Environmental cleanup work to begin at Bates Mill No. 5 in Lewiston as redevelopment hopes remain

The roofing on Bates Mill No. 5 in Lewiston, seen March 13, shows signs of storm damage. Tom Platz, who is hoping to redevelop the mill, said the roofing will have to be replaced as part of environmental remediation. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — Work to remove asbestos and other contaminants from the interior of Bates Mill No. 5 will begin next month, but the 350,000-square-foot mill will need significantly more remediation work if a redevelopment is to move forward.

According to Lincoln Jeffers, director of economic and community development, abatement contractor RC Group plans to begin removing asbestos and PCB-contaminated concrete in the former generating and transformer rooms within the next two weeks. PCBs are a group of artificial chemicals that were widely used in electrical equipment.

The work will spend what is left of a $500,000 Brownfields grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the city received a number of years ago, and twice delayed the timeline for its use.

But, even after that scope of work is completed, the overall environmental remediation project faces an estimated price tag of more than $10 million, with a roof replacement also required. The initial price tag several years ago was in the $5 million range, but since then construction costs have ballooned, Jeffers said.

The pandemic has also essentially evaporated the demand for office space, making the search for potential tenants that much more difficult.

While the city has another $1 million in federal funding toward remediation, it will need to either invest or secure additional funding, especially as its purchase and sale agreement with developer Tom Platz expires in 2026. The city entered into a “final” five-year option agreement with Platz in 2021.

The city took over the building in 1992, and for decades there have been discussions on whether to redevelop or demolish the site. Despite debate, officials have continued to largely agree that a redevelopment is worth pursuing, especially as the rest of the Bates Mill complex has seen success.

Regardless of whether the mill is redeveloped or demolished, the environmental issues in the mill need to be mitigated.

Jeffers said that with the funding gap and agreement timeline closing, the issue will be something the City Council will have to discuss this year. For years, funding for the cleanup work has been included in the Capital Improvement Plan, but ultimately not funded in the city’s capital bond.

He said the project continuing to be included in the CIP “keeps people on notice that, ‘look we’ve got a problem here.’ It’s coming to a head, so collectively we need to make a determination,” he said.

When reached this week, Platz said he’s continuing to follow leads for potential tenants.

“Though we don’t have anyone definite yet, I think we are moving in the right direction as far as identifying the right sector of businesses that might be interested,” he said.

Platz, responding to a question about the condition of the roof, which a Sun Journal drone photographed this month, said the roofing, not the roof itself, “has definitely sustained some damage, however, that is part of the remediation and therefore, will be removed and replaced anyway.”

“I don’t see how that will adversely affect the project in the long run,” he said, adding that he trusts the city will get the remediation work done before the expiration of the option.

Mayor Carl Sheline on Tuesday questioned why the $1 million in federal funding isn’t being used to at least begin the roof portion of the project.

“I understand that the $1 million won’t fix the entire roof, but roofs are done in sections all the time and we can fix the area that needs it the most to prevent further rainwater damage to the structure,” he said. “The longer we wait, the less roof our $1 million will buy.”

Jeffers said Platz has continued to show the property, and that the large mill building will require a “unique tenant for that kind of space.” He said he’s had interested parties, but no commitments.

Several years ago, the project had a promising lead with talks of a partnership between the Lewiston-Auburn YMCA and Central Maine Medical Center, but that plan was eventually scrapped. Since then, the office market has declined significantly.

“We’re sailing into significant headwinds,” he said.

The textile mill was opened in 1850, and at one time employed some 5,000 people on three shifts. It closed in 1992 and the building handed over to the city for back taxes.