LEWISTON – Developers expect no major environmental cleanup will be necessary at the site of a $29 million project on the Androscoggin River.
It’s unlikely that hazardous chemicals leaked into the ground because the eight-acre peninsula surrounding the Libbey and Cowan mills is solid granite ledge, said developer Travis Soule.
“Unfortunately, most of the bad stuff people used for manufacturing at those old mills went right into the river years ago,” Soule said. “In retrospect, that’s a tragedy for the river. But it has left us with a fairly clean site to work with.”
Soule and partner Vince Lobozzo, doing business as SOLO Properties, plan to develop high-end residential, retail and dining space on Lewiston land that juts into the river at the Great Falls between the Twin Cities. The Island Point project, which involves improvements by the city of Lewiston, was announced Thursday.
Developers hope to renovate the two mills that were built in the 1850s. Last October, an environmental report on Libbey Mill concluded that the building is as clean as any building its age.
Standard cleanup
The city of Lewiston has owned the Libbey Mill site and surroundings since 2000. Environmental assessments went along with that ownership, Jeffers said.
“We knew we wanted to have that site developed eventually, and this was part of the work we were doing all along,” said Lincoln Jeffers, Lewiston’s assistant development director Jeffers said.
An environmental site study of the mill found plenty of lead paint, asbestos and light fixtures containing mercury and PCPs, as well as tar on the basement floor. It recommended those things be cleaned up.
“They drilled test wells, but ran right into the bedrock,” Jeffers said. “Anything they (the mill owners) used there never had the opportunity to seep into the ground.”
Soule and his engineers are working on a similar study for the Cowan Mill where he expects similar results.
“The entire site will be cleaned and remediated before we do anything else,” Soule said. “We expect the standard cleanup you’d have with any old building – lead paint, asbestos on some pipes and some PCPs in the old lighting structures. But frankly, we don’t expect a lot.”
Soule said he expected that study to be finished in less than 90 days.
The city has set aside $250,000 to help pay for environmental remediation, said Jeffers. It’s part of an Environmental Protection Agency cleanup grant that the city will loan to SOLO Properties.
The plan
The Island Point project anticipates $21.5 million in private investment and $7.5 million in public money.
Plans involve redeveloping:
• 134 Main St., which is currently a Central Maine Power Co. office building. It would be renovated and retooled with a third-floor call center and an Italian restaurant on the first floor. That phase of the project could be finished by next fall.
• The Cowan Mill, which would be renovated for 20 to 30 high-end condominiums, boutique retail stores and a four-star restaurant. Work on that should begin in April and take about 18 months to complete.
• The Libbey Mill, which would get a similar treatment for high-end condominiums and retail, beginning in 2006. That work should wrap up in 2007.
The plan also includes building a $10 million hotel that would be built only if the city announces plans to redevelop Bates Mill No. 5. That part of Bates Mill, which is across Main Street from the development site, is being considered for a convention center.
The city of Lewiston has earmarked $7.5 million for the project. Most of it would be for parking structures and road upgrades.
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