Deal leases former Hathaway factory

WATERVILLE – The historic factory where Hathaway shirts were made for more than a century will be redeveloped into office space for MaineGeneral’s health care network under a lease deal signed Friday.

The space at the Hathaway Creative Center will be redeveloped by Niemann Capital, which specializes in revitalizing historic structures, and Paul Boghossian, a Rhode Island developer. It is expected to be ready for occupancy in the spring of 2008.

Under the lease signed with the developers Friday, MaineGeneral Health will occupy 40,000 square feet of space on the third floor of the center, making it the anchor tenant of the former shirt factory building. MaineGeneral has the option to lease an additional 10,000 square feet.

MaineGeneral will use the space as offices for 193 people.

North Carolina-based Niemann Capital also is restoring two other Maine properties. In March, Gov. John Baldacci formally transferred ownership of the Kennebec Arsenal in Augusta to the company, which will revitalize the property with condominiums, a hotel, restaurant, retail space and a new boat dock. The granite arsenal dates to 1828.

Niemann Capital also has been selected to redevelop the Eastern Fine Paper mill site in Brewer into retail, office, public and residential space. Eastern Fine Paper’s 400,000-square-foot paper mill shut down in 2004.

The Waterville site was occupied for more than 160 years by the shirtmaker known by the trademark featuring a man wearing an eyepatch. An attempt was made in the 1990s to revitalize the factory.

In a statement released for the lease signing in Waterville on Friday, Baldacci called the former Hathaway shirt factory “another historic landmark that merits revitalization” and said the project “will help advance economic development in the region while better serving the community’s health care needs.”