TOPSHAM

Topsham Town Manager Richard Roedner told the board overseeing redevelopment of the area’s former Navy base that he was “quite pleased” with progress at the Topsham annex, specifically in the conversion of the 1950s-era commissary. Wicked Joe Coffee relocated from Brunswick to the former Navy facility this year.

“They quickly put down roots here in Topsham,” said Roedner on Wednesday. “I’m pleased that our new hometown business has a financial stake in staying there.”

The former commissary lies in what is now the Topsham Commerce Park, consisting of 74 acres of real estate that the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority is marketing for residential, retail, office and civic uses.

Wicked Joe utilizes 25,000 square feet at the former annex at 35 Canam Drive, mainly for its roasting operation. The building is owned by JHR development.

The company has about a dozen employees and an expanding business that includes selling products in Hannaford supermarkets, as well as Price Chopper and Jewel chains.

Additional interest by other entities in relocating to the annex was “encouraging,” Roedner said.

Topsham recently approved plans for a three-lot subdivision at the former annex, allowing MRRA to begin selling that property.

So far, the Navy has transferred a little under 1,700 out of 2,100 acres to MRRA. Another 21 acres are expected to be transferred in the next week, including about 12 acres in Topsham.

On the Brunswick Landing campus, the Navy is expected to convey land that includes Building 81, which already has a tenant — New England Tent and Awning, said MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque.

Building 223, adjacent to Mölnlycke Health Care, is also being conveyed.

Environmental remediation must be completed on several parcels before they can be conveyed to MRRA. Many major parcels have already been conveyed to the authority and Levesque said he expects much of the land to be conveyed in the future to be smaller parcels.

MRRA has 469,000 square feet under lease to 27 tenants, with more than 55 entities now doing business at Brunswick Landing and in Topsham.

About 1,440 acres and 28 buildings have been sold to date, said Levesque.

Many real estate transactions in Brunswick are being driven by dealings with local developers such as Jim Howard and George Schott.

Recent purchase

Schott recently purchased the building housing Oxford Networks’ secure data center at Brunswick Landing for $5.1 million, becoming that business’s new landlord.

Schott, Levesque said, used funds to purchase the data center building from sales of other property at the former base, including former base housing and a hotel.

“Those sales are being used to reinvest in other properties,” said Levesque.

Levesque said MRRA is in the process of closing a deal to allow Schott to acquire the Navy’s former nightclub on the base.

In other MRRA news, the building that houses TechPlace, which MRRA describes as a “technology incubator” at Brunswick Landing, which will have shared spaces for R&D startups, is still undergoing renovation work. About eight companies have shown interest in space there, said Levesque. The goal is to have 10 businesses there when TechPlace is slated to open in December.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com