The Marble Block Building on Main Street in Biddeford. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
BIDDEFORD — Come summer 2025, the city of Biddeford will have a new bowling alley at 129 Main St., a property that has sat empty for many years.
The City Council voted 6-3 on Feb. 20 to approve a joint development agreement that includes a credit enhancement provision to aide with the redevelopment of the building.
City Councilors Liam LaFountain, Doris Ortiz, and Marc Lessard voted against the deal.
Marble Block Development LLC, the developer, has agreed to rehab the “Marble Block” property, pledging to make the first floor of the building into a restaurant and a bowling alley, and the second floor into either residential or “arts and cultural related” commercial space.
Per the agreement, the project will receive a credit enhancement from the city that will reimburse Marble Block Development an average 72% percent of the property taxes they pay on the new value of the building over 30 years. The reimbursement caps out at $919,769.00.
The city must first apply to have the property designated as part of a new Tax Increment Financing District, which allows the property taxes to be used for a specific purpose — in this case, the credit enhancement agreement.
In return, the city will see a long-vacant space redeveloped and receive a $25,000 contribution into the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund over a 10-year period. Additionally, if the second floor ends up being residential, the Marble Block Development has agreed to contribute money to the city to support the construction of affordable housing if they build five units or more.
The developer will pay the city $6,250 if they construct five market rate rental units, $12,500 if they construct six units, and $18,750 if they construct seven units.
This clause stems from the city’s newly enacted inclusionary zoning policy, which requires developers to either construct affordable housing or pay the city money to support the construction of affordable housing.
In this case, the Marble Block Development has agreed to contribute beyond what is required by the city’s inclusionary zoning policy, which kicks in when a developer constructs at least eight units. George Gervais, the city’s director of economic and community development, highlighted this as a sign of good will.
“I did some calculation on how this looks for the city, for revenue. If this project goes away and things stay as they are over the life of this credit enhancement agreement or the life of this TIF, revenues are $223,000 to the city. If this is approved and it moves forward as outline in credit enhancement agreement, there is a total of $644,373 in revenues that goes to the city,” said Gervais.
City Councilor Julian Schlaver, who voted for the agreement, said that he had been inside the building and seen for himself the extensive renovation needed to make the space viable.
Once a Renys department store, the building has sat empty for over a decade. In 2011, Renys sold the property to Engine, the local arts nonprofit, for $1. Even with half a million in grants to remediate the space, Engine ran into challenges funding the remodel, according to Heart of Biddeford Executive Director Delilah Poupore, who spoke at the Feb. 20 meeting.
In 2021, the Marble Block Redevelopment Corp., which was formed to renovate the building on behalf of Engine, sold the three-story, 20,000-square-foot building to Luke’s Lobster executive Bryan Holden for $400,000, according to reporting from the Portland Press Herald at the time. In the joint development agreement, Holden is the signatory on behalf of Marble Block Development, LLC.
Poupore, whose organization fosters business development in Biddeford’s downtown, said that the long vacant Marble Block property is currently a “symbol of blight” for the community and urged councilors to support the joint development agreement.
Poupore said she spoke with some nearby businesses who said they believe the project is worthy of some municipal financial support because of the unique challenges with redeveloping this building. She also pointed to the results of a Heart of Biddeford 2021 survey, which found that community members are in favor of creating more “active businesses” like bowling alleys in the downtown.
Councilor LaFountain said that he did not think the credit enhancement agreement was the wisest use of city money, pointing to the need to build affordable housing and combat homelessness.
He referenced a proposal from Seeds of Hope Executive Director Vassie Fowler to build a six-bed transitional supportive housing program as more worthy of municipal support. Fowler came before the City Council on Feb. 13 with that proposal.
Roughly 50% of households in Biddeford are “barely squeaking by,” LaFountain added, indicating they would have trouble taking advantage of this bowling alley for financial reasons. He referenced a report by United For ALICE, a research effort led by the United Way of Northern New Jersey. The report shows that 52% of households in Biddeford struggle to afford basics like housing, food and child care, according to data from 2021.
Schlaver countered that it is a worthy investment of city funds because the Marble Block project would create jobs and generate revenue for the city.
He also said that because the credit enhancement agreement is money that the city would not otherwise have — since it is money based on new value of the property —the funds can’t be compared with money hypothetically spent by the city on Fowler’s transitional housing proposal.
With the joint development agreement passed, the owners are obligated to complete the first floor of the project by June 2025, and the second floor by 2029 — a timeline they must stick to if they want to receive the credit enhancement funds.
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