Biddeford tops off parking garage

BIDDEFORD — The last panel was laid in the Pearl Street parking garage, but it’s just the beginning of a new vision for downtown’s riverfront.

City officials gathered outside the parking lot Friday morning at a “topping off” ceremony on Friday morning to sign the panel and then watch as it was hoisted up and put to rest on top of the structure of the city’s first downtown parking garage.

Attached to the beam were an American flag and an evergreen tree. The evergreen tree symbolizes that the structure has reached the sky without injury or loss of life, said Program Manager Mark Donovan of PC Construction. It also blesses the project moving forward, he said.

“It really is an amazing day for Biddeford,” said Mayor Alan Casavant.

The 640-space parking garage has been developed through a private-public partnership – the first project of its kind in the state, according to city officials. The city, which owns the land the parking garage is on, entered an agreement with Treadwell Franklin Infrastructure Capital and James W. Sewall Company to develop the parking garage, manage the garage and nearby parking lots and complete the Riverwalk trail.

The cost to build the parking lot was projected at about $22.3 million, according to the city’s website. City Manager Jim Bennett said Friday that the project may be completed just under budget, with some money going back to the city.

The city will supply funding to the project through annual payments from the city’s Tax Increment Financing, or TIF. Money from the TIF fund comes from sheltered property taxes from businesses and developments in the city’s mill district, and not from residential property taxpayers, according to information from the city. The city will also contribute revenues from the parking garage and parking lots.

If parking revenues are less than anticipated, the city can offset this by collecting payments from surrounding properties in the mill district, adjusting parking rates or a combination of the two. If revenues are higher than expected, the city will receive the benefit, according to information from the city.

The parking garage is expected to be open by July, said Bennett. According to the city’s website, projected parking rates would be $2 an hour during the first three years of operation and $2.50 an hour in years four through eight, with periodic increases moving forward. Permits will also be available, and in the first two years are projected to cost $55 a month for a daytime permit and $70 a month for a 24-hour/seven day a week permit.

Casavant said there have been talks about creating a parking garage since he became mayor ten years ago, and he said the public-private partnership was the best way to get the project done.

“It’s a paradigm shift – from an old mill town to what we are today,” said Casavant.

The parking lot is just a piece of development plans in the vicinity of Pearl Street – a former mill area nestled by the Saco River a few blocks away from Main Street. Future plans include the creation of a park on Pearl Street along with completion of the RiverWalk and street improvements. Nearby, Chinburg Properties is redeveloping the former Lincoln Mill building, creating luxury loft apartments, a boutique hotel, rooftop bar and pool and restaurants.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.