RAYMOND – Motorists driving along Route 302 the past few weeks have no doubt noticed a significant change as they enter downtown Raymond, as the formerly rundown Raymond Shopping Center has undergone a complete facelift.

After more than six months of renovation, the 32,000-square-foot center – with six tenants including a U.S. post office, Family Dollar store, a hair salon, meat market, laundry and cell phone store – now features a heavy, timber-framed fac?ade complete with stacked stone pillars, hanging flowerpots, a steel mansard roof and even a cupola.

The work, which is lit up at night by LED lighting, has cost more than the center’s owner, Kevin Gagnon, wants to disclose. But the longtime Raymond resident, who owns many of the Lakes Region’s major shopping plazas, and others in the Raymond business community said the investment is worth it.

According to Wayne Holmquist – a founding member of the Raymond Revitalization Committee, which formed several years ago to rally and galvanize the business community – the shopping center is a boon for the townspeople in general.

“I think it’s a real attention getter for the people driving by, and we’ve heard quite a few comments from people that have come back for the summer and they’re all delighted,” he said.

Sam Gifford, chairman of the Raymond Board of Selectmen and the other founding member of the revitalization committee, is equally pleased, saying the center will drive further improvements in town.

“Kevin Gagnon is doing a marvelous job down there. It catches your eye immediately,” Gifford said.

Gifford said the center’s overhaul, as well as several other new structures in downtown, including the new Chipman’s Farm Stand and several buildings local developer Michael Meyer has rebuilt in recent years, are changing the image of Raymond.

“Aesthetics has improved immensely, as has parking. The possibilities for Raymond are unending,” Gifford said. “For crying out loud, it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve been all over the world. We’ve got the lakes; we’ve got everything.

“But the downtown area hasn’t given us the correct branding, and that’s what we’re looking for, and I think that’s coming around. Now you’re seeing the downtown starting to reflect the beauty of the rest of the town.”

Attracting customers

Government and business groups have been talking about ways to improve downtown, but it takes private developers to invest in high-quality projects to actually make the vision a reality, Gifford said. Gagnon, who owns shopping centers in Naples, Standish, Gorham and Mexico, Maine, and bought the Raymond Shopping Center in September 2012, said he is proud of his contribution to the downtown landscape.

“Before we can attract the kinds of tenants the town needs, you’ve got to change the identity of the project and so, I’m just firm on that,” Gagnon said. “You can’t try to lease and make it attractive for businesses to come in here when it’s just old and tired and run down. So, we did that, and this is huge for the town.”

The center has space for more tenants. Gagnon, who has lived in Raymond for much of his life, has several 2,000-square-foot spaces available for lease, as well as a 6,000-square-foot spot he’d like to see filled by a major name outfitter or possibly a grocery store, although he doesn’t want to divulge details. Gagnon, who has been managing shopping centers since 1986 when he built the Naples Shopping Center, said he’s willing to wait until the right businesses come knocking.

“Each tenant will feed off one another if you create the right mix,” he said. “But Raymond, as a whole, doesn’t have much of a commercial district. When you come across that town line, you only have so much time to get a hold of those customer dollars, and I believe if you build it right, you’ll attract people. You’ll attract businesses. They want to be a part of something nice.”

Gagnon is also finishing renovations to a 6,000-square-foot A-frame building he owns near the intersection of Route 85 near Panther Run. He’s aiming to fill that space with doctors and other professionals. Gagnon sees his projects, as well as other recent projects along the commercial strip, as transformational for the town.

“I think it’s a catalyst for what will take place here on Route 302,” he said. “There are some good things that have happened in Raymond. And in our business district, we have to do as much as we can to capture the people.”

Raymond swells to a population of about 12,000 in the summer, with seasonal residents and visitors to camps and campgrounds. Gagnon said his businesses and others have to be attractive and offer what those customers want.

“There is no question that people don’t like going to Windham. Now, I’m not downing Windham, I’m a big fan, but it is so busy during the summertime, so if you’re up here from out of state for a week, you don’t want to spend half a day in traffic. So those are the people we’re going after,” Gagnon said.

He also had the other three seasons in mind when designing the center and luring the “right mix” of tenants.

“It’s busy here from May through the end of October, but even during the winter, you have the snowmobiling, the ice fishing, the skiing, so we can capture those people as well, so we’re going after four seasons,” Gagnon said.

Not only are business advocates in town pleased with the project, commercial tenants in the shopping center are thankful for the aesthetic boost that they hope will improve their bottom lines.

“I think it’s the best thing to happen to Raymond ever. Seriously,” said Glenn Thomas, owner of Lake Region Wireless and Cell Phone Medic. “This thing doesn’t even look like it belongs in Raymond, but it’s going to help the whole town and everybody is going to benefit.”

Lisa Lynch, who bought Raymond Laundry about a month ago, is also pleased.

“The rehab looks great, absolutely wonderful. It has really put some life into the place,” Lynch said.

In 2003, when the Portland Water District installed a water line almost to the Casco border, the Raymond Beautification Committee began creating roadside gardens using grant money. Streetlights were also purchased and an improved sidewalk was built. About 50 volunteers, including residents and businesses, continue to care for gardens along the corridor from the Windham line to Raymond Beach.

Coordinator Sharon Dodson, who leases property to Aubuchon Hardware located next door to the Raymond Shopping Center, said the shopping center and other recent developments are helping to cultivate the image the beautification committee has long worked for in the part of town that thousands of Route 302 motorists see on a daily basis.

“I think it’s raising the bar. I think he’s setting a really good standard and I feel it’s improving the property values of everyone around there,” she said. “We own a couple pieces of property there, and we’re very pleased to have that happening. The more good-looking businesses we have there, the more customers and people will be interested in stopping.”

Marie Delisle of Casco, who was shopping at the center last week, said the renovation was “beautiful. It’s a big, magical type of thing, really, because it was so down before. It hadn’t been redone for so many years. Now it looks fantastic.”

Delisle said she regularly visits the Naples Shopping Center and said Gagnon, who renovated his Naples center last year in a similar heavy-timber style, is forming a name for himself. She also said the quality architecture reflects well on the town as a whole.

“Anything, any big progress is good for the town of Raymond, or any town,” she said. “It’s gotta look updated, unless it goes down too much and for too long and looks like it’s dying. And this picked it up and makes shoppers like me say, ‘Oh they must doing pretty well around here, I’ll stop here.’”

Tenant search

The renovations – which began in late 2012 and include a large pylon roadside sign and repaving and striping of the parking lot – are complete for the most part, though Gagnon has several more ideas for improving the center. He wants to build a 3,000-square-foot credit union to fill the space between the southern end of the shopping center and the building housing the A La Mexicana restaurant. He also wants to build a larger parking lot to the rear of the building to accommodate employee vehicles and deliveries.

But now that the center’s fac?ade is improved, Gagnon is working with Larry Eliason of Butts Commercial Brokers in Windham to actively seek new tenants.

“We’re exploring everything that is currently needed but that people are currently going elsewhere to get,” Gagnon said of the ideal tenant. “But I’m not going to rush getting tenants in here. You have to get the right tenants. I have to. And if it takes me a year or year and a half to get the right tenant, so be it. I knew that coming into it.”

For his part, Eliason said Gagnon has made his work easy.

“I couldn’t ask Kevin to do anything more as far as making it a marketable product for me to lease,” Eliason said. “The paving, the fac?ade, the signage, the new systems, the new lighting, he’s done everything, so you’ve just got to plug in the right qualified tenant. And now that he’s got that stuff done, we’re going to step up the marketing a little more because the image has changed now.”

Eliason said he’s received some calls on the property.

“There are a lot of people looking – developers and commercial brokers that are out doing site tours, where they are coming out and looking at areas,” he said. “But yes, we’ve had inquiries already on the shopping center because of the activity going on there.”

Eliason said the space is for lease at an annual rate of $11 per square foot, which is comparable to North Windham rates, which range from $10 to $12 per square foot. That doesn’t include heat, electricity, taxes, insurance and plowing fees, he said.

Eliason said he expects the building to fill quickly since “it is basically new space” and that the strip features several other new buildings as well as improvements to landscaping and lighting along Route 302 corridor.

“We’ve seen a dramatic improvement in Raymond, and it’s private investment and it’s also public participation as far as the revitalization committee that’s been involved and the volunteers that go out there and take care of the gardens. Raymond’s really stepped it up,” Eliason said.

New signs created by Sign Concepts adorn the top of the new mansard roof at the Raymond Shopping Center.Ron Darby, of Windham-based Raynor Shine Painting, paints the new cupola at the Raymond Shopping Center. The six-month renovation of the shopping center has overhauled not only the center but Raymond in general, local residents and business leaders say.Kevin Gagnon, left, and Glenn Thomas, owner of Lake Region Wireless, discuss Gagnon’s recent overhaul of the Raymond Shopping Center. Thomas praised Gagnon for investing in the building, which is Raymond’s largest retail center.Gone is the 1970s-style façade of the Raymond Shopping Center, as seen above prior to renovation, replaced with a more modern and Maine-themed design.T.J. Goff, of Raynor Shine Painting, puts the finishing touches on the new pylon sign at the Raymond Shopping Center.