The River Valley Crossing shopping plaza on Route 2 in Rumford has been sold, Town Manager George O’Keefe announced to the Select Board on Nov. 20.

Cherri Crockett, register of deeds for Oxford County, said Monday that her office issued a quitclaim deed for the 11.83-acre property Friday to MainCRE of Lakewood, New Jersey. The plaza was purchased for $650,000 from Dana P. Cassidy of Caribou.

Eli Blech, owner of the commercial retail real estate firm MainCRE, said the plaza tenants Tractor Supply and Dollar Tree have been concerned about the the condition of the building and the loss of Marden’s (in January of 2023).”

Blech said a couple acres of overgrowth in front of the plaza have been removed for better visibility, drainage issues have been addressed and potholes repaired in the parking lot. The owner is also doing repairs on the former Marden’s space and other general repairs. He noted that whenever possible, they will use local venders to work on the plaza.

“I think the community is going to begin seeing the improvements very shortly,” Blech said. “I have a great deal of confidence that we’re going to invest in the center, get it up to par in terms of the existing physical condition, make it more appealing to consumers and ultimately, the goal of making it more appealing to additional retailers to join the center.”

He said, “I focus on turnarounds for shopping centers and secondary and tertiary markets. We have a specific specialty — rural markets.”

Blech said his company works with many national retailers.

“We leverage those relationships to be able to come to a property and to walk in with a vision of how we can turn it around and possibly bring in new traffic to that center with new retailers,” he said.

Rumford, specifically, has a very unique factor, Blech said.

“It has the ability to draw from many small towns in the area, which is a very important factor when pitching this to retailers,” he said.

Blech acknowledged that sometimes, it’s an uphill battle.

“There are many retailers that have not entered the Maine market,” he said. “Some of that has to do with distribution capacities. There’s a lot of travel between different locations. So when you approach such a market, you have to come with a bonified plan, what you intend.”

He noted they have already had some national retailers visit the plaza and take an interest.

“This is my first project in the state of Maine,” Blech said. “Actually, until this project, I had never even traveled to the state of Maine.”

O’Keefe said he began discussions with Blech in May 2025 after Blech saw one of the sale auctions about this plaza.

Blech said he has found the town, including O’Keefe and Code Enforcement Officer Richard Coulombe, to be terrific to work with.

“My estimation is that it’s going to take 18 months to make a huge difference,” he noted.

According to the Rumford Historical Society, the plaza was known as the Abbott Farm Shopping Plaza when it opened in 1973. It was anchored by a Zayre department store and a supermarket.

The first store to open was Sampson’s Supermarket in 1973, which became Shop ‘n Save. Zayre was the second store, also in 1973.

Ames department store took over when it acquired Zayre in 1988-89. In 1991, the plaza was home to Ames, Shop ‘n Save, Brooks, Fashion Bug and other stores.

At some point, Shop’n Save moved out. Ames closed in 2002 when the chain went bankrupt.

The space stayed vacant until a Barn Discount opened. Marden’s had since replaced that store and occupied the former Ames starting in 2007. Dollar Tree opened and was later joined by Olympia Sports and a small Sears store.