AUBURN, Maine — The old mill building on Minot Avenue in Auburn soon will become a new luxury tourism facility for wealthy Chinese citizens.
In a press conference Friday, city officials announced Chinese investors bought The Barn, also known as the Lunn and Sweet shoe factory, earlier this month.
The Group Miracle Enterprises plans to spend up to $40 million to convert the mill building.
The facility will have 100 beds, and investors expect to see at least 5,000 Chinese citizens staying at the hotel in its first year.
Auburn Mayor Jonathan Labonte said this development would improve the area.
“We have an anchor in our downtown that has been holding down our downtown, and now a $40 million full renovation of a historic building is going to create a center of activity that didn’t exist before,” Labonte said. “We are fairly confident there will be spin-off investments.”