New restaurant, brewery to move into Five Points in Biddeford

An early-stage plan to build approximately 128 multi-family units adjacent to Five Points Shopping Center has been filed with the city of Biddeford.

If approved, it would include four apartment buildings on between 7.5 and 8 acres, and 43 covered parking spaces, according to City Planner David Galbraith.

The development by BVH Biddeford, LLC would be built in an open area northeast of the shopping center at 420 Alfred Street.

The council voted to amend the city ordinance to allow multi-family residential developments in the I-3 Commercial Industrial Zone at its Aug. 20 meeting. Those dwellings were previously not allowed in this location as a permitted or conditional use.

A proposed contract zone was forwarded by the council to the planning board, which has been charged to review the plans and, once vetted, make recommendations to the council.

“The council wants it back for further discussion,” said Galbraith. “This was their first plan out of the box so I expect a fair number of changes.”

An internal review group comprising planning, assessing, and other departments will be involved.

He foresees “some fairly significant changes” will be needed, such as to the site plan, access to emergency services and schematics to connect sewer and water lines to the city’s infrastructure.

It is uncertain whether the project will include low-income units, Galbraith said, but if so a minimum of 25 units will be required.

When asked about a timeline, Galbraith replied, “There’s not anything set in stone. A very, very early sketch plan came through.”

No other projects are being proposed for that parcel of land, the planner said. 

He expects the council will again consider the project in “the next few months” and ground would not be broken until “next spring at the earliest.”

BVH Biddeford, LLC is the development arm of Atlantic Holdings, of which Maine developer Tim Harrington is a principal.

Harrington previously sought sketch plan approval from the Biddeford Planning Board in January 2021 for a project that would have added apartments and condominiums to the Alfred Street property.

The original redevelopment plan would have maintained the anchor stores in the strip mall and added about 130 market-rate apartments, according to a story published by the Saco Bay News. The apartments would rise six or seven stories over one story of retail space in the center of the complex and would have been up to 90 feet high.

The proposed development would also have added up to 128 garden-style apartments in four buildings to the east of the shopping center, in an area of nearly 5 acres that is now undeveloped and wooded.

“I thought about it as an apartment site, and that could still happen with an extra 5 acres off to the right,” Harrington said at the time.

In November, Harrington proposed opening a 140,000-square-foot entertainment complex called Play 5 last spring. Harrington did not return messages about whether he still plans to proceed with that endeavor.

When asked about Play 5, Galbraith said, “The developer has been working with City Staff to fill vacant tenant spaces.

“The amount of internal review, varies upon the use of each proposed tenant space, in addition to any increases in sewer demands for the proposed uses.

“Some tenant change outs may be able to be reviewed at a purely Staff lever (Code Office) where others MAY require Planning Board review.”

He added, “Sorry I can’t get more detailed at this point. As uses come into our offices we make a determination of what level of review is required and then process each as necessary.”

The building received a fresh coat of paint this summer and on Sept. 4 three businesses had new door signage in preparation for apparent move-ins: Batson River Brewing & Distillery; Golden Apple Buffet, an Asian eatery in the former Tin Tin Buffet; and Orange Circuit Fitness.

There was no visible activity in the spaces formerly occupied by Smitty’s Cinema and Big Lots, businesses that encompassed the plaza’s two largest footprints. However, the square footage is not adjacent.

A manager at Sherwin-Williams declined to speak on the record about developments in the shopping center last month, but Heather Steeves, a spokeswoman for Goodwill Northern New England, said the nonprofit is “excited to remain in the building. As far as I know (we’re staying) and are “excited for the foot traffic the arcade will bring. We’ll be there.”

Ann Fisher is a freelance journalist based in Saco. She can be reached at 432-7483.