Waterville Lockwood Mill plan moves forward
Courtesy / Central Maine Growth Council
The Lockwood Mill complex, right with red roof, as well as the small building in between the two larger mills, will be developed into retail, office and residential space by North River Lockwood LLC. The plan got final approval from the Waterville Planning Board Monday night.
The redevelopment of Lockwood Mill in Waterville by North River LLC received final plan approval from the Waterville Planning Board Monday night, according to Anthony Gatti, a partner with the developer.
The project goes before the city council tonight for a public hearing and approval of a tax increment financing district.
The developers plan 132 market-rate and workforce apartments in the former mill buildings at 6 and 8 Water St. North River bought the long-vacant 182,000-square-foot mill and smaller connected building in June for $1.5 million.
The planning board unanimously approved the site plan Monday night. Tonight's city council meeting is expected to make final a move the council took last month to create a 30-year TIF district for the mill developers. The proposed district would reimburse 75% of taxes paid, with the money going back into the development.
North River plans to begin developing the mill buildings in fall 2020, and will likely be done in phases, Gatti told Mainebiz in June. North River officials have said the first phase, which is expected to cost about $20 million, would include the small former Central Maine Power building between the Lockwood building and the adjacent Hathaway Creative Center, as well as about half of the apartment units.
The majority of the initial units built would be workforce housing, and could be funded in part by low-income housing tax credits from MaineHousing, the state's housing authority, North River officials have said.
The buildings are part of a 3.5-acre, 412,000-square-foot complex that includes the Hathaway Creative Center, a similar mill building, which North River bought in 2017 for $20.5 million.
The Lockwood project isn't the only ambitious redevelopment project in Maine that New York-based North River Co. is undertaking. The developer, as North River IV LLC, bought the Portland Square complex for $66 million in 2015, considered at the time the city’s biggest real estate transaction. North River also recently submitted a master plan to the city for expanding that property. The plan adds 325,000 square feet of office, retail and residential development to what is now 6.5 acres of parking lots bounded by Cross, Cotton, Fore and Spring streets.
The project includes a 135-room hotel, under the Canopy by Hilton brand, being developed by Jim Brady's Fathom Co. The hotel plan, was approved by the Portland Planning Board in July.
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