leased space in Yarmouth since 2008, most recently at Yarmouth campus of Tyler Technologies Inc. With 71 employees, including six out of state, employment is expected to grow to over 100 employees in the next five to 10 years.
The closing took a while in order to ensure the project met the town’s new zoning requirements. Patriot Insurance President Lincoln Merrill had high praise for A.H. Grover Inc., from North Yarmouth, which launched into site prep immediately after the closing. Merrill didn’t have a figure yet for construction costs.
Class A headquarters
The new Patriot building will be a 34,500-square-foot Class A headquarters building, to accommodate current space needs and allow for growth. In keeping with the neighborhood’s character, Patriot took some of the design cues — such as a steeply pitched roof and multiple dormers — from the nearby Sparhawk Mill, a brick masonry building built in 1857 by the Royal River Manufacturing Co.
“It will have a very traditional look,” said Merrill.
The building will be sited at the front of the property, with an entrance door leading into the lobby from a sidewalk. Parking will be in the back, out of sight, and there will be a back entrance to the lobby.
Patriot prides itself on being a neighborly company, so the design incorporates a large conference room, catering kitchen and restrooms that will be accessible to other users by separate entrance from the parking lot even when the rest of the building is locked.
“It’s our staff conference room, but we’ve allowed other groups to use our existing conference room, so we designed this one specifically to allow others to be able to use it,” said Merrill.
On the river side, a daylight basement with patio will accommodate an employee kitchen and dining area. A feature that was important to employees to have in the new building is the small gym and shower room to be on the bottom floor. The town’s trail network will be accessible nearby.
Systems will include split-pump heating units for heating and air-conditioning, zoned energy controls, adjustable LED lighting, state-of-the-art camera security and electronic plug-in and projection capabilities throughout.
Patriot’s top considerations included proximity to Interstate 295 and Route 1, since employees commute from all directions; a service center for employees’ personal needs; a nearby post office, excellent fiber-optic network and exercise opportunities. Patriot is already involved with the community through financial support to various causes. Merrill is personally connected to the area, living in North Yarmouth since childhood, with both parents having businesses in Yarmouth.
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