Making more room for retail

Renovations to 1 Westbrook Common will provide new spaces facing Main Street.

A central building in downtown Westbrook is receiving a facelift, with a goal to make the property more marketable to retail stores or restaurants.

The building, 1 Westbrook Common, is one of three commercial buildings making up Westbrook Commons. Renovations will split the building into smaller spaces for lease. On Monday, plywood boards were covering the front of the building on Main Street as the facade is altered.

Building owner James Para said there will be multiple entrances from Main Street, part of an effort to market the building as a central piece of Westbrook’s changing downtown. Westbrook Commons is across the street from the city’s pedestrian-friendly improvements to the downtown, which include a pedestrian bridge over the Presumpscot and streetscape enhancements expected to be complete by August.

“This looked like a warehouse right in the middle of town,” Para said about the building.

He said he recently discussed the building’s future with Bill Baker, assistant city administrator.

Para said he’s hoping the building can attract smaller retail stores and possibly restaurants, which could utilize the commons area for outside dining.

“It’s going to be more of a walking area,” he said.

Baker called Para a “committed downtown landlord seeking to improve the downtown.”

“Creating an attractive store front and making better use of his interior space is good news for the future of that space and Main Street generally,” he said this week.

Para’s building was home to Southern Maine Physical Therapy for more than a decade. The business, he said, relocated to a smaller space across the street in the Edwards Block last year after being sold to Saco Bay Physical Therapy. The 1 Westbrook Common facility will now feature four spaces, with three in the front.

ITNAmerica, transportation service, still occupies a large space in the rear of the building.

Westbrook Code Enforcement officer Rick Gouzie said Monday that the bulk of the work is cutting in the new doors and windows on the Main Street side.

“On the inside they will be returning the building to its original layout for tenant fit-ups,” he said.

Westbrook Commons’ location is also known as Blue Note Park, a reference to the large blue sculpture, once a fountain, that adorns the park.

In 1973, the urban renewal project eliminated a number of buildings and streets in the downtown area, including Central, Fitch and Carpenter streets, to create the Westbrook Commons pedestrian mall. It was designed by Edward C. Jordan Co., in Portland. The pedestrian mall and statue cost $197,498, and the cost was covered under the federal portion of the project. But records on the sculpture are few, and the artist who made it is unknown. It is generally acknowledged that the sculpture was created as an homage to Rudy Vallee, a Westbrook native son, crooner and worldwide pop star starting in the 1920s.

There are also two plaques in the park, one marking the site of the Underground Railroad, which ran through Westbrook from 1861 to 1865, and another commemorating the efforts of the urban renewal committee, which disbanded at the end of the citywide project in 1977.

Westbrook Commons was supposed to attract visitors to the area, and to the businesses lining the commercial buildings on either side of it, promoting a “walking downtown” with boutique local shopping.

Instead, the park area has long been seen as an eyesore, with uneven, broken concrete surfaces, occasional graffiti and the non-operational fountain. Businesses in Westbrook Commons include a law firm, a credit union and a counseling service.

Baker said Tuesday that the urban renewal years resulted in many businesses losing their storefronts along Main Street, which was also the case at Westbrook Commons.

“Many people have talked about the impact of urban renewal and how many of our downtown buildings turned their backs on the river and on Main Street, physically, and his building is a good example,” he said.

Baker said there are no current plans to improve the outside park, but that he’s encouraged the Downtown Westbrook Coalition to generate ideas that could “enhance the future of that space.”

In 2011, city officials decided not to pursue a large Community Development Block Grant to revamp the park. Westbrook would have been required to match the grant funding. However, last summer, the Downtown Westbrook Coalition planted flowers and added colorful planters, a bike rack and picnic tables in an effort to spruce it up.

Abigail Cioffi, the coordinator for the coaliton, said this week that she’s excited for the changes taking place at the building and hopes more upgrades can also be made in the park. She said the building is currently “underutilized,” but that she hopes the coalition can assist Para while the changes are made.

“Blue Note Park absolutely needs more upgrades,” she said. “There have been attempts over the years, and one of our goals is to find the best way to revitalize the space, whether to continue to brighten up what is already there or to pursue a project that would replace the current park.”

She added that she’s heard support for both ideas, and that the coalition would seek extensive public opinion if it was decided to pursue a complete replacement.

Para said the work on his building will most likely be complete by the end of February.

Plywood boards cover the front of 1 Westbrook Common this week along Main Street in Westbrook. The building is being renovated to feature three storefronts along Main Street in an attempt to attract smaller retail or restaurant tenants. This sculpture in Blue Note Park at Westbrook Commons is thought to be an homage to Westbrook native son Rudy Vallee. It was once a working fountain.