Located in Oak Village in Scarborough, Firehouse Village celebrated the site’s history by renovating the existing fire and police station into a mix of uses including a local grocery store, a fish market, a pizzeria, a fitness club, a daycare, offices, and a community room. In line with established smart growth principles, the project is rounding out the mixed-use approach by constructing 31 new affordable senior residences owned by Avesta Housing. The development team persisted through a zone change, a global pandemic, and rapid construction cost escalation to deliver this project which has brought economic opportunity and new housing stock in lieu of vacated buildings and parking lots. The project has created a campus feel with ample placemaking opportunities to enhance the community-based setting that’s naturally found in mixed-use projects. Presently a multitude of businesses are currently operating out of the renovated Fire and Police stations while the adjacent affordable senior housing building is nearing completion.
Location and Site Acquisition
The Town of Scarborough sought to maximize the value of the former public safety lot at 246 US Route 1. Rather than a typical request for proposals, the Town Council empowered the Town Manager to take the proposal to the open market in November of 2017. The site received strong interest and at least a dozen parties provided proposals. The Town evaluated proposals on their financial merit and development intent. Town officials sought to maximize the site to its highest and best use. From this analysis, Jack Soley and Tim Hebert were selected as preferred buyers in November of 2019. The zone changes to allow for Jack and Tim’s vision occurred concurrently with the acquisition; the Town wanted to ensure that a zone change would not occur unless the sale went through.
What challenges did you overcome in this project?
Municipal Approvals:
The entire site, the commercial buildings and senior housing, was permitted together in 2021 with final approvals in April. Only site plan approval was sought in accordance with an amendment to the State Statue, Title 30-A, section 4402(6); subdivision approval was not required despite the differing uses. However, in only seeking site plan approval and not subdivision approval, we complicated our eventual closing. State law requires that divisions of land in excess of two require subdivision approval. Our initial plan for ownership had required that we subdivide the land into at least three land condominium units. We thus abandoned the plan for a land condo and pursued a 90-year land lease of approximately .44 acres of the larger site. Leases must typically be in excess of 90-years for LIHTC financing.
Extended Timeline:
- November 2017 – site put on market.
- November 2019 – Jack Soley & Tim Hebert selected.
- November 2019 – zone changed to accommodate proposal.
- April 2021 – Jack and Tim begin work on commercial spaces.
- June 2021 – tax increment financing approved.
- September 2021 – application to MaineHousing.
- October 2022 – Construction Loan Closing.
- February 2024 – Certificate of Occupancy.