Biddeford, Maine

“The next building is called Lincoln Mill,” says Eddy. “It’s one of the larger single structures in the Mill District. That’s being rehabbed into 148 market-rate units, with a 33-unit hotel, a restaurant, some commercial space, and an exercise center. It’s all under development, right now. It was another public/private development. The city took a million dollars worth of TIF dollars and redeveloped Lincoln St.– sidewalks, lighting, we put the power underground, and developed some really interesting pedestrian- oriented safety features. Lincoln Mill also includes a seven-year TIF to help get it going. They should have 140 units on the market within a year or a year-and-a-half.” Finally, there is the redevelopment of the former MERC site at 3 Lincoln St. “We’ve entered into an agreement with the development team of Jim Brady and Brian Eng,” Eddy reports. “Brady is a significant developer, particularly in the hospitality industry. Once we approve the conceptual plan, it will be six months to approve the site engineering, and then, six months to get approvals. So, we expect them to begin to come onboard in 2022.” The developers seek to incorporate a mixture of residential, retail, office, hospitality, education, and services, while the city is building a parking garage in between the two commercial clusters. The parking garage project, due to be built by early 2021, will be the city’s first. “Every one of these Mill District opportunities is a public/private partnership in one way or another,” Eddy explains. “We are very business-friendly and ready to move quickly with any developer.” Meanwhile, Eddy adds that the city has also been busy with other projects. “We redeveloped all of Main St.– all new sidewalks, all new infrastructure, all new lighting. And we have the RiverWalk that we’re putting in place along the Saco River that abuts against a lot of the Mill District buildings. It’s special in that a lot of the old-timers in the community have never seen Saco Falls, even if they lived and worked in the