RUMFORD — USDA Rural Development Maine State Director Rhiannon Hampson met with local officials and business leaders on Dec. 13 to celebrate recent USDA awards and to learn about emerging economic development opportunities in the area.

Her first stop was a tour of the former Continental Bag Mill at 60 Lowell St. in Rumford and to learn more about the development work Kara Wilbur of 60 Lowell Street LLC has planned for the property.

Last spring, 60 Lowell Street LLC secured a $500,000 Rural Energy for America Program grant and a REAP loan as well to help cover the cost to install to install an energy-efficient hydronic heat pump system with heat recovery for heating and cooling at the Lowell Street mill redevelopment. The energy-efficient system will service the four-story, 64,000-square-foot structure that the company intends to develop into a 35-room hotel with amenities such as a café, restaurant, and pool.

Wilbur said currently one and a half floors are occupied. “Then there’s two and a half floors that have been vacant for a very, very long time. So we’ve been trying to come up with a redevelopment plan so we can put this back in operation.”

The second floor is occupied by several businesses, including a child care facility, a counseling center, a dentistry, a hairdresser, the senior center, and a newspaper.

Half of the third floor is the UMA Rumford Center.

Wilbur said the big move is to try to create the kind of income necessary to make the building work is lodging. The top floor and a half is converting all the vacant spaces into lodging rooms.

The plan is for 12 lodging units on the third floor. A two-bedroom and the rest are one bedroom.

Fourth floor will have the remaining 23 units. Potentially, some of the units could have two to three beds.

Each floor will have a laundry room as an amenity.

In total, 35 lodging units, with a mix of long-term stays and shorter stays.

Wilbur said that like a hotel, with longer term stays like three or four months. The rooms will all have kitchens.

She noted that Revision Energy is also investing in this building. “They’re going to buy solar panels and install them on the roof and operate them. So we will get discounted electricity as part of the deal.”

Rumford Economic Development Director George O’Keefe said there are three myths about this area.

“One is that we’re too far away. Two is that everything is dependent on the mill, and three, that we’re in decline.”

He said, “With people outside the community, you will get a combination of those three that will produce a subtle and silent resonance to development, and that’s reality, and so we don’t try to fight it.”

O’Keefe said he believes the vision for the community should be that “it’s a place where people can thrive. The first step to provide for that is housing, but then the other piece of that is that you really have to have a really robust municipal tax base.

Wilbur said, “I think that a major objective of the lodging is that it will bring a lot more people to help support potential future businesses.”

Hampson added, “Mixed use buildings, specifically where we could have non-profits housed on a main street space next to a small business with affordable housing units in the same space because we don’t have the critical mass to separate those out in our rural space.”

She then asked, “When you think about the people who are going to be using the lodging here, what is your lodger looking like?”

Wilbur responded, “I think it’s going to be people who were gaging in outdoor recreation for sure, and we may have some contractors…While there’s a hotel over there (Best Western Plus, Rumford Falls), it’s sometimes full.”

She said they’re going to have a boutique-type product, with a cafe, and offer some alternative to Dunkin’ Donuts and try to use Maine Grains products. A pool, hot tubs and a sauna downstairs, and other offerings.

O’Keefe said Rumford has a shortage of all market tiers of lodging. “We have a lot of demand here. There’s a lot of opportunity here, but we don’t always get recognized for the quality of opportunity, but we still get left behind, a lot.”

Wilbur said in part due to the high interest rates, she said she could use another source of funding for this effort. “But not one that takes a year.”

Last April, she said they wanted to start the roughly 18-month project in November. The goal then was for completion by February 2025.

Hampson responded that those “are really hard to find, especially when we’re facing endless continuing resolutions. Some of our programming is simply just not funded right now. We have programming that will not be funded until we’re on a regular continuing appropriations.”

She added, “One of the things I would caution you about when it comes to our funding is that it’s just not fast. But it’s reliable and dependable.”

O’Keefe said this project will bring this building “to its highest and best use for the first time since 1936 when Continental Paper Bag Company shut down.”

He added, “I’m pretty pleased at the prospect of this building finally returning at full use for our community. This is a huge testament to the hard work of the River Valley Growth Council 20 years ago that made the effort to acquire this property from Mead Corporation. And we are very grateful for Kara’s investment in the community.”

Among the serious challenges facing rural towns are a lack of sufficient housing and childcare options. Acknowledging these and other obstacles, Director Hampson pointed out that, “Maine needs to retain families who have spent generations calling the state home while also attracting new people, fresh perspectives, and emerging businesses. To make this happen, we need the federal government to reinvest in the very people and communities who have spent lifetimes working hard for all of us.”

Towards that end, USDA Rural Development has delivered over $30 million in housing dollars to rural Oxford County in the last two fiscal years. Included in that total is one of the agency’s most impactful programs, flexible mortgages for low-income homebuyers. Oxford County residents borrowed more than $5.1 million through USDA’s Single Family Housing Direct Home Loans to purchase homes during that period.

For towns like Rumford to continue to thrive, businesses need access to both private and federal capital. Concluding the event, Director Hampson looked ahead to future collaborations, saying, “We are excited to partner with dedicated teams of community leaders and small business owners to explore solutions and opportunities across the state. USDA Rural Development shows up for small town Maine, and it has been a particular pleasure to learn more about this beautiful region.”

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