WESTBROOK – The new owners of one of Westbrook’s largest commercial development properties took over the building officially this week after a mortgage auction on Monday.
Alexsandar (Sas?a) Cook, 34, acting with Schoodic Capital, a collection of five different family-owned companies, has taken over the 250,000-square-foot property at 90 Bridge St., otherwise known as the Dana Warp Mill, following an auction on the property’s mortgage held Monday morning, according to Keith Luke, Westbrook’s director of economic and community development.
“As anticipated, the deal was closed this morning,” Luke said.
The former red-brick spinning mill originally opened in 1811. The building’s most recent owner, Timothy A. Flannery, took over the building in 1997, turning it into an office building and attracting an eclectic mix of different businesses.
Today, the building houses approximately 50 tenants, all small to medium-sized businesses of various types. Flannery, however, has been in default on the $4.8 million mortgage on the property since September 2010. A Cumberland County Superior Court judge appointed Boulos Property Management of Portland to manage the property until the mortgage was resolved.
Cook made headlines last month when he announced he was taking over the mortgage. Boulos president Morris Fisher said Cook took the bank’s place in the foreclosure process. That meant, he said, that Cook would officially run the auction in June, with the right to take over the property outright if no one bids high enough on the property during the auction.
The auction marked the end of the foreclosure process, making Cook the new owner. Cook said he put in a bid of $2.5 million, but since he owns the mortgage, “winning” the bid only means he will be paying himself, and simply taking over the property. This week, Cook declined to say how much the mortgage was for. The city has assessed the property at $3.8 million.
Cook said he expects to begin a number of improvement projects to the property shortly, including some overdue maintenance, and work to improve parking at the building.
Luke said he looks forward to the improvements Cook has planned.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “Sas?a’s got some great ideas.”
Cook is a vice president at Maine Liquid Methane Fuels, LLC, a member company of Schoodic Capital. Cook said the group owns three other buildings in Westbrook. They include 201 Main St., just next door to City Hall, a building that houses various professional financial and medical offices. The group also owns 529 Main St., which houses, among other things, Medeo European Food and Deli; and 650 Main St., which houses Brazier’s Barber Shop.
Cook admitted that, compared to the other investments, taking over the mill was an “anomaly” he never expected to get involved in.
“It was opportunistic,” he said.
But, Cook said, purchasing the mill is part of an ongoing plan of investment in Westbrook that will probably include more properties in the future.
“I think there is a great deal of value in the community,” he said.
When asked for details, Cook declined to say which other properties he was looking at, but said, “I have some others in mind and am actively pursuing them.”
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