A Connecticut development company says it is about to turn a waterfront eyesore in Wiscasset into one of the largest commercial and residential projects on the coast of Maine.
More than 100 guests, including Gov. John Baldacci, are expected to gather this morning at the former coal- and oil-fired Mason Station Power Plant to mark the groundbreaking of Point East Maritime Village.
The $150 million village project on Birch Point Road includes 80 single-family homes, 160 condominiums, a 200-car underground parking garage, a fitness center, and a 239-slip marina to be operated by the Hinckley Co. of Southwest Harbor.
The Mason Station building will be refurbished and will eventually contain restaurants, offices, retail shops, a hotel and a culinary school. The project will be dense, using just 33 acres along the Sheepscot River.
The maritime village will generate about $1 million in tax revenues and create dozens of jobs, said project spokesman Scott Houldin.
"We are taking an idle . . . industrial site and converting it into a community asset," he said.
In December 2003, Point East's parent company, National RE/sources of Greenwich, Conn., acquired Mason Station from its previous owners for $3.9 million. National has a reputation for cleaning up industrial sites and converting them to profitable uses.
Wiscasset voters opened the door to development on the site in April 2005 when they overwhelmingly approved a zoning change to allow the company to build more homes on less acreage than town zoning would have permitted.
The Planning Board spent the last year or so reviewing and approving the project. The approved plan includes a 52-slip marina; plans for a marina with 239 slips are currently under state and federal review, Houldin said.
At the groundbreaking, which begins at 10 a.m., Point East will introduce its new collection of cottage styles, each named after a Maine river. All of the companies involved in building and furnishing the homes will be Maine-based.
Houldin said 37 families have already been placed on Point East's waiting list. Construction of 15 single-family homes should begin within a matter of weeks and be completed by the end of the year.
Town Planner Jeffrey Hinderliter guessed that the Planning Board held more than 30 meetings and site walks related to the maritime village.
He likes the project for aesthetic and economic reasons, but concedes that not everyone is pleased.
"A project of this scale is going to have some sort of impact," Hinderliter said. "You just can't get around it."
One organization that had concerns was Stewards of the Sheepscot, which cited the marina's possible impact on the river's ecosystem. Members also wondered how the large number of new residents would affect traffic and public school enrollments.
The group formed a few years ago after it learned that Dragon Cement was interested in redeveloping the Mason Station power plant.
"I think it has all the makings of being a good neighbor. It is certainly a lot better than having Dragon Cement there," said John Reinhardt, a member of Stewards of the Sheepscot.
Gwenn de Mauriac, a local writer and painter who belongs to Stewards, added, "These are wonderful, just wonderful things that might happen, but we haven't seen any evidence yet."
Town Manager Andrew Gilmore said it makes sense to expect good things from Point East, noting that the company has done what it said it would do.
"We feel they will be responsible landowners. With the closure of Mason Station it is wonderful to see new life and a new economic destiny being breathed into that land," Gilmore said.
Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com |
