A marriage of two food purveyors moves forward in Scarborough

Courtesy / Hebert Construction A corner entrance of the fire and police complex in Oak Hill, Scarborough, is shown, left, along with a conceptual rendering of how it will be rebuilt.

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By Jessica Hall

Firehouse Village, which will host a Rosemont Bakery and Harbor Fish Market, as well as an Avesta Housing development, officially broke ground this week in Scarborough and aims to have some tenants’ doors open this fall.

The 2.7-acre project, located off U.S. Route 1 between Westwood Avenue and Fairfield Road, is the redevelopment of the former Oak Hill fire and police station.

Developers Tim Hebert, Michael Hebert and Jack Soley purchased the property from the town of Scarborough in 2020 but development progress was slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tim Hebert said.

“The buildings and the site served the public for years. We’re not tearing anything down. We’re repurposing the site for the next phase of growth in Scarborough and a new use for the public,” said Tim Hebert.

Hebert declined to comment on the total price tag for the project.

Maniac Community Fitness, which is adding Scarborough as its second location after South Portland, aims to open on Oct. 1.

Rosemont Bakery and Harbor Fish, which hold separate leases but will share the same 5,000-square-foot area, will be open by November.

Avesta 55-and-older housing

Another key piece is a 31-unit Avesta Housing affordable housing development for adults aged 55 and older. Avesta plans to start construction in the spring of 2022.

Hebert said Firehouse Village will also feature office suites, as well as a restaurant, which he hopes to secure within the next month.

Interesting partnerships have emerged among the tenants, such as a plan by Maniac Community Fitness to provide exercise classes for the residents of the Avesta Housing development, Hebert said.

“The vision for the whole project was to create a community within a community. What we sought out to create is actually being created,” Hebert said.

Rosemont Bakery, which also is opening a separate location in Thompson’s Point this week, said Firehouse Village’s developers sought out the bakery and Harbor Fish as key anchor tenants.

“We weren’t even looking for anything,” said John Naylor, co-owner of Rosemont Bakery. “It was the pandemic. I was thinking ‘I don’t want to do anything right now.’ But they convinced us it's an interesting thing to do and now we couldn’t be more excited.”

Naylor, who worked in fish markets earlier in his career, already worked with Harbor Fish by featuring their products in four of its six existing stores. But the Firehouse Village project will put the two businesses in a shared space that will appear like one business to customers.

“Scarborough, like any new spot — like Falmouth — may take a few years to get it to the point where it’s really hitting it out of the park. The key difference is that Harbor Fish has good brand recognition and will pull in a lot of people,” Naylor said.

A next Rosemont Bakery location hasn’t been determined, Naylor said, but the company will rely on demographic data and traffic patterns to help narrow any search.