Augusta board approves height rules change for major redevelopment of former Kmart site
Keith Edwards, Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine
5 min read
Oct. 25—AUGUSTA — A $48 million redevelopment proposal that could bring a hotel with a rooftop restaurant or bar, apartments or condominiums to the former Kmart plaza site off Western Avenue took a major step forward Tuesday night when the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend allowing buildings up to 85 feet tall.
The proposal, which is expected to go before the City Council for discussion at its Nov. 14 meeting, could bring economic development to that part of the city, where views from the property, especially if tall buildings are built there, look out over the state capitol complex and beyond. It also could help address the housing shortage, and add a mix of offices and retail stores to the currently run-down and largely vacant strip mall site off Western Avenue.
The contract zone agreement would allow buildings as tall at 85 feet at the site, where zoning, without special approval, otherwise restricts buildings to only 42 feet.
Developer and seasonal Augusta resident George Campbell said that in order for a project to be financially feasible and attractive enough to include high-quality developers, the ability to build up at the site is crucial. It can provide more space for development and also take advantage of the views that would be available from a bar or restaurant atop an otherwise five-story hotel. He said the buildings may not need to be quite that tall, and that the current concept plan only has the hotel and apartment complex as being multi-story buildings, with retail uses on the site currently described as one-story buildings, surrounded by a mix of green space and parking.
"What this does is enable us to attract the best developers. I want to get high quality in there, because it's ... an expensive site to deal with in a lot of ways," said Campbell, a former commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation under the late Gov. Joseph Brennan. His career has also included work as a state development director, president of the University of Southern Maine Foundation, mayor of Portland, and president of the The Boulos Company, a commercial real estate agency. "To do what we need to do, we need to get some height into the thing."
Campbell has an option to purchase the property from longtime owner Richard McGoldrick. He would work with partners to develop the site, and does not intend to own the property once it is developed. He said the proposal, which would still have to come back before the Planning Board for site plan review when it is finalized, is only a concept plan at this point. But he said he has three parties very interested in putting a hotel and retail at the site, and at least one developer willing to commit to building housing there.
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City councilors are likely to discuss the proposal at their Nov. 14 informational meeting, and consider it in first and second readings at business meetings after that, according to Matt Nazar, city development director.
"I'm very much in support of the contract zone and I also like the preliminary plans for the project," said board member Benjamin Bussiere. "I also fully respect the background of Mr. Campbell given his work in economic and community development. It'll be nice to see that part of Western Avenue redeveloped if this comes to fruition. We're desperately in need of housing."
Tony Lewis, owner of T and K Tactical, a gun shop currently located in the deteriorating Kmart plaza building, originally came to the Planning Board meeting to speak against the project but, after thinking about it and hearing Campbell outline the proposal, said he changed his view of it.
"I think that this project is a great project, it brings housing to this community, which is much needed," Lewis said. "It brings a hotel to the community, which I don't see as a need. But the green space would be nice. Right now it's a ruined parking lot with pole lights that don't even work. It's not a safe environment for customers to come and go. So I think there are definitely some good considerations in this project."
The contract zone agreement would also allow the project to fall short of the city's standard floor area ratio requirements for that zone, which regulate new buildings based on the ratio of the floor area to the total lot area. The change allows a higher density of development on the lot.
The city granted a similar contract zone, waiving floor area ratio standards, so developer Matt Morrill of Mastway Development could build a 38-unit apartment building at 99 Western Ave., just uphill from the former Kmart site at 56 Western Ave. That building just opened to tenants.
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City councilors rejected zone changes requested to allow multiple versions of a proposal to build a $9 million self-storage business on the same site. Some councilors, in voting to reject that proposal, said they felt the site should have a better use than storage, including, potentially, housing. The Kmart building is currently being used by a temporary Halloween costume business.
The Wendy's restaurant and other lots alongside Western Avenue are not part of the project, nor is an auto parts supply store under construction now near the former site of Friendly's restaurant.
Resident and local business owner Jordan Brandt urged officials and the developer to take steps to prevent the site, built as the city's first strip mall in the 1960s, from ever again reaching its current run-down state.
"I would love to see the Kmart go, it is gross," he said. "It would be great if it was gone, and I think there could be some exciting possibilities with a new building there."
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'Game-changing' proposal would bring hotel, apartments, retail to former Kmart in Augusta
