With a public meeting in Westbrook next week scheduled by the Maine Department of Transportation, plans are solidifying for a large retail project proposed at the site of the Pike Industries property on Main Street.
Jeffrey Gove of J&J Gove Development told the American Journal in April that he was looking to acquire the Pike property, between Main Street and Larrabee Road, with a concept plan that included a mix of retail spaces, a wholesale club and restaurants. The proposed concept is 588,282 square feet.
On Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 1 p.m. in the Walker Memorial Library, the Maine Department of Transportation will hold a “scoping meeting,” the first public meeting regarding the project, to discuss traffic movement and entrances to the site, the first step by the developer to officially acquire the property.
Calls to Pike were not returned by the American Journal’s deadline Wednesday, but Gove confirmed that his development team and Pike are working under a purchase and sale agreement, with a sale to be finalized after the necessary permits for the development are acquired.
According to Tim Soucie, a traffic engineer for the Maine Department of Transportation, the state requires proof of “title, right, or interest” in a property before committing to working on the project.
Soucie said next week’s meeting is the first step for the developer toward obtaining a traffic movement permit.
Gove said that the concept design calls for four entrances to the site, including three new traffic signals. The new signals proposed include one on Main Street, and two on Larrabee Road. It would also include a right turn in, and right turn out of the development off the Westbrook Arterial.
Gove said that his concept has been updated since April, though it remains largely the same. The concept shows three large retail spaces with parking lots on the parcel between Main Street and Larrabee Road. Next to the development is the 18-acre gravel pit, which, Gove said, would eventually become a lake. In April, he said a specialist working on his team estimates that the pit would fill naturally with water in about five years.
The retail center would be the newest addition to an area that features more prospects for development. Last year, Portland developers J.B. Brown & Sons acquired roughly 60 acres between the Westbrook Arterial and Stroudwater Street, with plans for separate developments for residential homes and retail space.
Gove’s development team has already done a preliminary traffic study for the project, which estimates 2,367 new trips during the weekend peak travel time. The goal, Soucie said, is to potentially “mitigate” the impact the increased traffic would have.
“This is to look at what improvements will be needed to accommodate the traffic,” he said. “We want to maintain the status quo at least, so the development doesn’t cause any problems.”
According to the legal notice, the meeting is open to the general public, but only direct abutters can offer input. Soucie said part of the initial meeting is to notify abutters of the changes in the property. There are no residential homes abutting the property.
Soucie said that due to the proposed size of this project, officials from neighboring municipalities such as Portland and South Portland may be in attendance.
Following the meeting, Soucie said, the developer will have guidance from transportation officials about what they would like to see for the property. The traffic study will be reviewed both by the city and state transportation officials.
Gove said that after next week’s meeting, more details on the project will be released. He declined to name any tenants for the development.
“It’s quite similar,” Gove said about his updated design for the property.
Gove’s development company, based in New Hampshire, is responsible for several projects in Maine, and still owns the Falmouth Shopping Center in Falmouth, which features Staples and other stores. He said he’s been monitoring Pike’s property and discussing plans with the company for about seven years.
On Tuesday, Gove said Pike has been “wonderful” to deal with on the project.
Earlier this year, Pike Industries, which is based in New Hampshire, acquired a former Lane Construction asphalt plant on Warren Avenue in Westbrook. City Planner Molly Just said Tuesday that the company viewed that site as a viable replacement for the larger, but much older, Main Street site.
The eventual sale and development of the property will be the end of an era. The Westbrook quarry is one of the longest-active pits in the Greater Portland area. According to a 2006 article in the American Journal, it was purchased by Blue Rock industries in 1942, and the quarry began life as an open gravel pit.
In the early 1940s, workers screened sands and smaller rocks from the pit for use in concrete and roofing materials, while crushing the remaining larger pieces into various smaller sizes for other uses. Blue Rock was a Maine-owned business, established by W.H. Hinman in the 1920s.
Blue Rock was sold to Pike in 2006.
A developer is moving forward on plans to transform the Pike property between Main Street and Larrabee Road into a major retail center. Staff photo by Andrew Rice
The 80-acre Pike Industries site between Main Street and Larrabee Road has been a quarry since the 1940s. Plans are moving ahead for the parcel to become a large retail center. Courtesy photo
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