BANGOR, Maine — A developer who owed back taxes to the city has begun renovating 73 Central St. in compliance with an agreement that will bring to life one of downtown’s largest buildings.
Workers employed by House Revivers of Bangor were removing rotted sheetrock and repairing plumbing on Wednesday on the first floor of the building, which is not far from City Hall.
“Structurally, it’s probably the strongest building in downtown,” said Bob Kelly, a contractor and historic restorations specialist who has renovated about a dozen downtown buildings over the last 20 years. “But it’s been abused.”
Inattention and winter weather contributed to the freezing and bursting of the building’s roof drains, sprinkler system and plumbing. Roof and basement leaks created water infiltration that caused black mold eruptions throughout the building, including about 80 percent of its drywall. The building’s electrical system also needed work, Kelly said.
“The furnace ran out of oil, and the power was turned off,” he said. “Nothing was winterized.”
Building owner David S. Boyd has been president and chief executive officer of Espresso Roma Corp. since its inception in 1980, according to bloomberg.com.
Boyd’s financial difficulties with his coffee interests in the mid-2000s led to his neglect of the property and falling behind on its taxes and other fees, Kelly said.
Boyd and city officials worked out a deal where he would resume ownership of his property by paying $41,008 in present and back taxes and investing at least $105,000 in the building’s renovation.
Kelly said that about $130,000 will go into the renovation of the ground floor, including preparing it to house a coffee shop and some office space, as part of the first phase of repairs.
That work began in August and will likely finish in mid-November, although the city’s deal allows until Dec. 15 for its completion.
The six-story building’s upper floors will be renovated, but exactly when and toward what end will be determined in a plan not yet finalized and according to what structural difficulties Kelly encounters in phase two, he said.
The revitalization of 73 Central is a victory for city planners who have labored since the 1990s to bring downtown back to life, said Stephen Bolduc, Bangor’s economic development officer. He counted 74 Main St., home of the Maine Discovery Museum, The University of Maine Museum of Art building at 40 Harlow St. and the apartment building at 25 Central St. as among the big buildings resurrected.
“Visually, [Boyd’s renovations] take away that look of vacancy,” Bolduc said of 73 Central St. “It’s a huge building that dominates that whole area, so to have that occupied adds to that feeling of prosperity that you feel in downtown. It’s also a great location, right on the street.”
City development’s next task is to redesign Pickering Square to better integrate it into downtown.
As it stands, Pickering is kind of an uninviting anomaly to downtown, not really looking like a part of downtown despite it being just about in its center, Bolduc said.
City planners might have to change the traffic flow with Community Connector bus service to accommodate a redesign and improve safety, Bolduc said.
The federal Community Development Block Grant program allocates just under $1 million to the city annually for economic development activities. Of that, about $250,000 goes to special projects, with the rest going to housing rehabilitation and administrative costs, Bolduc said.
BDN writer Nick McCrea contributed to this report.