Three Rockland waterfront properties packaged as single listing
Courtesy / F.O. Bailey
North End Shipyard is readily identifiable in this aerial, as the U-shaped basin occupied by three schooners, with a fourth schooner getting ready to launch. Schooner Wharf is to the right and Steel-Pro is the set of buildings below that.
The owners of three commercial properties on the Rockland waterfront have joined together to offer the portfolio as a single development opportunity.
Together, the properties comprise 8.77 acres with waterfront infrastructure and 55,050 square feet of industrial space on contiguous lots. They're located between the harbor and Main Street at the north end of the city’s downtown.
The package is listed by David Jones and Robert Baldacci at F.O. Bailey.
“It’s one of the most significant commercial waterfront properties available in Maine today,” said Baldacci. “I don’t think there’s anything that comes close.”
Baldacci declined to cite a sale price.
Development opportunity
The portfolio is being marketed as a development opportunity for uses such as a hotel, restaurant, residential complex, marina, retail space or offices.
The buildings range from an 18,000-square-foot light industrial building to a U.S. Cellular retail building of 1,350 square feet. U.S. Cellular holds a lease with an option to extend through Jan. 31, 2025.
Features include water access with harbor, dock and beach areas; 2,100 feet of water frontage; 690 feet of frontage along Main Street; and deep-water access for large vessels.
The locations are home to three operating businesses:
• Schooner Wharf, owned by Schooner Wharf Partners LLC, is a partially leased wharf with deep-water berthing and undeveloped land of about 6 acres.
• Steel-Pro Inc., founded in 1978 and located at 771 Main St., is an employee-owned custom manufacturer of stainless steel tanks, pressure vessels, biopharmaceutical equipment, modular skids, vacuum chambers, storage tanks, mixing tanks and other equipment.
• North End Shipyard Inc., at 11 Front St., is a marina and boatyard that serves passenger schooners.
Creativity and patience
The listing came about when Baldacci and Jones were approached by the owners of Schooner Wharf, who had been working with Steel-Pro to look at different development scenarios. The two ownership groups hired Terrence J. DeWan & Associates, a land use consultant in Yarmouth, to assess potential development opportunities.
“We met with them to talk about a listing and we thought, to really make this work, let’s talk to North End Shipyard about including them in this overall listing,” said Baldacci.
Preparation for the listing took a couple of months.
“We’ve had a lot of inquiries and we’re proactively approaching investors and developers that we know,” he said. “It will require somebody with a vision and wherewithal to take full advantage of the potential of the site.”
DeWan said the location is “fantastic.”
“With a great deal of creativity and, probably, patience it could be a fantastic addition to the waterfront,” DeWan said.
He noted that Rockland is like most municipalities along Maine’s coast that are weighing working waterfront heritages with newer commercial development such as restaurants and hotels. The question is, he said, “Is it possible to have a marriage of the two types of uses? It’s going to be an inevitable discussion.”
Downtown draw
Spearheading the listing is Peter Giustra, one of the owners of Schooner Wharf. Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., he moved with his wife to a farm in Warren in the 1970s and worked as a diagnostic radiology specialist for 45 years before retirement.
“This is a very exciting project,” he said of the portfolio.
Giustra said he and his partners bought Schooner Wharf about 30 years ago. Giustra noted the wharf is made of granite and also has an adjacent beach — both features that make it “unusually valuable,” he said. The beach would lend itself to public access, he added.
Schooner Wharf is leased in part to Maine Coast Petroleum Inc., a midcoast fuel delivery firm whose services include operation of a vessel, called the Captain Ray O’Neal, from Schooner Wharf to deliver petroleum products to the islands of midcoast Maine from Frenchboro to Monhegan, according to it website.
Over the years, other portions of Schooner Wharf have also been leased to various lobster businesses, said Giustra. Steel-Pro and U.S. Cellular also lease buildings there.
The wharf has pretty much paid for itself over the years and “nobody was chomping at the bit to sell,” he said. “Now that we’re older and don’t have a personal use for it, we decided to try to market it.”
Steel-Pro is open to moving to another location and the owners of North End are open to selling the business, he noted.
There’s no particular deadline for selling the package.
“It’s a huge project so you need a firm that’s dealt with huge projects,” he noted.
The property is within walking distance of downtown.
“It’s not like this wharf is out in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “This would be adjacent to Main Street.”
Giustra said development of the property could be the next step in the city’s evolution as a destination.
“When we first came here, Rockland was a rough-and-tumble fishing town,” he said.
Historically a hub for sardine canneries, seafood processing plants and limestone quarries, Rockland has absorbed waves of change as those industries faltered or disappeared altogether.
More recently, there has been momentum in the development of businesses and events related to the arts — such as the Farnsworth Museum, the Strand Theater, numerous galleries, restaurants and other businesses — as well as marine-related businesses and music, lobster and boat festivals, which together have grown into a major piece of the city’s economy and made Rockland into a visitor and boater draw.
“There’s no question in my mind that this could absolutely transform the north end of Rockland,” said Giustra.
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Rockland is the most important city in the Midcoast. It is now on its way to reaching its potential. The old, depilated properties (some of which are uninhabitable) will be renewed or replaced. Rockland is now in the condition of a rough diamond undergoing polishing. I moved here 3 years ago and purchased a depilated, architecturally important home. (It was falling down). My home is now beautiful; Rockland deserves to be as beautiful as its setting. I love watching the process of renewal.
Can’t sell a secret…. Whats the price????
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