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Courtesy / Gary Peachey
Matt and Heather Pouliot in the community space of the recently renovated building at 341 Water St., Augusta. The nine apartments on the second floor were leased within weeks of the certificate of occupancy being issued.
Seven of the nine apartments at 341 Water St. were leased before the apartments were officially listed Monday. Developer Matt Pouliot wasn't concerned about the other two earlier this week — there were 17 showings scheduled.
"They'll be leased by the end of this week," Pouliot said as he stood in front of the 16,128-square-foot building that caps the southern end of Water Street. He and his wife, Heather, bought the building in 2018 and are just completing a renovation that is not only bringing more residents, but also commercial tenants, to downtown Augusta.
The ground-floor commercial space will be home to anchor tenant Maine Math and Science Alliance, which has been spending the past month moving into 2,789 L-shaped square feet at 343 Water St. The organization provides STEM training to educators and is expected to bring hundreds of visitors a year to downtown.
Gallant Therapy Services is moving into the adjacent 1,500 square feet, at 345-347, with plans to show artwork by its clients in the huge storefront windows.
Pouliot is renovating the final ground-floor unit at 351 Water St. to move his real estate brokerage in from its location at 295 Water St.
In the basement, which has walk-out space to Front Street, along the Kennebec River, work is still underway on event space that will accommodate up to 240 people. Lilac Catering & Mixology also leases space there.
Heather Pouliot told Mainebiz when the project was first underway that kind of event space is needed in the city, which has very little large indoor event facilities, aside from the Augusta Civic Center. Matt Pouliot said that, post-pandemic, it will still be needed. The space, with a commercial kitchen, spreads over nearly 5,000 square feet over two basement levels.
It's going to be called The Caucus Room, a nod to the popularity of longtime tenant Hazel Green's restaurant and pub with legislators, journalists and other area movers and shakers and Pouliot's role as a state senator.
The building, which up until two years ago housed a pawn shop, a shoe repair and a lot of vacant space, will now be one of the newest commercial and residential additions adding life to Augusta's small but vibrant downtown.
"We are very thankful to have had the opportunity to bring this historic building back to life," he said. "So much of our well-being can be attributed to the spaces we spend our time in."
Pouliot said he's passionate about providing high-quality environments for people to live and work in, and he sees 341 Water as providing that. "It was done in a sustainable way by recycling an existing building and turning it into something that the entire community can appreciate," he added.
Before the renovation, the building was contributing $6,000 in property taxes, now it's closer to $20,000.
Pouliot, a real estate broker, also represents District 15 in the Maine Senate. Heather, is an Augusta city councilor and chair of the Augusta Downtown Alliance. The pair headed into uncharted territory when the bought the building in 2018 as Alliance Properties LLC. It was the first time they'd undertaken a renovation, and one using historic preservation tax credits to boot. But, Augusta residents and natives, they're bullish on the city's possibilities and the need for an active downtown.
"We need people living here for the rest of it to happen," Pouliot said.
Downtown had no occupied apartments in seven years ago. Now it has more than 100. Pouliot got his certificate of occupancy just as the Vickery Building down the block filled its 23 new apartments after another historic renovation by Andrew LeBlanc.
Even with COVID-19 shutdowns, there's interest in downtown, where nearly a dozen restaurants and other businesses have sprung up in recent years. Pouliot, as a broker, was recently approached by an out-of-state couple looking to move to Maine now that they could work remotely who were priced out of Portland and looking for other options.
He showed them downtown Augusta, including a visit to Cushnoc Brewing Co. a block north and they were hooked.
Pouliot said they saw a city that had energy, and had the scale where they could play a part. "People really see Augusta has so much to offer," he said. "Even in the pandemic."
Peachey Builders of Augusta was the contractor on 341-351 Water St. Pouliot said it supported 100 jobs through Peachey and more than a dozen subcontractors.
Like many old Maine downtown buildings, 341-351 Water St. was a gem hidden under a century of life as a commerce workhorse that had been largely forgotten in recent decades.
The building, originally the New Purinton Bros. Block, was built by the Purinton family in 1916 for their coal and fuel business. It's one of 51 buildings on Augusta's half-mile Water Street downtown that are on the National Register of Historic Places. Over the years it housed a variety of commercial enterprises, including iconic Augusta downtown businesses from the era when it was a commercial destination, like Arlene's Bakery, which was in the middle bay for decades, and popular gathering spot Hazel Green's.
The original beauty of the second floor, which had been offices and possibly aparments at some point, was altered over the years with acoustic tiles, partitions, industrial carpeting, plywood over window treatments and more.
Pouliot said the work to bring the space back to life, including strict historic preservation requirements in order to get the tax credits, was worth it. Original hardwood floors were refinished, and the original trim was restored. The wide main staircase leading up from Water Street was also restored.
Old buildings tend to have surprises when they're renovated, but the ones the developers found were positive. One big one was finding the original chandelier hanging from the striking 20-foot high square window-lined "dome," known as a monitor when the acoustic ceiling tiles were removed.
Removing plywood from the large circle-top windows on the western side revealed arched transoms. The windows, with prismatic glass, were brought back to what they looked like originally, and not only give tenants a wall of light but are a striking feature to the building exterior.
A vault, it's original steel door now fixed permanently open, was large enough to become the laundry room.
The layout itself is unique — a hub and spoke octagonal design. Most of the apartment entrances surround what's now a comfortable seating area flooded with light from the monitor above.
In the midst of the pandemic, the Pouliots decided to make what was going to be a fitness room into a ninth apartment.
The exterior was restored to what it looked like when it was built. The green Hazel Green's awning, a feature of the building for decades, even after the restaurant and pub was long a memory is gone. A new metal staircase along that side of the building gives residents second access to the residential floor.
The wooden trim, yellow for decades, is now a deep forest green. Window minimizers are gone, and the large storefront windows and second-floor circular ones are now striking architectural elements.
"It's just a beautiful building," Pouliot said this week as he stood across Water Street pointing out the features.
The city planning board gave initial approval in September 2019, and work started in July after the city's historic preservation board approved the project. Once construction got underway, things happened fast.
The certificate of occpancy for the apartments was issued Dec. 30. Apartments range in size from a 319-square-foot studio to a 915-square-food two-bedroom, with rents ranging from $725 to $1,550.
Tenants range from college students to downsizing boomers. One of the first was Univeristy of Maine at Augusta architecture student Isaac Sacks, who had done 3-D renderings for the renovation project. In the course of it, he fell in love with the building and wanted to live there, two buildings down from UMA's Handley Hall, which houses the architecture program.
Another couple sold their large house on Winthrop Street in Augusta, downsizing to a two-bedroom apartment.
University of Maine college student Deven Walker and his partner Grace Kelly moved in at the beginning of the month. Since he doesn't have to be on the Orono campus, Walker can live and attend school from anywhere.
The couple were living in Gardiner when they saw the apartments on Facebook. "They looked amazing," Walker said and he and Kelly returned from a walk on the nearby Kennebec River Rail Trail Monday with their black Lab, Winnie.
Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on the 1,100 square feet that will be the new home of Pouliot Real Estate. He says the space will be ready in a couple weeks for himself, Heather and his staff.
Like the upstairs space, the downstairs had some challenges. The original wooden floors have been restored, but in spots where they couldn't be, the orientation of the new planks had to be different to deliniate between original flooring and new. Places where original walls were removed have to be marked with a ceiling soffit and winder plank on the floor.
The building, though, is thoroughly 2021 as well. Tenants, both residential and commercial, have high-speed fiber optic wifi.
When the Maine Math and Science Alliance was first planning their space, pre-pandemic, they told Pouliot they needed "Zoom rooms."
"I said, 'What the heck is a Zoom room?'" he said, laughing.
The building, built as the home of a coal company, now has heat pumps. The ones in the second-floor residential common area had to be placed in the square dome so that they're not immediately visible from the main entrance, required for historic preservation. Pouliot was happy to comply.
The pandemic, and the uncertainty in the lending landscape slowed things down a little, but they took off once the Pouliots secured a historic preservation credit investor.
Pouliot said that besids the overall importance of restoring a downtown historic building, the location of the New Purinton Bros. Block is also important. It's also at a gateway to downtown.
"This building is one of the first you see when entering the downtown from the south, and I think this project really helps establish the tone of what to expect on Water Street in the years to come," he said.
He said it won't be the last such project for himself and Heather. "It's not a big project by any means, but it's a labor of love," he said. "Projects like this are a niche. It's an iportant asset for the community, but also for people making a home here."
Great article! Matt and Heather are to be congratulated for their work on this project!
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