WESTBROOK – In the midst of a down economy, the Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook is humming with activity. Four months after a new owner took over, the building is on its way to a record level of capacity.
A year ago, the outlook was far different. Then-owner Timothy Flannery’s plans to continue turning the aging former spinning mill into a thriving office and small-business complex seemed very much in doubt after he defaulted on his $4.8 million mortgage on the building in September 2010.
For months, the building’s future remained in a holding pattern, with Bank of America officially taking ownership and a Portland-based property management company collecting the rent from the mill’s tenants. Not a good prognosis for what was and remains one of the city’s highest-profile development properties, nestled along the Presumpscot River, a short walk from the city’s downtown area.
But over the summer, the property got a much-needed shot in the arm from a new investor. Alexsandar (Sas?a) Cook, 34, a principal at Schoodic Capital, a consortium of five different family-owned companies, bought the building this year, officially taking ownership in June. He and Schoodic Capital own three other buildings in town: 201 Main St., just next door to City Hall, a building that houses various professional financial and medical offices; 529 Main St., which houses, among other things, Medeo European Food and Deli; and 650 Main St., which houses Brazier’s Barber Shop.
The mill originally opened in 1881, and closed in the late 1950s. Flannery, who bought the building in 1997, promised to attract an eclectic mix of businesses, and had some degree of success prior to last fall.
Since taking over the building, Cook said he has spent $250,000 on new renovations. Among other things, Cook said he is working on updating the building’s elevators, redesigning the lighting system to run on sensors, which he hopes will cut the building’s electric bill in half, and putting some much-needed work into the roof.
“The roof was in really terrible condition,” he said.
It’s hard to find evidence of a recession in the building. This week, Cook invited a reporter to see a new space being cleaned up and prepared for the newest tenant, Choices are for Everyone Inc., a nonprofit serving the developmentally disabled.
Since Cook took over, he has added three new tenants, who are now occupying 15,000 square feet. That moves the building’s total occupancy from 74 percent to around 80 percent, Cook said.
Keith Luke, Westbrook’s director of community and economic development, said he wasn’t absolutely sure if that rate has set a record yet, but if not, it was close, and if Cook’s business model keeps attracting tenants, Luke said, he will set records there for sure.
“The Dana Warp Mill is fully leased, or more fully leased, than it ever has been,” Luke said.
Those tenants still include an eclectic mix of small to medium-sized companies, from a martial arts studio to a skin products seller to another company that makes barbecue sauce.
One tenant is the Bakery Photographic Collective, a group that supports local photographers, and is perhaps best known for its annual Photo a Go-Go event, held in December, a silent auction that showcases the works of local and regional photographers, and tends to attract well over 1,000 people to the area.
Tanja Hollander, co-director of the collective, said the group got its name from a bakery building it used to occupy in Portland. Five years ago, Hollander said, the group found the rates at the mill, along with small business loan support from the city, too attractive to resist.
“We were getting outpriced in Portland,” she said.
Hollander said the group has invested in its Westbrook location, spending $40,000 installing darkrooms and other equipment. Despite the change in ownership, Hollander said, operations haven’t skipped a beat.
“It’s been a great relationship,” she said.
Another tenant who witnessed the change in ownership was Sam Eddy, general manager of jobsintheus.com, a company that produces state-specific online employment listings, such as jobsinme.com.
When the bank took ownership of the property last fall, Eddy said he had faith that someone would eventually take over.
“I guess the question mark in everybody’s mind was, who was going to own the building,” he said.
Cook, Eddy said, has proven to be a good landlord so far. He has made good on his promises to repair what needs fixing, and improve other areas.
“He said he was going to do things, and he’s doing them,” Eddy said.
As to why he stays in the mill, Eddy said he likes old buildings, and his company has been a happy tenant since moving into the mill building in 2003.
“It follows the recycling mantra: Why build something new if you can use it?” he said.
Cook said there is no big secret to his success. He simply offers a lot of space for as little money as possible. Right now, a new tenant can rent a 300-square-foot space for $200-$300 a month, and that includes heat, hot water, and electricity.
“If you’re the kind of company that’s just graduated from your garage, the mill is the perfect place for that,” he said.
Compared to the surrounding area, Cook said, the mill rates are a good bargain, and cited tenants who have moved into the mill from Portland as an example.
“I think you’ll continue to see a migration from the Portland peninsula to Westbrook,” he said.
Luke agreed that rental rates for businesses in communities around Westbrook tend to be much higher. That, coupled with the current economic woes, he said, will bring more business to the mill, and to Westbrook in general.
“An increasing number of businesses are looking at how far their dollars will go,” he said. “I think there’s a renewed respect for watching the bottom line. I think that bodes well for Westbrook.”
But Luke also is mindful of the need to add to the region, not just Westbrook. The Greater Portland Economic Development Corp., which Luke is a part of, won’t benefit much from businesses simply moving from one location in the greater Portland area to another.
The hope, Luke said, is for prime rental spaces like the Dana Warp Mill to attract new entrepreneurs looking to use fresh venture capital money to start a company. Luke said Portland is not so far away from New Hampshire, and even Boston, that it can’t attract new investors from those areas.
“These guys can locate here, find the workers they need, and (still) locate the capital in the metropolitan Boston area,” Luke said.
When asked what he wanted to see in the mill’s future, Cook said he could see a recreational outfitter or a similar business. He also said he wouldn’t rule out seeing a classic brew pub setting up shop in the mill with a view of the river, but Cook quickly added he wasn’t planning on renting out to just anyone. He wants his tenants, he said, to have a positive impact on the area.
He has a watchful eye, for example, on Doughboys, the eatery right across the street, which he calls “a great asset” to the mill. He would not want to see a restaurant in his building put them out of business, or draw more business away from an already struggling downtown Westbrook.
“It’s ‘How can I help my neighbors?’ not ‘How can I put them out of business and extract the biggest buck for myself?'” he said. “My intent is not to put something new here and take a piece out of an already diminished pie.”
He is interested in maintaining the character of the building, too. The building’s smokestack, which is no longer being used, was until recently crumbling into disrepair. While some property owners might have simply taken it down, Cook said he spent $50,000 restoring it.
Why? For Cook, the answer is simple.
“It’s a mill building. It’s got to have a smokestack,” he said.
Aleksandar “Saša” Cook, managing member at Schoodic Capital LLC,
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