Bank’s plans upset drugstore owners

ROCKLAND – Camden National Bank’s renovation plan for the historic Spear Block is a bitter pill to Goodnow’s Pharmacy, which has been a tenant at the corner of Main and Park streets for 65 years.

The owners of the corner drugstore were emotional Thursday at a special City Council meeting held to discuss the plan to move the Rockland bank branch into the pharmacy space when it restores the entire property, which has four storefronts. Bank executives also attended the meeting.

“We wish we could have been more involved in the process,” said Les Harvey, whose wife’s family has owned and operated the drugstore through four generations. “To be displaced is quite an emotional undertaking.”

“I’m as passionate of my store as you are about Camden National,” a tearful Lynda Goodnow Harvey said, sitting next to her husband, daughter and two granddaughters, who all work at the pharmacy. Harvey said her customers are her “extended family.”

At the very least, the family wants the bank to shift the pharmacy to the opposite corner of the building on Main Street and replicate the old store.

“People say this is the best little museum in town,” she said.

Goodnow’s owners were not the only ones angry that bank officials left them in the dark about renovation plans.

Laurie and Donald Cole were disappointed that Joe’s Hairstyling, located on the Park Street side of the building, will be displaced. Her father, Joe Cormier, opened the barbershop there in 1962.

In April 2004, Camden National Bank purchased the Spear Block and the vacant building behind it, formerly a Chinese restaurant, from Madeline Philbrick.

CNB President Greg Dufour called the renovation plan an “exciting vision for an important corner in downtown Rockland.”

The overall cost of the project, including acquisition, is $4 million to $5 million, he said, adding, “Camden National Bank is serious about its commitment to Rockland and the downtown area.

“We are at full capacity in our Rockland [branch office],” he said, explaining the bank can better serve its customers at the new location.

The move will also provide safer and expanded drive-up service, green space and improved traffic flow, he said.

The existing bank building, located near the Spear Block at the corner of Park and Union streets, would be converted into retail and office space.

In studying options, Dufour said the bank considered building a second branch in the city.

“Our minds were there, but our hearts weren’t,” he said, stressing the bank’s commitment to restoring the historic block, which has fallen into disrepair.

“It has to change for the betterment of Rockland,” he said of the old building. “This is a huge undertaking” for the bank.

After six months of researching the possibilities for the Spear Block, the bank decided to position the bank in the Goodnow’s corner, using 3,800 square feet of space. The remainder of the first floor will remain retail space on Main Street, Dufour said.

The square footage of the overall building was not readily available. The existing bank has 3,400 square feet.

The second and third floors are slated for “undefined development,” Jack Williams, CNB’s senior vice president, said, noting an elevator and new stairways will be built. “We don’t know – it could be housing.”

The bank also proposes closing off Orient Street to create better traffic flow and green space.

If all goes well, bank officials foresee a December groundbreaking and mid-2006 opening.

“This isn’t a done deal,” Mayor Tom Molloy said, assuring the public the bank’s plan will be fully reviewed by city officials.

At the close of the informal session, Councilor Adele Faber told bank executives she realizes they own the property, but “it might not be what the community wants.”

The Rockland branch of the bank is the busiest of CNB’s 12 offices, which are in Belfast, Bucksport, Camden, Damariscotta, Kennebunk, Portland, Thomaston, Union, Vinalhaven and Waldoboro.