Concepts for mill make a splash Water park among ideas for Brewer site

BREWER – Swimsuits may be required if one of three plans for the redeveloped Eastern Fine Paper Co. site, now in the process of being changed from a paper mill into a destination point, is approved by city officials.

A large, lodge-styled complex with an indoor-outdoor water park is one of three concept designs submitted last week to city in the second round of requests for proposals to redevelop the 41-acre South Brewer site.

Three developers – one individual and two teams – have submitted plans to redevelop the defunct mill, which the city acquired five months after it closed in January 2004 and is in the process of redeveloping into a multiuse facility.

“It’s quite exciting because [the water park] is radically different [from] what we’ve been looking at,” D’arcy Main-Boyington, Brewer economic development director, said Monday after spending time perusing the three concepts.

Brewer selected Minnesota-based developer Michael Stern as developer for the site last year, but after numerous changes were made to the original plans, officials decided to go out for a second round of proposals. Stern’s multimillion-dollar plans would have changed the former industrial site into a “city within a city” with housing, retail space and entertainment areas.

Even though his plans have changed, Stern is one of the three who submitted proposals to the city, Main-Boyington said.

The deadline for the concept plans was April 21.

“Two [of the concepts] are partial demo and partial rehab,” Richard Stoltz of Farmington, Conn., an economic development consultant for Brewer, said Monday by phone.

The third, the water park, calls for a complete demolition of all of the buildings except for the historic administration building, which is preserved in all three of the new designs.

A marina also is included in all three of the new concept designs.

The three developers, described as “experienced players,” are all from out of state, but “two have folks from Maine” as partners, Stoltz said.

The projected costs for the three concepts are drastically different, between $25 million and $102 million, because two are just phase I estimates and the third was submitted with full build-out costs, Main-Boyington said.

City Manager Steve Bost, who was given a quick overview of only one plan Monday, said even with only a glimpse, residents should be delighted with the site’s future.

“What I saw was very exciting, very encouraging,” he said.

City officials also wanted the development plan, with the marina concept, to tie in with its Penobscot Landing designs, which include a walking and biking path.

“That’s a real positive,” Stolz said. “Multimodal transportation is a plus without question.”

Penobscot Landing, which starts near the Penobscot Bridge and extends to the former Eastern Fine Paper Co. mill, is the city’s planned waterfront redevelopment. Penobscot Landing was started years ago and includes an interactive historic trail that runs the length and amenities including a completed children’s garden that will be planted this spring.

Main-Boyington will meet with Stoltz today to continue to review the plans. The intention is to reduce the number of projects to two within the next couple of weeks. After that, detailed questions will be asked of each developer, to ensure each can do what they say they can do, with hopes of making a final selection by the end of June, Main-Boyington said.

“It’s going to be a very tough choice,” she said.

Stoltz concurred, adding, “All of the projects have attractions to create a destination point.”