A new complex or a new trend?

An apartment complex design was brought to the Orono Community Development Committee on Wednesday April 21. This may sound like business as usual at a first glance but it could signal a change in the town setup.

For years, the town of Orono has had a distinct traditional style of architecture mostly constructed using brick. When the lot of the old Webster Paper Mill became available, Developers Collaborative LLC saw an opportunity to create a new riverside living area. The architects, David Lloyd and Kevin Bunker, thought it might be time to try something different. Their intent is to come up with something not offered on the market right now. They have planned the building to have a very modern look and merging a piece of the past by using both metal and brick siding. The complex was also designed to have the front entrance be reminiscent of the old mill.

Depending on how much popularity the apartments get from the town this may start a trend for the future of Orono architecture. It will also open up the real estate market by giving buyers more options. As with any new idea, there are always critics. One board member is worried about how it will look “ten years down the road.” His concern is that it will have a dated look that will look nice now but will be out of style in the future. With the exception of this one idea all other concerns brought up by the board seemed to be previously thought out by the architects and they are willing to make some changes if the board deems necessary.

As of Wednesday, the building will have 4 floors and a total of 24 units. A nice amenity to the buyer is that half of the units will have riverfront views and all will have a private deck. The complex also offers different sized apartments; the larger ones will be located at each of the four corners of the building.

An interesting piece of information that the buyers might want to know about is that there are two sources of contamination on the site. Only one area of contamination was discussed at the meeting and that was the coal storage yard. This space could be cleared to make way for a parking lot but the more likely option is that it will be filled. The company is willing to negotiate on what to do with the area as the plans are “very loose” on this topic. Once all the plans have been set in place the demolition would take two to three weeks and the construction is estimated to take 10 months.

Towards the end of the meeting the draft agreement was proposed to the committee. It dealt with a lot of logistics and legalities but some important information was brought up. To make a profit on the deal one-third of the units must sell at a minimum of $200,000.This is not too big of a worry for the company seeing as how the economy has been looking up. Now the only question that remains is, will it sell?

*Photo taken by Justin Fisk