DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — Since the former Moosehead Manufacturing facility closed its doors along the Piscataquis River in 2007, a number of stakeholders from across the community, state and the country have been working to revitalize the large parcel of downtown property.
A milestone in the Riverfront Redevelopment Project took place on the morning of Aug. 1 — a date coinciding with the annual Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming and Foxcroft Academy Alumni Weekend — with a Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome the Mill Inn and Cafe. The hotel and eating establishment formally opened its doors with the ceremony to join the nearly entirely full apartments as well as office space already in use.
“Projects like this can’t happen without community support,” said Piscataquis County Economic Development Council Executive Director Chris Winstead to start the ceremony on the outdoor patio with the sound of the Piscataquis River in the background. “You took a building that was once falling down with windows broken and pigeons as residents and turned it back to the community.”
Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Denise Buzzelli also hailed the new $11 million development.
“This is really an incredible, momentous occasion,” said Buzzelli, who has been in her position for nearly two years.
Buzzelli told the audience filling the patio that “every time you drive by and every time you think of this place, this is just a seed for what great things this door will open for us.”
State Rep. Norm Higgins, R-Dover-Foxcroft, said more development is in the works.
“Who would have thought five years ago we would be standing here, who would have thought even three years ago or even one year ago?” he said. Higgins said he is working in the Legislature on a community-based project to restart the hydroelectric facility at the adjacent dam. “Think of all the energy,” he said.
“Today I think it’s really important to recognize Erin and Ben [Cabot],” Higgins said about the wife and husband operators of the Mill Inn and Cafe. Their establishment along the river — the two also run the Cabot House Bed and Breakfast on West Main Street and Ben Cabot is an attorney at the Hayes Law Office — is a six-room boutique inn and Internet cafe serving breakfast, coffee, tea, baked goods and healthy snacks.
Town Manager Jack Clukey pointed out the development took a lot of hard work.
“What an exciting day in Dover-Foxcroft. This is just amazing,” Clukey said. “It’s been eight years and one month since Moosehead Manufacturing closed its doors in June of 2007. It all started with a vision.”
Clukey said the town became involved in 2009 and a committee looked into the possibilities for the property, determining mixed use as the best goal of the redevelopment. “Not long after, Jonathan Arnold expressed interest in downtown Dover-Foxcroft and what we would like to see happen,” he said about the president and CEO of the Arnold Development Group of Kansas City, Missouri.
“This is the type of project where someone might say, ‘Gee, this really can’t be done,’” Clukey said. “He’s always said this is a project that has to be done, period.”
Clukey welcomed the Mill Inn and Cafe by saying, “It’s very exciting they are making an investment and commitment to be here, and think of all the other ribbon cuttings to take place here.”
Maine USDA Rural Development State Director Virginia Manuel said, “There’s nothing more rewarding in my world than to be part of what’s happening today in Dover-Foxcroft.”
“We don’t want our mills to only be monuments, we want them to represent our present and future possibilities,” she said. “This is living evidence of Piscataquis County doing that and in our view being a great place in Maine.”
Manuel said an investment has been made in a data center at the Riverfront Redevelopment Project — the total investment of various public and private funds on the entire property totals $11 million. Saying she had just met Arnold in person for the first time, Manuel said, “We are really looking forward to having future conversations with him and all the partners in what we can do.”
“My heart is full, as Denise said, with the building done,” Arnold said. He said across the country demographics are changing, with housing sought closer to destinations instead of people choosing to live farther away and driving everywhere they go.
“When we came to Dover-Foxcroft, we noticed what you have is rare and special,” he said, with the potential for housing located right in the heart of the community. “We leased 21 of 22 apartments with no dollars spent on marketing and a one-page website up.”
“Let’s build on this together,” Arnold said. “Let’s encourage them to live downtown.”
“As you can imagine, this project doesn’t get done just with someone coming to town saying, ‘I have an idea’ or ‘I concur with your idea,’” he said. Arnold said instead the project was a team effort of all those involved.
“We are celebrating today Erin and Ben’s work on the inn,” he said. “It’s a third place, it’s not home, it’s not work.”
“We are proud that John Wentworth built the tables in the cafe,” Arnold said about the former president of Moosehead Manufacturing, with a connection to the facility’s past on display for the present and future at the cafe.
“I thank you all from the bottom of my heart,” Erin Cabot said at the conclusion of the ceremony before she snipped the red tape. “This has truly been a labor of love and I hope to see you all every day to have coffee with me.”