🔒Rumford rising: With new development, the town is showing it’s about more than the mill

It’s not possible to talk about downtown Rumford development from behind a desk. No, the only way to do it is on foot.

As George O’Keefe, economic development director, charges out of town hall onto Congress Street to give Mainebiz the tour, he rattles off the numbers and highlights from 2020 alone: a $7 million downtown infrastructure upgrade, a major solar project with EMI, scads of commercial property redevelopments, more than half a dozen new businesses downtown.

“This is one of the last big development opportunities in Maine,” he says.

A lot of developers have already figured that out in the past two years, after more than a decade of drag brought on by the Great Recession and uncertainty about mill towns.

Rumford was built around its paper mill. And the in-town mill, acquired by N.D. Paper in 2018, is going strong. But the town isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket.

The $7 million infrastructure upgrade completed last year, which includes streets, sidewalks, lighting, as well as the solar project, which will produce 5.1 million kilowatt hours a year, are only a couple of the ways the town is luring investment. The downtown commercial district, with 33 contributing buildings, was also put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, opening buildings up to using historic renovation tax credits.

While Rumford was built for the mill, it’s now only 10% of the town’s tax base, O’Keefe says.

O’Keefe credits a community-wide effort, beginning with Envision Rumford, formed a decade ago to bring economic development to the town of 5,600.

“There’s absolutely been a very strong effort by stakeholders — business owners, citizens — speaking with strong voices about what they want for the future of the town,” he says.

That effort gathered steam in 2018, when the town made economic development director a full-time position, and O’Keefe was hired.

In 2019, the town contracted with the Biddeford marketing agency Kenneally and Co.

“We’re looking for young entrepreneurial families,” says Jennifer Kenneally, co-owner. She cites the appeal of the combination of the downtown upgrades, a solid outdoors culture and an Oxford County median home price of $220,900 (compared to the state median of $276,000).

As she stands on busy Congress Street on a recent Friday, she says progress is obvious. “All these little businesses keep multiplying.”

Kara Wilbur, who in December bought the mill building that houses the River Valley Technology Center, at 60 Lowell St., agrees.

The town had energy and a lot to offer. “People here know it, and I feel it, too,” she says.

Since she bought the building, she adds, “it’s become very evident that Rumford has a really great dynamic between elected officials, staff, and the community. They’re all pulling in one direction.”

Here are just some of the highlights, many of which benefitted from the town’s Economic Development Incentive fund and other incentives.

1. 60 Lowell St.

The 50,000-square-foot mill building already had some solid tenants when Wilbur bought it, including the University of Maine at Augusta and Community Dental. She has space ranging from small offices to expansive mill-style units available and plans to renovate to suit as leases are signed.

Wilbur, who recently redeveloped a fire station in Lewiston, says Rumford appealed to her because she likes communities that are open to new people and new ideas as they strengthen their economy.

There’s another draw, too.

“It’s a beautiful part of the state,” she says. “It’s one of those interesting communities where it’s just a part of the natural beauty that surrounds it.”

The town provided with two loans, for $40,000 each, to pay for soft costs and repairs and life and safety upgrades.

She doesn’t have a timeline on the redevelopment, mainly because it’s tough to find contractors.

“It’s a big project,” she says.

2. 50 Prospect Ave.

Just off the island, where U.S. Route 2 takes a sharp turn west along the Androscoggin, a new 63-room Best Western Plus hotel is slated to open later this summer.

The project, by investment group Penacook Falls Investment LTD, began three years ago on the site of a former lumber yard. It’s been supported by a loan backed by Finance Authority of Maine and $125,000 from Community Concepts Finance Corp. The hotel is being built by Lund Inn Construction LLC and will be managed by Bedford, N.H.-based Melan Hotel Group.

O’Keefe says the hotel is sorely needed.

“We’ve been getting requests for the past three years from groups and the public, asking when they can book,” he says.

Historically, lodging was one of Rumford’s strengths. Now, “Lack of lodging is holding us back,” O’Keefe says. Sunday River ski area is 20 minutes away, in Newry, contractors are frequently in town to work at the N.D. Paper mill, and travelers on U.S. Route 2 find the area a good stopping place, but in recent years there’s been little place to stop overnight.

Town officials also recently issued a request for proposals for 986 Prospect Ave., a couple miles west on Route 2, and hope another hotel developer makes a pitch.

3. VA clinic, Brookfield battery site

Plans are being finalized for a VA Maine Healthcare System clinic proposed for a 3-acre vacant lot at 1 Railroad St., where the town’s train station once was. The 7,000-square-foot clinic would replace the outdated one at 431 Franklin St. The developer, who is buying the land from town, will lease it to the VA, which means the property will be taxable.

The developer plans to design it to reflect the style of the 1913 train station that was once on the spot.

Working out the deal took more than two years. Brookfield Energy was also interested in adjacent land, working with a private landowner. Brookfield Energy is in the permitting process to lease space for 950 lithium-ion energy batteries next to the VA site.

“We worked it out so they both could be here," O'Keefe said..

4. 132–136 Congress St.

J.D. Scoops ice cream opened in 132 Congress St. in December 2019, also the home of J.D. Printing.

Next door, at 136 Congress St., is a fully outfitted bar, just waiting for a bar operator. The space had was renovated right before the pandemic.

“If someone wants to open a bar, we have the perfect space for it,” O’Keefe says. 

5. 103–109 Congress St.

At 109 Congress, the historic Clough & Pillsbury building was bought from the town by David Arsenault, who owns J.D. Printing, in July for $12,770. The town had acquired it because of unpaid taxes, and the RFP Arseneault successfully won was the second Rumford had issued for it. In 2019, the one-time hardware store made Maine Preservation’s Most Endangered list. Arsenault plans to keep the original sign on the façade, and the business will be called Clough & Pillsbury when it opens later this year.

Next door, a small building at 105 Congress was taken down to the studs by owners of The Lure, a seafood restaurant at 971 Prospect Ave., who were looking for a downtown presence.

At 103 Congress, Automatic 6 Acquisitions is renovating the three-story clapboard building, with plans for retail on the first floor and possible residential upstairs.

6. 72 Congress St.

The former department store at 72 Congress St., with seven commercial units and at least three storefronts, is under contract, O’Keefe says.

The 80,000-square-foot building that once housed a Woolworth’s has been at least partially empty since 2008, but is considered a significant Art Deco addition to the town’s downtown historic district.

7. 43 Exchange St.

On the corner of Exchange and Canal streets, Western Maine Machines opened in November 2019. The company repairs sewing machines and vacuum cleaners. They also takes in shoes to be sent to cobbler Paul Rowland, in Lisbon, and dry cleaning, which is serviced in Auburn.

Owners Deb and Jim Morrison say their business provides services the town needed.

“There are a lot more people sewing out there than you’d think,” Deb Morrison says. She says they love being downtown where, even during the pandemic, there has been a lot of energy.

“There are 100 working professionals on this island,” O’Keefe says. “They need services like this.”

8. 65 Canal St.

Next door to Western Maine Machines, 11-room Hotel Rumford, which has a restaurant on the first floor, has been undergoing a renovation. Owner Melissa Carrier and her partners fully renovated the restaurant last year, and have renovated about half of the upstairs rooms so far. They plan to start taking bookings soon.

O’Keefe says such projects “May be small, but they’re vital. Small businesses are what makes us.”

9. 60 River St.

The three-story brick building that long housed the Elks Lodge opened June 7 as Munchkin Manor, a daycare center.

The 10,500-square-foot, 120-year-old building has been empty since the Elks closed three years ago.

“We’re very pleased to be expanding child care here,” O’Keefe says. “If we want to be attractive to young families, we have to have child care.”

10. Rumford Falls

The town is working with Brookfield Renewables on studies relating to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing the dam on the falls that are at downtown’s south end. As part of the process, Brookfield is looking at a possible whitewater park at the falls, at a spot where there is a 20-foot drop.

O’Keefe says that such a project would be a boon for the town, which already has a variety of outdoor recreation. Because of the configuration of the falls, a feature wouldn’t mean a lot of construction or money.

O’Keefe can list a bunch of things the town still needs: a craft brewery, a car rental agency, a kitchen good store. But as he stands on the bridge with the falls to his right and the busy commercial district to his left, he says. “Look at this, we have so much to offer here.”