Photo / courtesy thomaston historical society
The former Maine State Prison in Thomaston was torn down in 2002 and the town bought the 15.6-acre site in 2005. Efforts to redevelop the site are still in the works.
Updated: October 19, 2020
Focus on Midcoast & Downeast
Thomaston is still looking for the right idea at former state prison site
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Bill Hahn, a Thomaston selectman and chair of the economic development committee, has been on the forefront of the town’s effort to develop the former Maine State Prison site.
By Maureen Milliken
The breathtaking view across Thomaston Green overlooking the St. George River has been open for 18 years. Before that, it was blocked by the massive brick bulk of the Maine State Prison, on the site for 178 years.
While breathtaking views are great, they don’t pay the bills. When the town bought the land in 2005, the plan was to develop it and sell it. A 2006 market analysis estimated developing the site would bring $16 million to the town’s revenue stream.
Thomaston, in 2020, could use the money. The 2019 property tax rate was $20.93 per $1,000 valuation (the state weighted average was $15.06). Despite that, development of the 15.6 acres on U.S. Route 1 is more up in the air than it’s ever been.
Voters at the Sept. 15 annual town meeting rejected a proposal by Avesta Housing. The Portland nonprofit offered $100,000 for 2.25 acres to build 48 units of senior housing. The project would have brought in $55,000 a year in taxes. Voters also shot down a proposal from local group home Coastal Opportunities, which sought 0.75 acres.
The two proposals were the first since 2011.
“We’re a town of 2,700, we’ve got to do something,” says Bill Hahn, a selectman and chairman of the town’s year-old economic development committee. The town has been losing population in recent years and, like many Maine towns, its residents are aging. “We only have so many resources.”
An Oct. 7 public hearing made it clear that figuring out the next step isn’t going to be easy. Residents are torn on how to handle the site. Some want to keep it totally green while others want to see development on the spots originally designated for retail and residential.
Hahn has been part of the town’s Thomaston Green efforts since the prison came down in 2002.
The day after the public hearing, when he’s asked what’s next, he gazes toward that spectacular view of the St. George River and laughs.
“I don’t know,” he says. “I have no idea.”
A mixed-use plan
The town petitioned the state to buy the property in 2002, with development the point. In a 2003 town survey, residents predicted that by 2010 there would be public space, residential and light retail there.
For a while, it looked like the prediction would come true.
An RFP brought several responses, and Portland-based Berman Associates (now known as Developers Collaborative), partnered with the town beginning in 2006 on a village-style plan.
“Not many communities have that type of open space in their core,” says Kevin Bunker of Developers Collaborative. He joined the group in 2007, after founder Richard Berman was already working with Thomaston, and quickly became involved.
The developers in 2008 secured a $221,000 grant that largely developed the public space in the center of the property, infrastructure and an access road.
Design guidelines and mixed-use rezoning were passed at the June 2008 annual town meeting.
Then the recession hit, and Developers Collaborative bowed out.
“The numbers just didn’t work,” Bunker says.
The good and bad
The town worked for a year, from 2011 to 2012, with another developer on a housing proposal that also didn’t pan out.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Development efforts, including one for a 48-unit senior housing complex, fell through.
Meanwhile, the end of town on Route 1 toward Rockland was emerging as a retail mecca. Lowe’s, Walmart and Hampton Inn sprung up in the decade that followed the prison site purchase.
“I was against that at first,” Hahn says. “But I was wrong.”
The commercial strip provides 42.5% of the town’s real estate revenues. The town’s 2020 comprehensive plan estimates the property tax rate would be $28.40 without it.
The downside is that some residents aren’t sure if they want more.
A recurring theme at the recent public hearing was that a lot changes in 15 years.
Some speakers said the site should stay green with an eye toward community events, food trucks, festivals and even wedding rentals.
“If we put something there, we’ll regret it in 10 years,” said Anson Norton.
Amy Williams, who favored keeping it green space, said making it a magnet recreational destination could bring revenue into town “year after year.”
But Sumner Kinney said there’s already green space at the site. “We agreed to that 15 years ago,” he said. “How can you refuse to sell it to a qualified buyer?”
Exciting site
The acreage is something many towns and cities dream of.
At an August meeting, Pat Carroll, of Carroll Landscape Architects, part of Avesta’s team, said, “We don’t get many sites like this in Portland anymore.”
To be able to house seniors near beautiful community space just blocks from downtown, “Is a really exciting thing,” Carroll said.
Bunker says, “As a local, growing up nearby, I would have liked to make something work there.”
But a decade after his firm worked to develop it, “Richard [Berman] and I both think that it makes a great park — and probably ought to stay one. It’s a great asset for the town and could probably be even more so if the town committed to a thoughtful recreational master plan to use it more intensively.”
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Thomaston Green is used for community events, but is considered an underused asset.
15 years later
With the developed public space and geography on the property, less than half of it is developable.
“You can’t really put much in here,” Hahn says.
Any commercial development would be along the fringes of the property, along Route 1 or Wadsworth Street.
Voters Sept. 15 approved contracting with Lewiston’s Community Concepts on an economic development director position.
Hahn says the position and year-old economic development committee are an attempt to look at a bigger picture, not just the prison site.
The town has put $555,000 into the site, but there isn’t a big bill to pay.
When the prison closed, the town had just built a wastewater treatment plan that, at the state’s request, was sized to include the prison. The state swapped the $285,000 site for what it owed the town for the treatment plant. The infrastructure at the Green was mostly covered by the 2008 grant.
“There’s not a lot of pressure,” Hahn says.
In the comprehensive plan’s list of the most-heard concerns from residents, the Green isn’t mentioned.
Hahn agrees things can change in 15 years. But on the forefront of the effort to develop the site since 2002, he sees an asset that’s not being taken advantage of.
“We need to figure it out,” he says.
Thomaston Green: What’s next for former prison site?
1824: Maine State Prison is established on land above the St. Georges River.
1923–24: The first prison burns to the ground in 1923; a large brick complex is built, opening in 1924.
2001: The state announces the prison will close in early 2002.
February 2002: The prison closes and 400 prisoners are moved to the new prison in nearby Warren.
April 2002: The buildings are torn down, leaving 15.6 acres of green space.
June 2002: Town meeting voters authorize the town to negotiate with the state to buy the land.
July 2003: A town goals survey predicts that by 2010, the Thomaston Green will be a mix of open space, residential and retail.
June 2004: Voters authorize the town to accept title to the property; the town forgives the state the last two payments to a public sewer project, $184,000 a year, as a swap.
December 2005: The sale, a $285,000 value, becomes official.
Map / Developers Collaborative
2006: The town enters into a development agreement with Berman Associates (soon to be Developers Collaborative), of Portland. The developer would pay for development, and split proceeds exceeding 15% 50/50 with the town. A market feasibility study determines light retail and residential use, with an emphasis on community neighborhood extension.
June 2008: Town meeting voters approve a master plan for the property, including eventually selling the property to a developer. The green is rezoned for village mixed use. Estimates are the developed property will add $16 million to the tax base.
Summer-fall 2008: Developers Collaborative secures a Riverfront Community Development Block Grant of $221,020, which, with matching money, will create a public park, open space and tails, including an overlook at precipice overlooking the St. George River. While retail pads are planned for after the work is completed in 2009, “The current economic climate will also play a role in the decision-making as the development moves forward,” the 2008-09FY town report says.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
June 2009: The town and St. Georges Cove LLC (Developers Collaborative) agree to an option for the developer to buy the portion of the Green not designated as public space; JBI is awarded the contract to develop the public space.
June 2010: A town party is held at the newly developed public space.
2011: As the effects of the recession continue, Developers Collaborative pulls out and by fall,the town has started negotiating with Broad Cove Builders to develop housing on several lots at the site.
2012: Discussions with Broad Cove Builders end.
June 2012: The town adopts a conditions of sale document to better market the property
2012–19: The town markets the development portion, with no takers.
2019: The town issues an RFP for development at the Green. Avesta Housing and Coastal Opportunities respond.
Sept. 15, 2020: Town voters reject both proposals.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Oct. 7, 2020: The town holds a public hearing on the future of the Green, with those speaking sharply divided on whether it should be developed.
Sources: News accounts, annual town reports, public documents
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Anonymous
November 9, 2020
The economic value of the Green does not rest with commercial development but, rather, as open green space within walking distance of most Thomaston neighborhoods. As such it will enhance the Town's image and quality as a place where families and businesses might wish to locate. The area between the existing Dragon Cement operation and the Rockland Town line is turning into a strip mall in search of a city. While ugly and an insult to neighboring Rockland, that is where businesses and development belongs (along with the Town's historic business center). Likewise, Thomaston has no shortage of land for residential development where it would make the most sense--adjacent to already existing residential neighborhoods that are mostly located just north of Main Street/Route 1. Giving away Thomaston's scenic community gateway would be a hideous and costly mistake. At the very least decisions to determine the highest, best use for this property should be left to Thomaston's future generations who probably understand better than current planners that green space is precious and irreplaceable on a planet poised for ecological disaster, largely because of past and continuing mindless economic development.
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