SCARBOROUGH – The ongoing multimillion-dollar development project in the center of Scarborough is now entering a new stage, with the beginnings of the first central downtown area in the town’s history now underway.
Developers at The Downs have announced planning board approval for three new building projects, with construction scheduled to begin this fall.
“This is an exciting step for Scarborough,” Scarborough Town Councilor Jon Anderson said in a statement. “I am pleased that the project is moving forward as planned and will begin delivering the amenities residents want.”
The buildings include a new retail structure that will become the fourth Market Basket grocery store in Maine. Developers said the store is expected to generate 300 new jobs when finished next year. A second building will have 46,000 square feet of commercial space. The developers have not yet announced who the tenants will be, but said the space will be for retail and restaurants.
Finally, the third building will be five stories tall. The ground floor will have 15,000 square feet of commercial space, while the upper floors will have 76 one and two-bedroom housing units.
The new projects are part of a massive development project that began in 2018 on a 600-acre parcel that used to be home to the Scarborough Downs racetrack. Now, the area is the site of ongoing work to bring commercial, industrial and residential tenants to the region.
Dan Bacon, development director at M&R Development, said the newest buildings are the first step in building a town center. Part of the original plan, town officials and developers agreed that the Downs project should include a downtown area, complete with a town green and walking space.
“We want to deliver it for the Downs residents and businesses, but also for the Town of Scarborough, because Scarborough doesn’t really have a downtown, and this would fulfill that decades-long vision,” he said.
So far, developers have created more than 600 housing units, and brought in commercial and industrial tenants including veterinary medical product manufacturer IDEXX Laboratories and retailer Costco’s first location in Maine.
Just up the road from the new project, workers are putting the finishing touches on another commercial building, expected to house a brewery and restaurant by Alagash Brewing Co.
Bacon said with the permits in hand, he expects construction on the three new buildings to begin in October, and will take about a year to finish.
