Machias bank to raze building for offices

MACHIAS – The Emporium, a town landmark owned by Machias Savings Bank that has fallen into disrepair, will be demolished next year to make way for a new office building and additional parking for bank employees.

With the support of the town’s selectmen, the bank is asking residents to vote Monday in a special town meeting to create a Tax Increment Financing district for portions of downtown.

Because the cost to dismantle and remove the Emporium before rebuilding on the lot is substantially more than building an entirely new office building on a different site, the bank proposed the TIF district to selectmen in May.

They support the idea, which would create the town’s first TIF district. Now the decision whether to move forward with the plan falls to voters.

Many residents and area business owners are unclear on what the creation of a TIF district actually means. Town and bank representatives took time Thursday morning to explain the proposal and process to 62 community members at an Eggs and Issues breakfast hosted by the Machias Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

About one-quarter of those attending the meeting at the Bluebird Ranch Family Restaurant were employees of Machias Savings Bank.

A TIF is a tool adopted by the Maine Legislature in 1977 to encourage local economic and community development efforts.

When a town realizes an increase in valuation created by a new investment, it also experiences a reduction in the town’s share of state revenues and an increase in county taxes. A TIF district allows the town to “shelter” the new valuation from the calculations of the state revenue sharing, education subsidy and county tax assessment.

The new bank building represents a $1.5 million investment. The 12,000-square-foot facility is to house offices and a training center for the bank’s 170 employees. One hundred five of them work in Machias.

Selectmen had scheduled a public hearing on the TIF plan for 30 minutes before the annual town meeting on June 28. That would have been followed by a vote on two articles within the warrant that would set the TIF in motion, if approved by the state.

But after realizing that they had not allowed for the minimum 10 days’ notice necessary for a public hearing, they rescheduled the hearing and vote for July 12.

Machias Savings Bank held an open house for Chamber members and the public on June 16. Even at that point, the bank was reluctant to say anything about the pending proposal.

“We don’t have any plans and we probably won’t do anything this year,” bank President Ed Hennessey told the Bangor Daily News on June 15 when asked what was in store for the Emporium.

“We’re just sort of treading water. Things take a lot longer than you expect. I’d hate to give you a story and then change our story.”

Hennessey said he would talk about the bank’s plan on July 19, after he returns from a trip to Alaska.

Meanwhile, bank Executive Vice President Donald Reynolds described the plan in detail to Thursday’s gathering. The TIF district would include the Emporium, the town-owned Colonial parking lot, and a proposed new parking lot on green space behind the Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church that the bank wants to pave, lease and maintain.

The district also would include town-owned properties, including two more parking lots and sidewalks in the area and a walkway leading to the Porter Memorial Library on Court Street.

The only private business, aside from the bank, to be included in the district is the Machias Apothecary, owned by Richard and Elaine Jacques. Next door to the Emporium, the apothecary will close on July 21, with Jacques having sold his prescription files and customer list recently to Rite Aid in Machias.

Jacques has talked with Hennessey about the bank acquiring the building, Reynolds said.

On Monday voters also will be asked whether the town should sell the Colonial parking lot, next to the Emporium, to the bank for its additional parking needs.

Over the district’s 20-year duration, an estimated $300,000 in sheltered TIF revenues would be generated for town use, Town Manager Christina Therrien noted.

bangor daily news photo by katherine cassidy

The Emporium Building in downtown Machias, owned by Machias Savings Bank and identified as a historic but blighted structure, will be torn down next year by the bank and replaced with new offices on the same lot. Machias residents will vote in a special town meeting Monday on whether the bank can develop a Tax Increment Financing district with the new building as its centerpiece.