Michaud tours Brewer project, backs funding
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
BREWER - The last time U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud was inside
the Eastern Fine Paper Co. mill, it was operational and filled with workers
going about the business of making paper.
On Monday, he toured the empty and stripped-clean facility with city officials
and Minnesota-based developer Michael Stern, who is working with the city to
redevelop the abandoned mill site into a multi-use facility, called The Mill at
Penobscot Landing.
"It's bittersweet," the Democratic congressman said. "Having worked at Great
Northern Paper Co. for 30 years, I hate to see the mill not run."
On the other hand, he's delighted to see city officials working with Stern to
redevelop the deserted facility, Michaud said.
And he wants to help get federal funding for the project.
"I'm really excited," he said. "It's a step in the right direction. It
definitely can work and I'll do whatever I can to make this facility a reality."
The Mill at Penobscot Landing is a multiphase redevelopment that will change the
41-acre South Main Street industrial site into a varied-use "city within a
city," with housing, studio and retail space for artists, shopping, restaurants
and entertainment, an ice rink or movie theater, or both.
To give Brewer a boost with the project, Michaud has tied funding to the federal
transportation bill already passed by the House and under consideration by the
Senate.
"In the transportation bill we were able to secure $1 million for Brewer,"
Michaud said. "That money could be used for this [project.]"
There are several other funding sources that are being tapped, Gail Kelly, state
director for U.S. Sen. Olympic Snowe, said during the tour.
Stern has applied for a historic designation for the 100-year-old mill under the
National Park Service's national register, and hopes to qualify for Federal
Historic Preservation Tax Incentives.
"That package is done," the developer said Monday. "It's in the state's hands
now."
The aim of the project is to create a regional destination site for people of
all ages, with access by way of the river, the highway, and, someday, maybe by
train, that draws people from all over Maine to Brewer and also promotes the
arts.
Phase one of the project is expected to cost $18 million, Stern said.
Construction of an ice rink that will be located adjacent to the facility is
expected to be started right away, he said.
"I want to get that up and operational by Nov. 1," Stern said.
The city also has applied for $1 million in revolving renovation grant funding
from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields Program and $200,000
for remediation and $350,000 in assessment funds, according to Drew Sachs,
economic development director for Brewer.
"There is a lot of work that needs to be done," he said.
The environmental cleanup alone is expected to cost between $2.5 million to $4
million, Sachs said.
"I think the sooner we get the resources in the city's hands, the faster we'll
see a positive improvement of this mill [site]," Michaud said.
A copyright article from the Bangor Daily News, Tuesday, May 3, 2004.
Penobscot
Landing
The
City of Brewer