Brunswick Landing may add first tenant in former control tower building
Courtesy / Town of Brunswick
An aerial photo shows the current and proposed access paths to the former control tower building at Brunswick Landing.
Brunswick Landing, the former Navy air station that’s now a 3,200-acre business park with over 150 companies, may soon be adding its first tenant to the building that once oversaw military takeoffs and touchdowns.
The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority is finalizing a lease with an educational institution for about two-thirds of the 15,661-square-foot control tower building, MRRA Executive Director Kristine Logan told Mainebiz on Monday.
Logan wouldn’t identify the prospective tenant by name but said the space would probably be used for research and development. She expects the lease to be signed in the next week or two. Occupancy would begin next month.
“This would be the first tenant to occupy the tower building since the Navy vacated it,” she said. The tower was built in 2005 and stands 103 feet tall.
The tenant, however, is looking to lease the building minus the actual tower — since codes allow it to be used only for air traffic control.
To make way for a tenant, the town of Brunswick is considering the addition of an access road to the western edge of the campus.
The tenant, as well as emergency vehicles, would need a ready route to the tower. Access from the west side was called for in the original Master Reuse Plan for the former Navy property, Logan said.
The town may temporarily use part of a pedestrian trail to provide access in the short term, with a longer-term plan to extend an existing road by 650 feet.
“Many years ago, when MRRA did not have a tenant in the tower, we agreed to gate off Allagash Extension so that it can be used safely by bikers and pedestrians with little vehicular traffic,” Logan said. The town, MRRA and Bowdoin College are exploring a traffic route to the tower while continuing to provide recreational access to the nearby woods.
The Brunswick Town Council takes up the proposal Monday at a 6:30 p.m. meeting.
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