The Landing runs aground

Due to a lack of tenants, a former restaurant building in the center of North Windham has been demolished.

A Westbrook real estate holding firm demolished the building that once held The Landing Restaurant on Tuesday, due to a longtime lack of demand for the 6,098-square-foot space.

The North Windham building, owned by Deering Investments since 1991, was originally built in 1989 as a Sizzler restaurant, a national steakhouse chain. In the 2000s, the building also served as a Chowderheads restaurant before The Landing took it over. Since its closure in November 2010, the building, which is located next to Rustler’s Steakhouse near the busy routes 302, 35 and 115 intersection, has stood vacant.

In 2014, Windham valued the 750 Roosevelt Trail property at $785,100, with the land valued at $214,900 and the building at $570,200.

Jeff Peters, a lawyer for Deering Investments, and the son of the firm’s owner, John Peters, said the large building was not “configured very well to modern use.”

“The size of the building didn’t make sense for the type of businesses that want to come into Windham,” Peters said. “It was purpose-designed to be a restaurant. It’s roughly 6,000 square feet and there’s not too many 6,000-square-foot restaurants in Windham.”

According to Peters, the property is still for lease. Peters said it was unclear whether the holding firm would redevelop the property.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “We’re not developers.”

According to Tom Bartell, the town’s economic development director, the demolition follows a string of attempts to lease the building, and will likely clear the way for new development.

“I know there’s been a number of attempts to lease the building, but it would take a lot of renovations in order to make it happen,” Bartell said. “I think it was too expensive for the property owner to make the business work. It was built as a Sizzler restaurant and that’s kind of what it was designed for. I think that what it’s all about is just making room for the next development that comes in.”

According to Windham Planning Director Ben Smith, Deering has not pulled any other permits beyond a demolition permit. According to Smith, the building’s size was the cause of its demise.

“They’ve been trying to lease that building out for at least a couple years and haven’t had any success based on the current configuration of that building,” he said. “Nobody currently wanted to take the whole thing as it is. They were left with options of sectioning off that building to smaller units inside, rather than sell it off as a single use.”

“They just weren’t making any headway with it,” Smith said.

The 6,098-square-foot former Landing Restaurant building, razed this week, was constructed in 1989 as a Sizzler steakhouse. The Westbrook real estate holding firm, Deering Investments, purchased it in 1991, and has not been able to lease the building in recent years, due to a lack of demand.Staff photo by Ezra Silk