The New York investment firm partnering with 115 Maine towns and cities to reopen a dormant Hampden trash plant says it has lined up a new operator for the facility after the last one backed out.
A representative from Revere Capital Advisors said Wednesday that it’s close to securing a deal with a top company that would run the Hampden trash plant that’s been closed since May 2020 and has faced a long road to reopening that has seen prospective arrangements with at least two major companies collapse.
Pat Daly, a senior managing director of Revere, made the announcement during a town hall meeting Wednesday with members of the Municipal Review Committee, the group that represents the 115 Maine towns and cities that used the Hampden plant for the six months it was open for full operations.
“We have an agreement in principle with an operator who the MRC knows and, I believe, respects,” Daly said.
Daly said he couldn’t name the company due to non-disclosure agreements in place, but said the company has toured the trash facility and been involved in creating Revere’s reopening plan.
Revere is the Municipal Review Committee’s financial partner in reviving the trash plant. The Municipal Review Committee plans to sell Revere a majority stake in the operation, allowing the investment firm to fund the trash plant’s restart while the municipal group retains minority ownership.
Initially, a company called CS Solutions was slated to be the shuttered trash plant’s operator under Revere’s reopening plan.
That company, however, withdrew following Bangor Daily News coverage that highlighted its roots in a New Hampshire-based investment company that came to Maine more than a decade ago, pledging to reopen the Katahdin region’s two paper mills and start a facility making wood pellets that could serve as a coal substitute.
That investment company, Cate Street Capital, restarted the East Millinocket paper mill for about two-and-a-half years, but the Millinocket mill lay dormant. The wood pellets plant slated for Millinocket never came to fruition.
Cate Street benefited from tens of millions of dollars in state and federal tax breaks in the process. Both Cate Street and its papermaking subsidiary, Great Northern Paper, have filed for bankruptcy protection.
In Hampden, the Municipal Review Committee formally acquired the trash plant in August after no other qualified bidders came forward earlier this year.
After securing ownership of the facility, the Municipal Review Committee signed a 60-day agreement with Revere to work together exclusively on reopening the shuttered Hampden trash plant.
The Municipal Review Committee and Revere signed an agreement last month extending their period of exclusivity until Nov. 10 to allow Revere more time to put together a reopening plan.
Daly said the new operator will likely be announced before Revere and the Municipal Review Committee close on a deal.
