BRUNSWICK
The agency overseeing Brunswick Landing and Topsham Commerce Park has given the Navy a $3 million check that pays off debt incurred when the Navy conveyed 1,100 acres on both sites.
The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority was created after the 2005 BRAC round to pay off the debt for its conveyance.
“The significance of this action is that MRRA is paying off the total note 10 years before it is due, saving about $1 million in interest and bank charges,” MRRA announced Thursday in a press release.
The check was presented to the Navy at the Association of Defense Communities National Summit in Arlington, Va.
The ability for MRRA to accomplish this loan payoff is due to the speedy transfer of the property from the Navy and the subsequent rapid redevelopment activity to date at Brunswick Landing and Topsham Commerce Park, according to MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque.
MRRA had planned to begin paying down the loan this coming year in installments, with a balloon payment for the balance due in 10 years. Instead, with this week’s payment, MRRA has paid off the note completely.
“We paid the whole thing,” Levesque said in an interview with The Times Record on Thursday. “All we have left is the revenue sharing.”
Under the terms of the conveyance, the Navy gets 25 percent of revenue made from sales and leases of MRRA property for the next 20 years.
A key factor in MRRA’s ability to pay off the loan is the investments made from four private sector developers at Brunswick Landing and Topsham Commerce, including Affordable Mid Coast Housing LLC, The Priority Group, TBW, LLC and JHR Development.
“We’ve had a lot of property sales, we’ve had the cash,” Levesque said, allowing the authority to pay off the loan.
In May, MRRA’s board of directors approved a $4 million budget, with a $300,000 deficit due to costs associated with Brunswick Executive Airport.
Levesque on Thursday said it made more sense to pay off the debt to the Navy, rather than to close the airport’s shortfall, which is projected to continue until 2016.
“We actually have a line of credit with the (Department of Transportation) to pay that deficit, and that’s an interest-free line of credit,” Levesque said.
MRRA will likely start paying the DOT back starting next year, Levesque said.
jswinconeck@timesrecord.com
THE ABILITY FOR MRRA to accomplish this loan payoff is due to the speedy transfer of the property from the Navy and the subsequent rapid redevelopment activity to date at Brunswick Landing and Topsham Commerce Park.
A KEY FACTOR in MRRA’s ability to pay off the loan is the investments made from four private sector developers at Brunswick Landing and Topsham Commerce, including Affordable Mid Coast Housing LLC, The Priority Group, TBW, LLC and JHR Development.
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