Recent Event Highlights: Councilors stay Bates Mill No. 5 demolition, City gives Mill building one last shot, Lewiston Council skeptical about Bates 5 , Bates Mill Taskforce files report, City creates Bates Mill No. 5 Taskforce, Bates Mill exit deal sealed , and 8 more...
Created by staylorSJ on Feb 12, 2010
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 03:57 AM
Tags: Lewiston Maine
Lewiston residents are scheduled to vote on giving a sales option to Great Falls Recreation and Redevelopment LLC. If Lewiston voters approve, the group will ask voters statewide in Nov. 2011 to approve putting a casino in the building.
Councilors went back and forth on a planned 378-space parking garage in the shadow of the building and came in and out of closed-door executive sessions before deciding to delay the building's destruction.
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/806924
Chaos spread across the city as the Cowan Mill on the shore of the Androscoggin River went up in flames. Buildings around it were showered with falling cinders.
Embers from the burning Cowan Mill floated down onto the roof of Bates Mill No. 5, briefly setting the saw-tooth-roofed building across the street on fire, before fire crews could extinguish them.
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/35619
LEWISTON — The City Council agreed Tuesday night that it is time to knock down Bates Mill No. 5, the massive building at the corner of Main and Lincoln streets. “We have spent thousands of dollars in minimal roof and structural repairs and over $200,000 per year to heat a structure with very little monetary return,” said Councilor Denis Theriault. “Yet we continue to play this endless game of not making a decision.” That ended Tuesday. Theriault and fellow councilors voted to begin taking proposals to demolish the building. Everything is on the table, Theriault said. He’s even willing to consider hiring an explosives expert to implode the building. “We know that it was built to survive everything, except maybe the ravages of time and water,” Theriault said. “It’s still sturdy enough that we know it’s going to take some doing. Just bringing in a bulldozer will not do it.” City Administrator Jim Bennett said he needed about 60 days to set up the proposal process and another 60 days to take bids. Finance Director Dick Metivier said demolishing the building could cost as much as $3 million. When heating and maintenance costs are figured in, the city could save an estimated $51,000 per year by demolishing the building. The sawtooth-roofed building is the last of the original Bates Mill complex still owned by the city. A task force recommended last summer that the city use the space for a convention center. The City Council asked for development bids for the building, but it didn’t get any takers. “No one showed up with their checkbook,” Theriault said. He said an empty lot will be much more developable. “It’s clear to me that the land under that building is much more valuable than the building itself,” he said. Theriault also called for the remains of the building to be pulverized and used to fill the city’s old quarry on River Road or to partially back-fill the downtown canals. Councilors agreed that it was time to move. “It’s the right time for this,” Councilor Tom Peters said. “We were not wrong to take our time. We needed to check and see if it was possible to redevelop the building. But nothing was qualified to fill it, so it’s time to be done with it — and not because it’s butt-ugly or because it’s an architectural masterpiece.” staylor@sunjournal.com.000
City seeks plans for Bates Mill No. 5 LEWISTON — The saw-toothed Bates Mill No. 5 will get one more shot at redevelopment, city councilors said this week. They agreed to look nationally for bidders to redevelop the aging, 345,500-square-foot building in the center of downtown along Main and Canal streets. They’ll accept redevelopment proposals until July 25. “We’re looking for someone who has ideas about what we can do with that space, and the ability to flesh those ideas out and move in,” City Councilor Denis Theriault said. “You never know what they’ll come up with, so we’re asking. But this is the last time.” City councilors officially received a report in March from a 15-member task force that studied possible uses for the building. According to the task force’s report, demolishing the building would cost about $4.15 million. Constructing a convention center could cost between $40 and $58 million, but would create jobs and spawn other economic benefits, attracting more hotels, retail and restaurants. The task force also studied the costs associated with marketing the mill for private development. It estimates that would cost about $200,000. The building is the last part of the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex that the city still owns. The site has been considered for a convention center for years. “It’s time to do something,” Theriault said. The city spent $315,060 on the building in 2006 and $179,667 in 2007. The 2007 spending was offset by parking revenue and a short-term lease of the space. “Now we need to get the word out about this,” Councilor Tom Peters said. “That’s going to be the best gauge to see if anyone is interested.” Lincoln Jeffers, assistant to the city administrator, said he plans on sending the bid package to developers nationwide. But he cautioned councilors about high expectations from out-of-state developers.
Knock down or build up? Residents urge national marketing of Bates Mill No. 5 By Scott Taylor Staff Writer LEWISTON — City councilors said they were skeptical about converting the massive Bates Mill No. 5 into a convention center. A handful of residents were skeptical about tearing the mill down. “One of the best ways to keep this community vibrant economically is to have a few things that are showpieces for New England,” said Auburn resident Bonnie Lounsbury. “I think Mill No. 5 can be that showpiece.” They urged councilors to leave the structure intact for the time being, while marketing it nationally. “It makes no sense for the city to tear the building down now,” Lounsbury said. “What will sell the site is not a vacant lot, but the existing building.” City councilors officially received a report from a 15-member task force that studied possible uses for the saw-toothed-roofed building along Main and Canal streets. Councilors accepted the report Tuesday, thanked the people who wrote it, and officially disbanded the group. And they promised to review all of the options presented. “We have a job to do, and we are going to do it,” Councilor Tom Peters said. The building is the last part of the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex that the city still owns. The site has been considered for a convention center for years. The city spent $315,060 on the building in 2006 and $179,667 in 2007. The 2007 spending was offset by parking revenue and a short-term lease of the space. The previous City Council created the task force in March 2007 to study possible uses for the mill. The group has looked at city plans, past studies and commissioned marketing studies of its own. The task force’s report and appendices are on its Web site, at batesmill5.blogspot.com. It includes downloadable copies of a 2003 convention center economic analysis, structural and concrete analysis, letters to the editor and newspaper columns. Demolishing the building would cost about $4.15 million, according to the report. Constructing a convention center could cost between $40 and $58 million, but would create jobs and spawn other economic impacts, attracting more hotels, retail and restaurants. The task force also studied the costs associated with marketing the mill for private development. It estimates that would cost about $200,000. Convention skeptics Councilor Robert Reed said he was skeptical about the costs of taking on $40 million in debt to convert the building to a convention center. Even split up over 20 years, the annual debt payments and costs to the city would amount to well over $3.5 million. “Even if we built 10 new hotels with restaurants and 14 additional restaurants, we’d only generate about $2.6 million in new revenues,” Reed said. “How could we be expected to run nearly a $1 million deficit?” And Councilor Denis Theriault said he is worried that the structure could not support redevelopment. Between aging concrete, last century building standards and other site issues, he expects redeveloping the building would be much more expensive than even the task force suggested. “You think $30 to 40 million to redevelop this? Theriault said. “Dream on.” Several architects attended the meeting to urge councilors to preserve the building. Like Lounsbury, they insisted the building has historic value and could attract private investment. But Lewiston resident Bruce Damon said they were wrong. “The city has owned that building for 14 years, and if private business thought it could be developed for a profit they would have stepped forward,” the 22 Buttonwood Lane resident said. “Now is the time to take a step for the future and prepare that site for development. It’s time to give developers a clean site that they can build the way they want to.” staylor@sunjournal.com
Bates Mill 5 costs equal
By Scott Taylor
Staff Writer
LEWISTON — Three possible fates for the massive Bates Mill No. 5 building — reusing it, demolishing it or leaving it — will cost the city virtually the same amount of money for the next few years.
That was the word Friday from a group of 15 Twin Cities people who have been reviewing documents, economic forecasts and engineering studies of the former textile plant for the past year. It forecast that no matter what the city does with the building it will cost Lewiston between $250,000 and $350,000 per year.
“The decision faced by the Lewiston City Council and the community is how to best leverage that money,” the report states.
Members of the Bates Mill No. 5 Task Force will present their report to the Lewiston City Council on Tuesday night. That meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The building is the last part of the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex that the city still owns. The site has been considered for a convention center for years. The city spent $315,060 on the building in 2006 and $179,667 in 2007. The 2007 spending was offset by parking revenue and a short-term lease of the space.
Demolishing the building would cost about $4.15 million. Constructing a convention center could cost between $40 million and $58 million but would create jobs and spawn other economic impacts, attracting more hotels, retail and restaurants.
The task force also studied the costs associated with marketing the mill for private development. It estimates that would cost about $200,000.
Lincoln Jeffers, assistant to the city administrator, said he and task force Chairman Mike Carey were making edits to the 40-page report as late as Friday morning.
The final report also includes hundreds of pages in appendix material that are not included in the online versions.
Most of the appendix is on the task force’s Web site, at http://batesmill5.blogspot.com. It includes downloadable copies of a 2003 convention center economic analysis, structural and concrete analysis, letters to the editor and newspaper columns.
The report also looked at a handful of other uses.
It discarded using the building as a parking garage because it would not generate an economic benefit and because building a new garage would be less expensive.
It discarded using the space as a museum or cultural center because it is too large for a single group and funding to run it would be difficult to find.
The report said the building is poorly suited for a sports arena and not laid out properly to work as shopping mall or retail center.
It shed the idea of a casino because it’s illegal and could tarnish Lewiston’s image.
staylor@sunjournal.com
http://batesmill5.blogspot.com/
A 15 member taskforce will study old reports, engineering and economic feasibility plans and recommend a use for the Bates Mil Building No. 5.
http://batesmill5.blogspot.com/
Platz Associates and city officials should close on mill development deal today By Scott Taylor Staff Writer LEWISTON — The city should be out of the mill development business today as developers Platz Associates and city officials close on the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex deal. City officials and Platz negotiated the deal last year. City Administrator Jim Bennett said lawyers for both sides have been ironing out details since then. The final signing is scheduled for 9 a.m. The agreement gives developer Tom Platz and his partners control of most of the remaining buildings in the Bates Mill complex. The city keeps buildings No. 5 and No. 9, according to the agreement. “It’s just a matter of signing some paperwork and moving the money around,” Bennett said. “As of this afternoon, we should be done with the mill.” The city took over ownership of the property in 1992 and has been renovating mill buildings and selling them to Platz and his business partners. They began negotiating an exit strategy for the city in October 2002, and councilors signed off on the plan in December 2003. According to the deal, Platz Associates takes control of all but Mill No. 5 and the steam generation plant. Platz would not pay for those buildings. The city agrees to pay annual support, pay for some environmental cleanup and exterior renovations, and would need to provide parking for the project. The deal cuts the city’s investment at the mill nearly in half, from an estimated $59.2 million over the next seven years to $27.5 million. It does so by limiting the number of parking spaces and the extent of environmental cleanup the city has to provide. The deal also gets the city off the hook for interior renovations at the remaining mill buildings and some $750,000 annually in operations support. The contract requires Platz to invest a minimum of $5.3 million over the next three years. staylor@sunjournal.com
Developers to hear city exit ideas By Scott Taylor Staff Writer LEWISTON - There's no harm in asking, councilors decided Tuesday. Councilors cleared the way for City Administrator Jim Bennett to begin negotiations with Tom Platz to extricate the city from the Bates Mill. At the same time, councilors sent Bennett to the Lewiston Mill Redevelopment Corp. and L/A Excels to help pay for a new convention center feasibility study in Mill No. 5. Bennett said he hopes to have both issues settled quickly - before January, at latest. "I have to start putting together a new budget, and this is a very large part of it," he said. "I don't have time to sit around." Last month, Bennett suggested the city should hand control of most of the mill redevelopment to private developers and focus on Mill No. 5. But the city cannot just walk away from the complex, he said. According to agreements with Platz, the city must upgrade sidewalks, roads, utilities and parking around the complex. That wouldn't change if the city walked away, he said. "Anyone who thinks there's an easy way is not paying attention," Bennett said. "There are significant legal agreements tying us into this." The city took over ownership of the property in lieu of back taxes in 1992. The City Council decided to begin working to renovate individual mill buildings and created the LMRC to manage it. The city joined with local developer Platz Associates to begin renovating the mills. Platz and his partners purchased mills 3, 6 and 7 from the city for $2 million last year and also reimbursed the city $3 million that it spent to rehabilitate Mill No. 3. Platz also committed $10 million to finish that mill and to improve Mill No. 6. The developer has options to purchase the remaining buildings as they become economically feasible. That includes Mill No. 5. The mill costs between $750,000 and $1 million to run every year, and Bennett said that won't change if the city runs the complex, if private developers run it or if the city lets it sit. Last week, Platz Associates partner Pat Maiorino said any private developer would need financial help to make the project feasible. Negotiations would center on determining just what capital projects are required and just how much help developers would need from the city to defray those operating costs, Bennett said. "According to the agreement now, the developer assumes very little risk," Bennett said. "What we are looking to do is shift some of the risk on these projects to him. He might have to hustle a little more to get things done, but I think he's better suited to that than we are. On the flip side, he gets rid of the political risk from having councilors turn over every two years." Mill No. 5 Lewiston shouldn't develop Mill No. 5 itself, Bennett said. Instead, the city needs to line up financial support from the state to build a convention and meeting complex there and look for regional support to run it. "A project like this would cost significant money to build and run, but it would impact the economy all around, not just in downtown Lewiston," Bennett said. "I don't think we could possibly assume the debt service on this project. I think we need more help than that." According to a 1997 Coopers and Lybrand convention center feasibility study, a downtown Lewiston meeting complex could generate $25 million in spending from visitors. The state would get the biggest windfall from those revenues, in the form of sales taxes and gasoline taxes. Businesses in Lewiston and Auburn would benefit from new customers. The city's benefit would be smaller, in the form of high property values in the downtown area. "I'm not interested in being the engine that benefits everybody, at our expense," Bennett said. But Bennett said the 1997 study is woefully out of date. Before he can pitch the idea to the state and around the region, he needs a new study. Bennett said the study should cost about $5,000, and councilors told to him ask the LMRC and L/A Excels to share those costs. But Councilor Renee Bernier wasn't satisfied. There's too much talk going on, she said, and not enough action. "We have some stupid agreements tying our hands, and I don't think there's much we can do about that," Bernier said. "People need to understand that we cannot cut the cord on this project easily. The easiest way out of this for the city might be to put every other project in the city on hold and put all of our resources into developing this thing once and for all. Otherwise, it's just going to continue nickel and diming us to death." "I still think our first step is to talk to the developer, before we go off and do something else," Mayor Larry Raymond said. "The bottom line is, we need to talk to the developer and then see where we go from there."
The "no" vote on the Bates Mill referendum won every precinct of every ward with 56 percent of the vote during Tuesday's election, giving mill supporters something to cheer about. Voters were asked if they agreed no more money should be spent funding a convention center or purchasing additional land for parking at the mill. A "yes" vote was against the city-endorsed master plan for the mill; a "no" vote was for it. The same question will appear on the 1999 ballot, which is the legally binding referendum. Tuesday's question was not legally binding but considered "morally" binding by councilors.
An engineering roof inspection of the building reveals its in overall good shape, with deterioration in places. It recommends several girders be replaced.
The city, Bates Mill LMRC and Austin Associates work with Coopers and Lybrand to study the economic feasibility of building a convention center on the building site. The center would provide $3.9 million in economic impact to the community once its operations were stable, according to the study. That includes money spent in local hotels, restaurants and shops.
"We met well into the evening. We realized if something didn't happen and didn't happen relatively soon, the heat was going to be shut off. It was early November, winter was coming. If the pipes froze, the roof was going to cave in. We were going to have acres of dilapidated mill buildings on our hands in the heart of downtown.
So, it wasn't a decision that was made that night, but (eventually) the city essentially decided to take over the building. "
— Former Mayor James Howaniec (Sun Journal Oct. 24, 1998)
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/802629
Buyers receive a certificate of ownership with the spread for the retail price of $27.50 each. Other bedspreads sell for between $5 and $12.
The Maine Heritage Weavers continue to manufacture the pattern, now marketed under the name "Martha Washington Choice."
http://www.batesmillstore.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=28
Designed by Architect Albert Kahn.
The building was constructed without using combustion engines and all work was done through human or horse power. Concrete for the building was mixed on site, hauled to the top of wooden towers by horse. Concrete was then dumped down the chutes to the areas it was needed. Train tracks ran right to the site, and raw materials for the construction were delivered in that manner. Source: - City of Lewiston
Predicting a long conflict, Lewiston mills purchase large amounts of cotton at 12 cents per pound. With cotton scarce, most New England mills are forced to close while the Lewiston mills continue operations. Bates becomes a major supplier of the Union Army, providing duck cloth tents.
Benjamin E. Bates begins operation of Bates Manufacturing Company as Governor John Hubbard signs the act of incorporaion.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R2UgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a2YFAAAAIBAJ&dq=benjamin%20bates&pg=1713%2C2078355
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