MAINE SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART EN ROUTE

It’s Official: Wal-Mart Supercenter Is Coming [Ellsworth (Maine) American]

ELLSWORTH — It’s official: a 203,000-square-foot building on Myrick Street is going to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Deed transfers for sales of land off Myrick Street between Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust and Darbro Inc. have been recorded in the Hancock County Registry of Deeds office.

Wal-Mart has also purchased land on Beckwith Hill from the Henry Howard Dunn Street and the Freda Mavis Dunn Trust.

The Massachusetts-based firm W/S Development Associates, which is developing the super Wal-Mart and an additional 300,000 square feet of retail businesses titled Acadia Crossing II, is listed in the deed transfers as well.

Although a Wal-Mart spokesman said in an e-mail that the retailer had no publicly announced plans to build a supercenter here, Wal-Mart officials met with Code Enforcement Officer Dwight Tilton July 19 to review requirements for city permits. Tilton said it would likely be August before he issued any.

In related business, bids were opened Friday for the first part of a project to make Route 3 one-way from McDonald’s to Myrick Street.  The project will create capacity for additional traffic generated by the development on Beckwith Hill.

The bids opened Friday concerned work on Myrick Street and Route 1. Although no bids have been awarded yet, acting City Manager Michelle Beal said R.F. Jordan & Sons was the low bidder at $2.7 million.

On Aug. 15, bids will be opened for the other part of the project concerning Route 3. Beal said the work had to be bid separately because the state is contributing $600,000 for the Route 3 portion.

Beal said work on the Myrick Street portion would begin after a pre-construction meeting to be held in two weeks.

Todd Crosthwaite, public relations and events coordinator at the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce, will serve as the city’s liaison with businesses that have questions or concerns about the project. Crosthwaite served the same function with the High Street widening project.

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Thursday, July 26, 2007