Saving the Waterworks

Bangor city officials and representatives of Eastern Maine Healthcare will meet again this week to try to find an affordable way for the medical center to move into the old Waterworks buildings on State Street. One point for residents to keep in mind during these negotiations is that if the EMH cannot afford to make its relatively modest renovations to the historic site, there is a good chance no one can.

The fact that the Waterworks buildings have sat empty for decades is evidence of the difficulty of redeveloping the slender site, which is bounded by railroad tracks and the Penobscot River. At least three other serious inquiries into developing the site have failed when its unusual added costs — railroad crossing, building relocation, parking problems — were revealed. Its only advantage to the medical center is its proximity, and EMH officials have shown repeatedly that their expansion plans do not depend on adjacent sites.

Keeping the core of the Waterworks buildings, which date back to 1875, is important to a city that in the past has been too willing to surrender its history. Bangor has made a long-term practice of letting handsome old buildings decay to a point where repairing them is extremely expensive and then calling for the wrecking ball. It was a practice carried out with vigor when the federal government volunteered to help pay during urban renewal 40 years ago. Now, fortunately, many residents respect the value of keeping some of the better old buildings around as part of the city’s character.

The question that remains is whether the Waterworks is too far gone to be saved. The ice storm of 1998 was particularly hard on the structures; roofs are beginning to go, for instance, and the steel joists in the filter building will need to be replaced. EMH had originally planned to spend approximately $2 million to renovate the buildings, but the estimated cost is considerably higher than that now. City officials have been aggressive from the start in trying to help make this renovation happen — the proposed project had the city paying more than $1 million for EMH’s Affiliated Laboratories building on Sylvan Road, paying more than $250,000 for the railroad crossing, widening State Street for a new turning lane and cleaning up environmental hazards.

It may now have to do more to complete the deal, and it has good reason to be willing to look for noncash ways to help. The obvious alternative to helping a private business renovate is to tear down the buildings, which would cost the city more than $500,000. Clearly, the preferred option is to help EMH reduce the costs to where they would be if it were to build on a cleared site. (State government, by the way, has made a big deal about the problem of sprawl for the past several years. Here is an opportunity for the State Planning Office to actually do something about it by helping out with the costs at this in-town site.)

The Waterworks serves as an entry to Bangor along Route 2 and stands as a test of the city’s will to retain the better parts of its past. It is well worth the current, and perhaps final, effort to preserve it.