High Tide Capital creates housing in historic properties rather than building new
PHOTO / HIGH TIDE CAPITAL
Orono Lofts will bring 30 apartments to the market later this year.
Bangor-based High Tide Capital is turning a centuries-old former factory building perched along the Stillwater River in Orono into new housing — 30 market-rate apartments just a block from the city’s downtown.
Orono Lofts is a three-story, 40,000-square-foot building on a four-acre site at 74 Mill St. The building was originally constructed in the 1800s as a church before being converted for use by Byers Manufacturing Company for most of the 20th and 21st century. High Tide purchased it in 2023 for $650,000 and projects a final cost for the rehab to be $9 million.
Development partner Dash Davidson told Mainebiz that the apartments will range in size from one-bedroom 650-square-foot units to 1,300-square-foot three-bedroom units, and will lease for between $1,650 and $2,350. Davidson expects the project to be completed this fall.
He envisions the apartments will appeal to a mix of students from the University of Maine as well as young professionals working in the area.
“We also expect empty nesters and people looking to downsize," he said.
Construction is being handled by Bangor-based Pike Project Development, which is led by Orono native Zack Pike.
Finance partners are the First National Bank in Bangor and 30 Federal Street Investments, a subsidiary of Brunswick-based CEI, which coordinated the application of state historic tax credits for the project.
High Tide Capital focuses on adaptive reuse of historic buildings, often in smaller cities and towns, and has completed 100 units of new housing over the past three years.
“We renovate vacant buildings on downtown thoroughfares and ‘turn their lights back on’,” Davidson said.
The company was started by Davidson and Max Patinkin in 2021, with a mission to utilize existing buildings to create housing in areas that haven’t attracted as many projects as larger cities such as Portland have, but which have a need for more housing, as Maine’s population spreads beyond Cumberland and York counties.
“This is where we can have the most impact in the type of development that we do. There are a lot of great projects happening in the southern end of the state, but in the western and northern parts of the state there’s not as much.”
The firm has grown to a staff of nine, including principal Joshua Patinkin, and has developed over 20 historic properties around the country, mostly in Maine and Connecticut, but a few in New York and North Carolina too.
High Tide has completed four projects in downtown Bangor, including 27 State St.; a six-story building developed as employee housing for Northern Light Hospital in 2023. All 20 apartments are furnished and priority is given to short-term medical staff, such as visiting nurses. The building is less than a mile from Eastern Maine Medical Center.
Amenities include a 2,000-square-foot rooftop deck, a fitness room and the Nest Cafe, in the ground-floor commercial space.
“Almost all of our projects are mixed-use projects,” Davidson told Mainebiz. "The addition of commercial tenants adds to the vibrancy of the city. Leasing the commercial space is the hardest part of leasing these projects. But these are historic buildings and we feel they should be open to the community.”
Also in downtown Bangor, High Tide rehabbed 2 Hammond St., which now houses the local chamber of commerce and a “speakeasy” in the basement. An outdoor patio overlooks the Kenduskeag Stream.
In Skowhegan the firm recently developed a boutique hotel in the 80,000-square-foot historic Spinning Mill. Forty-one apartments are being added and the Biergarten, run by the folks at nearby Maine Grains and the Miller’s Table, is poised to open this month.
High Tide also has in the works two projects in downtown Rumford that are targeted for 2026.
“These are market-changing projects that are just one building in size, but a large project in a small town can have a huge impact,” Davidson said. “We like to show the love to some of these smaller communities; spread the investment dollar around.”
Mainebiz web partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments