Saco Island East sold at auction

Massachusetts developer Ted Moore, left, stands next to Portsmouth attorney Jonathan Flagg at the auction of Saco Island East on Tuesday. LIZ GOTTHELF/Journal Tribune

SACO — A Massachusetts developer with ties to other properties on the island has purchased Saco Island East.

There was little fanfare Tuesday morning at a public auction, which was held on the Saco Island East property, a vacant six-acre parcel on the east side of Main Street on Saco Island, a small island that is connected by bridges to Saco’s downtown to the north and Biddeford’s downtown to the south.

With city officials and a few others in attendance, developer Ted Moore of Marblehead, Massachusetts, purchased the property for $11,000, but will also be responsible for taking over a $1.6 million lien.

Joan Kurker, of Medford, Massachusetts, who had a $375,000 mortgage on the property, put the project up for public sale initially in January for breach of conditions of the mortgage.

The sale was postponed multiple times to give owner J&B Partners time to take steps to secure lenders and pay the mortgage.

Bernie Saulnier, a principal with J&B Partners, had proposed a $40 million project called The Waters that included a restaurant, boutique hotel, apartments, boat slips and public space.

Moore is the principal owner of what is known as Building 2, a former mill property on the west side of Saco Island that is home to the Saco Island Deli and the Social Security office and is also principal owner of Unit 91, a portion of the Saco Island Terrace building.

The Massachusetts developer did not comment Tuesday on what his plans were for the property.

Saulnier and Moore have been connected to projects together on Saco Island for a while.

In a Jan. 5 Journal Tribune article, Saulnier said he was the one who drew Moore’s interest to the property.

“I never planned to be the one to develop it, I just saw an opportunity,” Saulnier said about Saco Island property he owned. “When I heard that Ted was looking to develop, I decided to see if he was interested in taking on Unit 91.”

Moore began investing in southern Maine real estate when his son moved to Portland eight years ago.

“The mill was an attractive project,” Moore said during a Dec. 20 phone interview. “I’ve done a lot of historic renovations before and I saw potential with this project. I looked at the buildings and I saw what Bernie saw.”

In the January article, Saulnier talked about the potential of Moore taking over the Saco Island East property.

And on Dec. 17, Moore appeared before Saco City Council during an executive session to discuss using funds from the Saco Island Tax Increment Finance District to aid with costs of improving that particular area of Saco.

TIF funds allow municipalities to shelter increases in valuation (for up to 30 years) and avoid losses due to state and country fiscal formulas. In practice, the TIF district is approved by the state to shift increases in tax revenue into the TIF fund, with the original taxes going into the general fund. Funds in a TIF are then used to make improvements to a municipality, usually in its downtown.

The Saco Island East project will need remediation due to soil contamination from previous manufacturing uses, as well as a new seawall mandated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the property faces a federal waterway.

In December, Moore also cited improvements needed for the RiverWalk pedestrian path, which is required to be insured and repaired. He also said during the Dec. 20 interview that he estimates $5 million will need to be spent for improvements to the area, both for Unit 91 and the parcel across the street, prior to building Saco Island East. Allowing the project access to TIF funds would aid in the funding of those projects.

Over the years there have been several proposals for the now mostly overgrown Saco Island East property. Saulnier’s proposal came on the heels of a surge of redevelopment of former mill buildings on the other side of the island and in Biddeford.

“The island is the heart of the two cities,” said City Administrator Kevin Sutherland.

He said he hopes that Moore will develop a successful project that will benefit both Saco and Biddeford.

Also on Tuesday, Moore purchased another of Saulnier’s properties, 75 Chestnut St. in Portland, that was also up for public sale.

Saulnier is facing a lawsuit filed against him by real estate broker John Veneziano. According to the Portland Press Herald, Veneziano claims Saulnier took money from J&B Partners LLC, the business they created to develop projects in Portland and Saco, to pay for other business dealings and Saulnier’s personal debt. The lawsuit was filed on June 17 in York County Superior Court.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Saulnier said that J&B Partners could not meet Kurker’s timeline, and though there were several options that would have allowed the company to continue with development plans, the two partners could not come to an agreement, and as a result, property was put up for auction.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be reached at 780-9015 or by email at egotthelf@journaltribune.com .

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