10/12/2007
enlarge
Staff file photo by Jeff PoulandThe Planning Board on Monday night is scheduled to consider a preliminary plan for 66 residential apartment units to be developed at the Hathaway Creative Center.
This will be the first official plan to be presented to the city as part of the proposed $56 million project, to include a $30 million renovation of the Hathaway building. Two adjacent buildings in the Lockwood Mill complex -- the Central Maine Power Co. and Marden's Surplus & Salvage facilities -- also are targeted for development. CMP would become an art center and the Marden's building may house a boutique hotel and smaller, more affordable apartments.
Mayor Paul R. LePage says Rhode Island developer Paul Boghossian is about the close on the city-owned Hathaway building.
"I don't know when the exact closing is, but I know that it's imminent," LePage said Thursday. "I think it's going to be real soon."
Boghossian could not be reached Thursday for comment.
The hold-up to the closing on the Hathaway building is working out the final details of an agreement with the federal government on money the government pitched in several years ago to help the then-faltering shirt factory stay afloat, according to LePage.
He said the federal government is forgiving Waterville money the city has spent to repair the roof and replace windows at Hathaway. Officials are now figuring out the exact amount the city will have to reimburse.
"We owe them some money and it's a matter of getting that discharged," LePage said.
City Planner Ann G. Beverage said Thursday that Andrew Manning, an engineer with Pinkham & Greer Consulting Engineers of Falmouth, will present plans at Monday's Planning Board meeting for the residential units at Hathaway.
Manning did not immediately return a call placed to his office Thursday afternoon.
The Planning Board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday in the council chambers at The Center downtown.
"This is the first time they've come to the Planning Board," Beverage said of Hathaway developers. "By state law, the conversion of an industrial building to residential units is considered a subdivision."
She said presentation of a preliminary plan for such a development gives the board an opportunity to comment and make suggestions for changes before the developer or a representative for the project comes to the next meeting. Beverage was in the process Thursday of contacting board members to see if they could attend a special board meeting to review Hathaway plans again on Oct. 29, as it is not a regularly scheduled meeting.
"(The developer) would like to get final approval on the 29th," Beverage said. "They were hoping to get this approved before closing. They're planning to close very soon."
No vote will be taken Monday on the preliminary plan.
The century-old, five-story Hathaway building is 236,000 square feet in size. It would house MaineGeneral Health's HealthReach Network division on the third floor. HealthReach, with an annual budget of about $18 million, would employ about 200 people there.
The first floor would include three radio stations, a bakery/cafˇ that may partner with a bookstore, a child care center and possibly a restaurant and brew pub, according to Boghossian.
The second floor would house a salon and spa, an information technology company and a financial firm. The fourth and fifth floors would feature high-end loft-style apartments.
LePage said that, by all indications, the building sale will occur and the project will happen.
"I've been cautiously optimistic and I'm still hoping that it all goes well," he said. "It'll be tremendous for the city -- it will be fantastic. I hear that they're getting closer and closer. It's imminent. It's going to happen in the very near future. I'm excited. It's long overdue. We've worked a long time. A lot of hard work has gone into this."
Amy Calder -- 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
There are not yet any comments. Post your comment and it will appear here.
You must be a registered user of MaineToday.com to post a comment. Register or log in.