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WATERVILLE

Gilman project good to go

Transformation of former school gets under way next week

By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- The old Gilman Street School has been sold and construction will start next week on a $10 million project to turn it into affordable housing.

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Paul LePage

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That was the word Friday from Kevin Bunker of Developers Collaborative of Portland, the firm that proposed the project.

Bunker, along with partners Jim Hatch and Richard Berman, has worked two years on plans to restore the facility to historic standards and build 35 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments inside.

"It's going to be restored to the way it was when it was first built," Bunker said Friday. "What people don't realize is how much glass there is -- and light -- and how different it's going to look without the boards on the windows. It's going to be spectacular."

Mayor Paul LePage was ecstatic about the sale.

"I think it's great," he said. "This is real big. It's been a long time coming and something we've been looking forward to and anticipating -- and it's finally here. Whoopee for Waterville."

City Manager Michael Roy said an historic building that has been vacant for some time but is in very good shape structurally will be re-used, which is a good thing. The concern was that it would have deteriorated and been left vacant, he said.

"I think that's hugely important for the neighborhood and the city, and I think it does present an affordable housing option that's needed in the city," Roy said.

He said the building will generate additional tax revenue to the city.

City Council Chairman Dana W. Sennett, D-Ward 4, lives on Burleigh Street, not far from the old school.

"I'm excited," he said Friday. "This has been such a long process for so many people, going back 10 years ago when we were trying to figure out what to do with the property."

Sennett said the city's housing stock is aging. The Gilman school apartments will be classified as new housing, he said.

"I think it'll give more choices for people to move into, in the city limits," he said.

The development will be called "Gilman Place."

Bunker said the goal is to complete the project in February 2011 and have tenants move in.

"It will probably take three to six months to fill it up," he said. "It'll probably be full in the fall of 2011."

The Bounce Zone has a five-year lease for the school's gymnasium. The business has children's bounce houses and castles and the like, and does birthday and other parties.

The nonprofit Coastal Enterprises, Inc. will own the building and Preservation Management, of South Portland, will manage the apartments.

Allied Cook Construction is the construction manager and hires the subcontractors.

"We definitely have some local folks that got big contracts," Bunker said.

He said the first work to be done includes setting up temporary utilities, abating asbestos, removing an old oil tank and tearing down a boiler room at the back of the building. Walls inside the building also will be removed.

The parking lot construction will take place in the summer and landscaping, likely in the fall.

"It's very complex; a lot of things are going to happen at the same time."

Bunker said he thinks the project will be great for Waterville in that it saves a building, helps the neighborhood and provides affordable housing.

"It's going to show that if everyone pulls together you can still get things done in a difficult economy," he said.

Not all neighbors were in favor of the project and Bunker acknowledged that times were difficult.

"It's going to be validating for me, personally, to see it all come together," he said.

He said he and Hatch had put a lot of work into the project and Berman invested $500,000 which he would have lost had the deal not gone through.

He said that without the support from city officials, MaineHousing, Waterville Main Street and the state Department of Economic Development, the project would not have happened.

He praised Roy, LePage, councilors, Planning Board members and others who supported it to the end.

"They stood behind the project and stood up to some of the unfair criticism lodged against it," he said.

The building sale became final Friday, according to Bunker. It was purchased from Peter Arena, a Brunswick businessman who bought the school from the city for $215,000 in 2005.

It was built in 1913 as Waterville High School and remained so until the early 1960s. It actually is three buildings, separate but connected. The west wing was built in 1936; the east section, which includes the gymnasium, was built in 1939.

The 41,000-square-foot building, which sits on 2.5 acres at the corner of Gilman and Burleigh streets, has had a number of uses over the years.

The Waterville superintendent's office, a kindergarten, resource center, day-care center, alternative education department and police storage are among those uses.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com