Developer proposes mixed use development at Five Points Shopping Center

BIDDEFORD — Developer Tim Harrington is proposing a mixed-use development that would add apartments and condominiums to the Five Points Shopping Center property.

The Five Points Shopping Center is located 420 Alfred St.

“It is an old shopping center in a deteriorating retail environment; more than half of the retail spaces in the center are vacant. The change to a mixed commercial-residential development will bring new life and vitality to the center,” said Harrington’s attorney Ralph Austin in a letter to the city.

A suggested redevelopment plan for the complex would maintain the anchor retail spots in the strip mall and add about 130 market-rate apartments on six or seven stories situated over one story of retail space in the center of the complex. The completed proposed multi-use building would be up to 90 feet high.

The proposed development would also add up to 128 garden-style apartments in four buildings to the east of the current shopping center, in a nearly five-acre area that is currently undeveloped and wooded. A suggested pedestrian trail would connect the apartments to May Field Park and give pedestrian access to people in the May Street neighborhood to stores and restaurants at the shopping center.

In order for Harrington’s plan to move forward in the I-3 zone, where the property is located, it would need the city to approve a contract zone.

The City Council on Tuesday night voted to allow the planning board to review the proposal and come back to the council at a later date with any recommendations. After reviewing the planning board’s recommendation, the City Council could decide to vote to approve a contract zone to allow a project to move forward.

Residents Sterling Roop and Meaghan Daly said they both liked the suggested project, but were concerned the city was trying to rush it through with a contract zone and could try a more strategic approach.

Councilor Marc Lessard said that the city needed to move forward on reviewing the potential for the project, as the developer could decide to invest money in another community if the city waited.

“It’s a poster-child for a contract zone project,” he said.

Mayor Alan Casavant agreed the city had to move forward to consider the proposal when there was “a window of potential.” He said he thought the proposal was a good way for the city to move forward as shopping centers continue to have trouble with the increase of online shopping. The proposed apartment buildings in the currently undeveloped area would be a natural extension to an existing residential zone, he said.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at [email protected].