A building that was once home to millions of bargains and an indescribable smell is for sale.
But who is going to buy it?
For more than four decades, Marden’s called Wilson Street in Brewer home. The need for a new building pushed the company to move to Bangor earlier this year, but the old property, listed for $2.25 million, is now a rumor mill for what it could become.
“People will call me and go: ‘Is Costco going there?’ And I’ll tell them: ‘No, they’re not,’” Charles Day, the realtor with Porta and Co selling the building, said. “It’s always fascinating to hear what people come up with.”
The roughly 60-acre lot on Wilson Street has sat empty since Marden’s moved to Bangor in March. Day and D’arcy Main-Boyington, Brewer’s director of economic development, said the location could attract a national retailer.
But it’s unclear if the iconic Marden’s building would survive a purchase. Its unique shape, poor condition and exceptionally large size at 87,500 square feet means the property may be more attractive if the building is demolished. And although a national brand could come into the space, demographics and population size make it unlikely to be one on a resident’s wish list, Day said.
“We don’t even have an IKEA in Portland,” he said.
The building won’t stay vacant for much longer, Day said, claiming that a deal will be made in the next 30 to 60 days. No contracts have been signed, but multiple offers have been made, though Day would not say from who.
Some investors have talked about keeping the building and using it for car or boat storage, while other developers have discussed tearing down the building, as keeping it would require millions of dollars in deferred maintenance, and building a shopping outlet in its place, Day said.
“There’s certainly a lot of potential,” Day, who sold Marden’s the Bangor building it moved to, said.
Main-Boyington has also talked with potential buyers, she said. Issues with the building quality, including an estimated $1 million in roof repairs, and its shape have come up in some conversations, she said.
“There’s a lot of maintenance that needs to be done, so that’s been the factor that’s made it stumble so far,” Main-Boyington said.
The building’s “L” shape makes it so only a portion of it can be seen from Wilson Street. That means it would be hard for the space to be split between multiple retailers, Main-Boyington said.
Quirks with the building and the surrounding land may lead to more work needing to be done than to an open lot, but there’s a demand for space in Brewer, no matter the condition. That’s part of the reason why the city staff and council support a developer buying the property and tearing down the building, she said.
But that may be a hard sell at a $2.25 million price tag, she said.
“You could do something nice there, and then you could have some national businesses that would want to go in and have frontage there. There’s plenty of demand for that, but the building right now doesn’t lend itself well to that, and the price tag is still pretty high for a teardown,” Main-Boyington said.