LEWISTON — More details emerged this week about the proposal for a 240-unit apartment complex at the former Pineland Lumber Co., as the Planning Board gave the project a warm reception.
Gene Beaudoin, a representative from developer Saxon Partners, presented the initial plans to the board Monday night, which would place two, four-story buildings along the river, with a smaller three-story building across Avon Street.
After its first look at the plan, board members said the project could bring needed attention to the neighborhood and help revitalize a scenic waterfront area by attracting professionals.
“Ever since Pineland left, you go over there and it just kind of looks forlorn,” Planning Board Chairman Bruce Damon said. “It’s good to see something happen with it.”
Beaudoin said the project, with small market-rate efficiency apartments, is part of a relatively new Saxon program for developing hospital workforce housing, specifically for contract nurses and other short-term jobs.
Saxon has similar projects in multiple states, where housing marketed toward hospital staff is developed within walking distance to a hospital, or in some cases, on hospital properties. Another similar project is in front of officials in Augusta.
Beaudoin estimated that walking from the apartments to Central Maine Medical Center would take seven to eight minutes. Proposed with the project are new sidewalks along Avon and Holland streets. Based on the walking distance, developers don’t think it will have the traffic impact of a traditional apartment complex.
Marketing for the units would be focused on contract nurses and medical residents that may be looking for shorter leases and smaller apartments, he said.
Most units would be between 550 and 650 square feet. The development team is hoping that at least half of the units will be occupied by medical staff.
They may also be marketed to Bates College employees.
Planning Board member Pauline Gudas told the developers that she’s hoping it’s not marketed to Bates students.
“It would be a beautiful area for keg parties,” she said.
But like others, Gudas said the proposal is exciting for Lewiston.
“I think this is great, we need something like this,” said board member John Butler. “It’s a neighborhood that’s kind of been neglected for years.”
While most of the former lumber company buildings would be demolished, he told the board that the brick smokestack is “a nice feature” that may be salvaged and incorporated into a new building.
Beaudoin described the units as having an “unusual design,” where several of the walls can move within an apartment to create various living areas. He said the developer will also pursue “lots of outdoor amenities.”
Asked about the possible rental rates, Beaudoin said the group won’t know until it has the final construction costs and potential opening date.
“This neighborhood is on the cusp, and this should certainly set the tone for what it should be going forward,” Lincoln Jeffers, director of Economic and Community Development, said.
Jeffers said that as part of the project, Lewiston Public Works would install a second waterline feed from Lake Auburn, which has been planned for years. Saxon would grant an easement to allow the city to install it.
While the board was supportive, officials said Saxon will have to come back to the Planning Board — likely in early November — for a contract rezoning application, required because of the proposed density.
David Hediger, director of Planning and Code Enforcement, asked the board to consider what design guidelines, if any, it would like to place on the contract rezoning.
“What should this look like?” he asked the board. “It could be one big block. There’s nothing that prevents that.”
Damon said the project will be very visible from the Auburn side of the Androscoggin River.
“What we don’t want is some Soviet-era block apartment building out there that stands out,” he said.
A neighborhood meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 3, at City Hall.
arice@sunjournal.com
The former site of Pineland Lumber Co. between the Androscoggin River and Avon Street in Lewiston is being eyed for a 240-unit apartment complex. The developer told city officials Monday that they may salvage the sawmill’s smokestack and incorporate it in a new building. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
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