BRUNSWICK

Jim Howard and Kevin Kelley, the principals of Topsham based real estate developer Priority Group, have a vision for east Brunswick.

If municipal planning and private financial backing mesh together, by 2016 the gateways to Cook’s Corner, as well as the amenities available there, will be significantly different than they are now.

Howard and Kelley have a slew of projects in various stages of planning slated for both Brunswick Landing and the haggard, shop-worn retail area surrounding Gurnet and Bath roads.

“Our intention is to build some very nice buildings here that sort of set the stage as the gateway into the property, with a lot of green space,” Howard said.

The list of potential devel- opment ranges from medical and professional offices to banks, restaurants, commercial warehousing and storage facilities, and convenience stores with both gasoline and compressed natural gas fueling stations.

They also plan to donate an acre of land to an ongoing local effort to build a new hockey rink.

According to Howard, Priority Group’s president and CEO, the list is worth an estimated $35 to $42 million in development values.

All the developer needed was more space and some assurance that the players involved — Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, Brunswick and Topsham municipal officials, and the U.S. Navy — could get along.

“We stayed away from the base for the last four years,” Howard said. “(MRRA) got off to a rocky start, as everybody is aware. But now that everybody is working together, and as long as they stay working together, we’re going to move ahead with all of these projects.”

Part of the deal calls for Brunswick to rebuild a section of Thomas Point and Gurnet roads, to make them suitable for increased traffic loads. By-passes will be built to remove traffic from the Cook’s Corner intersection, and help motorists and pedestrians flow more smoothly and safely through the shopping district.

The road has to come first, and a municipal tax increment financing district likely will be used to make it happen, said Town Manager Gary Brown.

First the Town Council must approve the municipal tax increment financing district. Then the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development would have its say. But once DECD lends its support, construction of new roads likely would begin almost immediately.

The TIF could be in front of the council by late summer or early fall.

“If the council approves it, construction of the road likely would begin in 2014,” Brown said.

Auburn developer George Schott owns about an acre of land over which the new road would lay. According to the town manager, Schott has agreed to donate the land to the town for the road project.

Priority Group would arrange for the remainder of property needed to be acquired. Still, Brown said, “The town would own, build and pay for the road, and it would be using taxes from new development to offset expenses of building the road.”

If all of the road and building projects come to brickand mortar fruition, the transformation of a struggling commercial center could be startling.

“It’s fair to suggest that the area between Gurnet and Thomas Point roads will be significantly different than it is today,” Brown said.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com