ROCKLAND, Maine — The city is considering a single bid of $300,000 it received for the public services garage property by a local developer who wants to build an industrial complex.
Rufus Williams Jr. was the sole bidder Monday for the 4.4-acre lot at 9 Burrows St., off Pleasant Street. The land is adjacent to City Hall.
“My interest in the property is for repurposing into industrial warehouse/production and office,” Williams stated in his bid.
The city council voted last month to seek bids on the property.
Williams is asking for a six-month option on the land with one three-month extension.
The developer wants the city to pay for removal of existing buildings and debris, and for remediation of any hazardous or non-hazardous waste on the site. He said the city can either have the work done or he would have it done and deduct the expenses from the $300,000 purchase price.
City Manager James Chaousis said Tuesday that the city council would like to see demolition costs and past environmental studies before making a decision. He said preliminary information on those costs will be available soon.
Williams, a Rockport resident, first contacted the city in December about the availability of the property. He plans to build a complex of more than 100,000 square feet that could employ about 30 people. The type of production has not been disclosed. Assistant City Manager Audra Caler-Bell said earlier this year that Williams also would acquire some adjacent private properties for the project to move forward.
Chaousis told councilors in a memo issued last month that if the council was interested in selling the land, the city could build a modern garage next to the dump at far less cost than proposed in past referendums. He said the garage would further the life of public services vehicles by having space to keep them all inside.
“Previous estimates stated that the building would cost $3 million, but I feel these plans were overengineered,” Chaousis wrote in the memo. “If the city were to obtain $250,000 from the sale of the 9 Burrows property and reauthorize the $500,000 bond, previously approved by the voters for the sand/salt shed, this would be sufficient funds to put up a steel building, such as a Morton building and the sand/salt shed. The city could do our own site work. This concept project would have no additional tax burden.”
The development on the Burrows Street property, which currently is tax exempt, could add about $3 million in taxable value to the city, the city manager said in the February letter.
Williams, through his company Park St. LLC, undertook a 37,000-square-foot expansion of a warehouse on Park Street in Rockland in 2013 that served FMC.
The public services garage is a 7,200-square-foot 1950s metal building, which city officials have repeatedly said has significant deficiencies. The city twice placed a bond referendum before voters to build a new facility but residents rejected it — the first time in 2007 and the second time in 2012. The most recent time, residents voted 895-881 against borrowing $2.9 million. The council mulled going back to voters with a scaled-back project in 2013 but decided against it.