Waterfront condo design pitched Council to eye development modeled after former Bangor landmark

BANGOR – A Maryland developer apparently has made good on his promise to design a waterfront condominium complex that plays off one of the city’s most missed architectural gems: Union Station.

The historic railroad facility was torn down in the early 1960s to make way for Penobscot Plaza on Washington Street.

Several of Union Station’s features, including its clock tower and the dome-shaped doorways on its bottom level, have been incorporated into the conceptual design for a condominium complex proposed for Bangor Waterfront by John Sites, owner of Somerset Development of Bel Alton, Md.

Sites, who has several family connections in Maine, has tentative developer status for the city-owned waterfront parcel located at the corner of Railroad and Summer streets. Two of Sites’ local representatives presented conceptual plans to the city council’s business and economic development committee, which has jurisdiction over development on city-owned parcels. After the presentation, the committee agreed to advance the proposed development to the full council.

An order authorizing a development agreement between Sites and the city will appear on the agenda of the council’s next regular meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall. If the order is approved, staff will work with Sites’ representatives to hammer out details of the development agreement, which will set out such terms as the minimum level of investment the city will require and a timeline for various project milestones.

The agreement will go before the council for adoption, likely by the end of August, according to Rod McKay, the city’s community and economic development director.

During Wednesday’s presentation, Orrington contractor Dick Campbell and Amy McLellan, a commercial and business broker with ERA Dawson-Bradford Co. of Bangor, outlined Sites’ plans for a five-story complex, which has yet to be named.

The complex would comprise 47 residences, eight of them penthouse units, expected to sell for from $259,000 to $800,000 plus, depending on each condominium’s size and location in the building.

The facility also will have indoor parking for 80 vehicles, an elevator, storage space for residents, function and club rooms and a lobby.

While the four councilors who attended Wednesday’s meeting said they liked what they saw so far, three also expressed some concerns about financing.

It was the inability to pull together a financial package that proved to be the downfall of a prior condominium project unveiled in 2003 by Brian Ames of the Bangor design firm AMES A/E.

That project, which involved deadline extensions from the city, tied up the prime waterfront parcel for several years.

“I think it’s a good project. I like the plans,” Councilor Susan Hawes said. She added, however, that given the city’s recent history with condo proposals, officials wanted to avoid a project that would “go on and on and on” without yielding results.

“We want to make sure it’s a good choice,” she said. She said she hoped that if the numbers don’t work out, “you’d know when to pull the plug.”

Council Chairman Richard Greene shared those concerns. The Ames proposal was heavily dependent on presale revenues, he noted. He asked whether Sites’ financing company, Coro Investments, could proceed with the project without depending on the presale of any units.

McLellan, who will be marketing the units, said the financing company has the wherewithal to construct the project without presale revenues. Despite that, however, presales likely will be part of the package.

While a market-value appraisal for the project was “very favorable,” McLellan said, there are no comparable projects north of Portland with which to compare it, as noted in the June 30 appraisal submitted to the city.

The developer still must submit and obtain approval for preliminary and final plans and provide a construction progress schedule, evidence of financing and a construction contract.

The developer also must obtain site plan approval from the city’s planning board and obtain any other permits required as part of the project.

Though Sites initially hoped to start construction “the day after the [American Folk] Festival” in August, he now aims to start building in the spring of next year, Campbell said.