The Lincoln Street parking garage in Lewiston, lower left, and Bates Mill No. 5 behind it in August 2019. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file photo Buy this Photo
LEWISTON — If Tom Platz does not signal to the city soon he is ready to buy Bates Mill No. 5, there is room in this last year of his option agreement for another developer to try to poach the project.
As written, Platz would need to close within 60 days of exercising the option.
But under the terms of a federal Brownfield grant, the city needs to own the building to spend $500,000 in cleanup funds, a process that will take much longer than that.
The City Council on Tuesday is expected to consider amending that original option agreement so Platz can signal his intent but close after remediation.
Lincoln Jeffers, the city’s director of economic and community development, said the likelihood of another developer approaching the city with fully formed plans for Bates Mill No. 5, tenants and financing is “minuscule, but nonetheless it’s there.”
“It’s not an extension of the term,” he said. “This just keeps the ball moving down the path.”
In 2018, Platz’s Bates Mill LLC and the city agreed to a three-year option to buy Bates Mill No. 5 for $1 that expires Feb. 28, 2021.
City Administrator Ed Barrett said Friday that Platz has made progress securing interest in the massive redevelopment.
“It’s pretty well been assumed the city would be responsible for environmental issues with the mill,” Barrett said.
City officials have started meeting with Ransom Environmental, the company chosen to oversee the cleanup work.
Jeffers said it is unclear how long the work will take. The 350,000-square-foot mill has lead paint, PCBs in the concrete floor of a generating room that need to be encapsulated and suspected asbestos in the roof that needs to be confirmed with testing.
The federal funds have to be spent by September 2022.
The second roadblock to Platz exercising the option at the moment: Language that says he and the city need to first work out a joint development agreement.
The City Council on Tuesday is also expected to consider changing that requirement to instead working out an agreement before the closing, giving both sides more time.
Jeffers said it will define the public/private partnership, outlining, for instance, how much Platz will invest and what infrastructure the city will provide, such as parking.
“One of the big issues is that we really do need (to work out) a joint development agreement,” Jeffers said.
It is now in the early draft stage. In the next few months, he said, “let’s start deciding this.”
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