The last town-owned property that can be developed in Brunswick is likely to become home to a brewing company, affordable housing and a community kitchen.
The owners of the downtown Moderation Brewing Company, Mattie Daughtry and Philip Welsh, were the only people to put in a proposal to develop the historic fire station, constructed in 1919. The plan is to turn the first floor into a bigger home for Moderation Brewing, the basement into storage and a community kitchen, and the second floor into five studio apartments.
Many in the community wanted the building to be used exclusively for affordable housing, but this was the only application in part due to suggestions put in place by the Town Council and town manager in the request for proposal for historical preservation, said Councilor Steve Walker, who is on the redevelopment committee for the building.
The community didn’t value historical preservation of the building as much as it did affordable housing, Walker said. When he sat at last year’s community barbecue listening to the public about what they wanted from the building, he thought it was clear that affordable housing was more important to them.
But a survey put out to the community about the public’s plans for the building showed the most important issue as historic preservation, followed closely behind by public space and affordable housing. About one-third of respondents wanted complete preservation, while one-third was comfortable with partial demolition and one-third was comfortable with full demolition.
“I’m typically a fan of historic preservation, but if you’ve seen this building, it’s sort of meh,” Walker said. “After 12 years of being on the Town Council and hearing about how the building’s molding and falling apart from the fire department, I don’t know why we’re trying to preserve it.”
Daughtry, who is the No. 3 Democrat in the Maine Senate, said other developers looked into doing affordable housing for the building, but the amount of demolition and renovation needed would have cost too much. She said if they could put in more affordable housing, they would. But she said this building isn’t right for that use.
“We met with a bunch of affordable housing developers because we knew we wanted this to be a part of our plan from day one,” Daughtry said. “As two 30-somethings who have tried and struggled to afford to live in our hometown, we are acutely aware of the need for affordable housing.”
Daughtry is hoping to “pay it forward” with the housing, maybe hosting people who could get apprenticeships and certifications with the brewing company and live in the studio apartments upstairs. Small businesses and people starting out culinary careers would be able to rent out the community kitchen space to prep and cook food, she added.
The Brunswick Town Council will vote on the proposal at its Sept. 18 meeting.
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.