An acre of the former Tee Em Up driving range will soon be home to Jane Bell’s Allstate Insurance office. Keep Me Current file photo
GRAY — While an acre of the former Tee Em Up driving range will soon be home to a new business, the fate of the rest of the property is uncertain.
Since the driving range closed in 2014, Tee Em Up Inc. has been searching for an alternative use for the 38-acre property at 45 Portland Road, and seemed to have settled on a Planned Unit Development, a type of commercial development.
Mike Cobb of Cardente Real Estate said the plan is to develop 15 acres into nine commercial lots. The Planning Board has given the project preliminary approval.
However, Cobb’s father, also Mike Cobb, owner of Tee Em Up and a real estate developer, recently said he is reconsidering that plan.
“I have so many irons in the fire that I have more than I really want, to be honest,” he said. “I’m thinking of maybe putting the balance of the property on the market and having another developer see it through.”
The elder Cobb said he has explored various uses for the property, including a senior housing project and a condominium project.
He believes a commercial subdivision is the best use for the property but is still hesitant.
“If I didn’t have so many other projects going on,” he said, “I would probably just follow this through and complete it because I really do think it’s a very saleable project and it’s one the town desperately needs.”
In the meantime, the fate of the single-acre lot is sealed: It will soon be home to Jane Bell, an Allstate Insurance agent based in Gorham.
Bell Management recently bought the property, which includes a commercial building with a wraparound porch, for $200,000.
Bell said she hopes to move into the new location in mid-June. There will be renovations to the building as well as landscaping.
While her Gorham location will remain open, the Allstate office in Gray will be moving from 31 Lewiston Road into the building near the shuttered driving range and will be named Bell Agency.
“I think it’s going to be great for us,” Bell said. “I really think that Gray as a community is growing. It’s good timing for us to get into that market. We’re really looking forward to staying an integral part of the Gray community and looking forward to our new location.”
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