BIDDEFORD – A local group hopes a well-known developer of arts spaces will see several empty downtown mill buildings as a blank canvas.
Representatives of Artspace, the nation’s leading nonprofit developer of art spaces, toured the mills Thursday with local officials. Artspace Senior Director of Creative Capital Roy Close likened the site walk to the first step in starting a relationship.
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“It’s like eHarmony,” he said. “It’s like we’re meeting for a cup of coffee to get to know each other and see if we like each other.”
Close toured several mill spaces with Tammy Ackerman, executive director of Engine, a local Biddeford creative economy nonprofit, who set up the meeting. Also on the tour were about 20 local business owners, interested artists and a city councilor.
Ackerman and others say they hope Artspace will redevelop some of the mill space into units that combine living and working space, and that other development — perhaps the beginnings of an arts community — will follow.
“We believe that commerce follows culture,” Ackerman said.
The mill district, bounded roughly by Main Street, Lincoln Street and the Saco River, has been the focus of redevelopment for a number of years. It includes about 10 buildings with roughly 1.75 million square feet of floor space.
North Dam Mill was renovated, opening studio, manufacturing and office space in 2006 and residential apartments in 2008. In November, The Mill at Saco Falls, a mixed-income residential unit, opened, providing 66 apartments right along the river.
The other buildings are home to a few businesses, but remain mostly vacant.
“If you look up and down the East Coast, this is probably the best opportunity that exists,” Lincoln Mill owner Chris Betjemann said.
Walking through the large open spaces of a West Point mill building, Close ticked off some immediate issues:
• The town is a little small. Most of Artspace’s projects are in cities with about 100,000 people — Biddeford has 22,000.
• The space is bigger than what Artspace usually develops. Artspace units are typically 600 square feet, with about 30 units per project. Lincoln Mill alone has 238,000 square feet of vacant space.
• Artspace, which has 27 projects nationwide, has never before renovated a mill building.
But Arundel sculptor Barry Pitchforth saw lots of potential.
Admiring the 17-foot ceilings on the fifth floor of the Lincoln Mill and the sunlight filtering through large windows, he said the mill buildings would make a perfect place for artists to live and work.
“This could attract a lot of people if they can make it happen,” he said. “And it already sort of is.”
Pitchforth currently works a bronze foundry in his home, but would consider moving into an artists’ development.
Artspace, founded in 1979, provides combined living and work space for low-income artists. Officials visit up to 25 communities a year, with two to four leading to projects. The closest project to Maine is Read’s Artspace in Bridgeport, Conn.
Close said that if Artspace decides to pursue a project in Biddeford, the next step would be to survey artists in southern Maine to gauge interest and determine how many artists have incomes that would qualify for affordable housing.
Staff Writer Emma Bouthillette can be contacted at 791-6325 or at:
ebouthillette@pressherald.com
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