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March 14, 2008

Pier development hinges on bill

The developer behind the proposed $100 million redevelopment of Portland's Maine State Pier says a bill submitted this week in Augusta, which would extend a lease on state-owned land underneath the pier, is critical for the project to move forward.

While the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands typically doesn't lease submerged land for more than 30 years at a time, Portland-based The Olympia Cos. says it needs at least a 75-year lease to move ahead with the project, according to the Portland Press Herald. The bill, sponsored by House Speaker Glenn Cummings (D-Portland), would allow the state to lease the submerged lands to the city for 75 to 99 years, and would only apply to the 28 acres of underwater land around the pier, the paper reported.

Without the lease extension, The Olympia Cos. says it won't be able to obtain necessary private financing for the projects, which includes a hotel, office building and park.

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