Brewer awarded $3.55M for development

BREWER – The city and developer Michael Stern have members of Maine’s congressional delegation to thank for two transportation bill earmarks, totaling $3.55 million, that will be used along the river and at The Mill at Penobscot Landing.

“The $1.75 million was spearheaded by [U.S.] Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins on the Senate side for improving the entrance and along Route 15, which is Main Street,” Drew Sachs, Brewer economic development director, said Tuesday. “The $1.8 million was spearheaded in the House by Congressman [Michael] Michaud in his role on the transportation committee.

“The whole delegation came together and coordinated the whole package,” he said.

The Brewer funds are folded into the $286 billion transportation bill that Congress approved last week and President Bush is expected to sign next week. An earmark is a special request outside the normal funding process.

Stern plans to refurbish the abandoned former Eastern Fine Paper Co. mill on South Main Street into a multiuse facility called The Mill at Penobscot Landing and needs the federal funds to jumpstart the multimillion dollar project.

“It’s extremely important,” he said Tuesday during a phone interview from his office in Plymouth, Minn. “Federal, state and local assistance is crucial to the success of the project because it’s such a massive undertaking.”

The funds will help reduce site redevelopment costs so the project “can afford to rent to the cultural arts, small businesses and businesses who can’t afford typical market rents,” the developer said. The goal is to return jobs to the defunct mill site and the region, he said.

Stern, Sachs, Brewer Councilor Gail Kelly, who also is the regional director for Snowe, and D’arcy Main-Boyington, the city’s deputy director of economic development, traveled to Washington, D.C., in March for face-to-face talks with Maine’s congressional delegation.

“Our meetings in Washington proved to be very successful, and the delegation has responded in a way that truly exemplifies their interest in returning the Eastern Fine Paper site to its status as a major contributor in the region – both for jobs and economic growth,” Stern said.

After two meetings with Gov. John Baldacci, Stern remains optimistic that the state will demonstrate more support for the project in the future.

“I have had two seemingly positive meetings with Governor Baldacci, but at this point I have received a $15,000 planning grant and only numerous assurances that significant assistance will be made available,” Stern said. “My most recent discussions with his office have made me hopeful he will come through for the region, but at this moment, I can’t point to any guaranteed funding sources.”

The Mill project plans include refurbishing the building with 32-foot-wide corridors designed to look like an old-fashioned streetscape with three or four high-end restaurants, an open market, art galleries, a cinema pub, affordable housing, condos, a marina and ice arena.

Stern also has offered to move City Hall to the former mill’s administration building, which is under consideration by city leaders.

A portion of the Senate earmark provides funding to construct a turn lane and a traffic light at the entranceway.

The House earmark is more open-ended and doesn’t list specific projects, but must be used for transportation improvements associated with the city’s waterfront.

“What we’re hoping to do with it is fund the commercial marina, some parking to serve the marina and a park and ride [commuter service] on The Mill property,” Sachs said. “We want to have a covered bus facility for both public transportation and coach [buses] and a covered public bike facility.”

Connecting The Mill project to a historic walking trail that will eventually span the length of the Penobscot River between the three bridges that connect Bangor and Brewer is another project that might be funded using the funds.

“At this point, it’s pretty much a waiting game to get the money released,” Sachs said. “But this is money we can bank on for the project.”

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud is hosting a press conference at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at The Mill entrance to announce the federal funding he helped to secure for Brewer and The Mill project.