Orion Center Plans Please Route 1 Businesses

April 20, 2009

SCARBOROUGH (April 14): Maine Health's plans to move two tenants into the Orion Center is boosting hopes among neighboring Scarborough businesses.

Maine Health, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Maine Medical Center, would relocate NorDx Laboratory from Campus Drive in Scarborough and Maine Medical Partners from South Portland to the Orion Center. The center, vacant since 2004, is located between 295 Route 1 and 301 Route 1.

NorDx would move its 290 employees to the site and Maine Medical Partners would relocate its 90 employees.

Filling that building could help Route 1 businesses that have surrounded an “unattractive” lot for several years, said Joe Palmieri, owner of Chicago Dogs at 285 Route 1.

“Right now, if you look at what’s around here and once you get past Oak Hill, there’s not a heck of a lot around,” Palmieri said. “This project is going to bring hundreds of people to this restaurant, especially around lunch time.”

Scarborough Planning Board members discussed the site plan for the Orion Center last week, and could make a final decision on it within the next one to two months, Town Planner Dan Bacon said.

Upgrading the 93,000 square feet of building space on 16 acres would be a two-phase project, Bacon said.

The first phase would include renovating half of the largest building’s interior for NorDx’s laboratories and improving the outside with landscaping.

Parking spaces, which now number 290, would be redrawn at 9 feet rather than 10 feet wide, creating a 400-space lot.

NorDx would be open 24 hours per day and added lighting would remain on throughout the night.

All of this helps businesses in the area, said Dale Rodgers, who has owned Rodgers Ski & Sport at 332 Route 1 for 25 years.

“It will be good because there will be more traffic flow,” Rodgers said. “Also, being a vacant lot over there, it doesn’t have that warm appeal that attracts people to the area. This could bring more people in the area, which could bring more people into my business.”

Jayesh Patel, who two years ago bought America’s Best Family Inn at 321 Route 1, just down the street from the Orion Center, said he is excited about the potential traffic uptick.

“When I started here there was nothing next door, but then a few places came in and I saw business increase,” Patel said. “As soon as something comes into the Orion Center, that’s going to make a huge difference here, because right now it’s dark and not very attractive, but that will all change. When it’s more attractive, my place also benefits from that because people realize it is a nice area to stay in.”

Bacon said Maine Health officials plan to bring the building up to the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.

Planning Board members have asked Maine Health to do more with the landscaping in the existing lot. They also requested that the extra curb cuts be closed and the sidewalks leveled.

Maine Health is seeking Department of Environmental Protection permits, Bacon said.

The Orion Center consists of two separate buildings – one at 69,000 square feet and one at 24,000 square feet. All plans, including the master site plan, include building a 20,000-square-foot connector between them.

Plans that Maine Health has considered for Phase 2 include building two small, two-story buildings on the Route 1 side of the property. A small one-story building would connect the two buildings.

Another plan includes building a single two-story building on the southeast corner of the site.

Maine Health bought the property from Hannaford late last summer for $7.4 million. Hannaford bought the property from Dead River Company for a little more than $9 million in December 2007.

The Scarborough-based grocery store company had planned to build another grocery store on the site, even though it had a store located less than a mile away. The company decided to sell the property after determining that any development could take too much time, Mike Norton, Hannaford’s spokesman, previously said.

NorDx employees earn between $20,000 and $90,000 per year. Maine Medical Partners employees earn between $20,000 and $60,000 per year.

Harvey Rosenfeld, executive director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp., said Maine Health is “going to bring good jobs to the area,” Rosenfeld said. “Also, the problem with vacant buildings is that they begin to deteriorate, making the property look unattractive. Maine Health will help continue to spruce up the area.”

Author: By Al Edwards American Journal