A group of Auburn investors bought the former Thurston mill for $115,000.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – The former J.A. Thurston’s woodworking mill was sold at auction Friday morning to a group of unidentified Auburn investors for $115,000.

More than 50 people turned out for the auction, most waiting to bid on thousands of tools and equipment that was also auctioned off by Tom Saturley, owner of the Portland firm of Tranzon Auction Properties LLC.

At least four different bidders, some real estate brokers, bid on the 75,000-square-foot mill located about four miles west of the town along Route 2.

Kevin Fletcher, a commercial broker with the Auburn firm of Coldwell Banker Millett Realty, said the nearly 17 acres and mill complex was bought on speculation. He declined to provide any additional details. He said, however, that more information may be available next week.

Immediately after it was affirmed that Fletcher’s bid was the final one, River Valley Growth Council developer Scott Christiansen told him the property is located in what many in the region hope will become a Pine Tree Zone to encourage manufacturing. He told Fletcher that an agreement to become a part of the zone must be signed by the owners by early next week.

The Growth Council has designated four potential sites in River Valley towns that it hopes will become a part of a state designated Pine Tree Zone. Such zones are being established to encourage manufacturing development through a variety of tax advantages and incentives.

Also bidding on the property was Harold Jones of Raymond, who bought another former Thurston mill on Route 120 in Rumford a few years ago. He plans to lease that structure to businesses. If he had provided the highest bid for the Route 2 mill, he said he would also lease it for new industries.

The Thurston mill on Route 2 had been leased by Saunders Brothers for several years until that company moved its operation to Greenwood last year.

The complex was built in the early 1960s, and since that time it has housed several businesses and industries, including the Mammoth Mart discount retail store and a branch of G.H. Bass and Co. shoe manufacturers.

Dozens of construction company owners and other business people also spent thousands of dollars at Friday’s auction on nearly 175 lots of equipment that included such things as scales, wheelbarrows, compressors and computers.

Saturley’s firm has made arrangements to be at the site Saturday and into next week so that the new equipment owners can pick up their purchases.

The Auburn investors must close on the land and buildings deal by Jan. 5, and pay all outstanding property taxes.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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