Trafton invests in I-95 interchange, meant to boost industrial park potential
PHOTO CREDIT / TRAFTON PROPERTIES
A 220,000-square-foot warehouse on the 923 acres adjacent to a possible highway interchange in Waterville.
WATERVILLE—Trafton Properties, owner of 923 acres located near the Kennebec River, at the corner of West River and Trafton roads in Waterville, views its contribution to the cost of building an adjacent highway interchange as an opportunity to enhance development prospects for light industry, warehousing, manufacturing, and other commercial uses.
“It’s something that will bring jobs to the greater Waterville area,” said Harry Kojoian, Trafton’s vice president of operations, speaking from the company’s home office in Newport, R.I.
Trafton bought the acreage in 1983. It came with a 220,000-square-foot warehouse, on about 20 acres, which Trafton has been leasing as storage and light manufacturing space to firms such as Mid-State Machine, Victory Packaging and Stuart C. Irby, an electrical supply company. The warehouse portion of the building is almost fully occupied now. Kojoian said he’s in talks with other companies interested in the 30,000 square feet still available or in acreage to build new. The rest of the acreage is vacant — and ripe for development, he said.
“We are quite optimistic that we will be attracting new tenants in 2016,” he said.
An agreement between Trafton, the Maine Department of Transportation and the U.S. Economic Development Administration, to construct an Interstate 95 interchange not far from the Trafton acreage, which is zoned industrial park, was nailed down last May when the USEDA announced it would kick in $992,687 for the project, in the form of a grant to MDOT.
In a press release, USEDA said it’s expected the interchange will provide improved access for workers and supplies to and from existing industrial facilities and enable the expansion of the industrial area, with the estimated creation of 325 jobs in manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, and business services.
Trafton will contribute $1.8 million to the interchange project, as part of a new MDOT program called the Business Partnership Initiative.
“We also carried the financial load for the past year for all of the project’s soft costs, such as the environmental assessment,” said Kojoian, who declined to cite those expenses.
MDOT is slated to contribute $1.81 million to the project.
The project is the first to be rolled out under the new DOT initiative, which was introduced in the DOT’s 2013 work plan and builds on the success of the DOT’s Municipal Partnership Initiative, which was created in 2012 “as a creative means to develop, fund, and build projects of municipal interest on the state infrastructure system with MaineDOT as a partner,” according to the work plan. The work plan includes $10 million in new funding for the MPI program and $4 million for the BPI program, whose goal is “to encourage new business, business expansion and business retention through partnerships in transportation investment,” the work plan says. Both initiatives are designed to be simple, flexible and fast-moving.
The BPI has not yet been widely broadcast, said DOT project manager Stephen Landry.
“We’re slowly rolling it out, feeling our way through the process,” said Landry.
Under the BPI program, the DOT pays one-third of a project. Business investment fast-tracks projects such as the one in Waterville, Landry said.
“If we can do a $1 million job for $333,000, that’s a big bang for our buck,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for projects to rise to the top but probably wouldn’t have for a long time without this program. And the program helps us accomplish our mission of contributing to economic development by taking care of roadways.”
The city and state had discussed the project for many years as a way to benefit business development in the southern part of Waterville, said Landry. Currently, access via the highway to Waterville’s southern region is restricted because the only available interchange is four miles beyond the industrial area and exits through a congested commercial and residential area.
Kojoian said there’s great potential for business growth at the southern end of Waterville.
“Our building has been a success for us. We want to build on that success,” he said. “Having everyone come together at the right time for this project was instrumental. The interchange benefits Trafton Properties, but it’s got a bigger public purpose.”
The Waterville project is expected to go out to bid this April or May, with completion by November.
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