ANOTHER TO COME — Plans are in the making by Justin McIver for another similar-looking professional office building to be built to the left of this building at 300 Portland Road, which is leased by Ten Lakes Chiropractic.

By Gail Geraghty

Staff Writer

As he nears completion of a major new retail/office building in downtown Bridgton, local developer Justin McIver is already on to his next project.

McIiver, with engineer George Sawyer acting as agent, went before the Bridgton Planning Board Oct. 3 for permission to build a new 4,500 square-foot professional office building on Portland Road near Sandy Creek. The project, which includes a garage out back, would share a common walkway with another of his projects, the Ten Lakes Chiropractic building at 300 Portland Road that he built within the past year. It would also be similar in façade and architectural style, only larger.

McIver’s intention is to have it serve as the new headquarters of Main Eco Homes, the construction company he owns, which is currently located around a half-mile north on the other side of the highway. His office would be the largest of either three or five professional offices in the new one-story building.

The 1.75-acre commercial parcel where the building would be sited is located at the corner of a planned new road called Sustainable Way that serves as the entrance to the planned new subdivision of 96 apartments and 18 single-family homes that McIver and Vista Investments partner Mark Lopez won approval to build in June of 2014.

Sawyer told the board the Department of Environmental Protection is requiring a new wetlands impact application for the entire project to take into account the new commercial development. Along with the professional office building and its parking, McIver is also proposing to build a garage behind the building that could possibly include up to three apartments on the second floor.

Sawyer said wetlands were discovered on the 1.75-acre commercial site that weren’t included in the initial DEP wetlands review. The wetlands were found between the footprint of the office building and garage, and that discovery will make it necessary to renegotiate with the DEP on a wetlands compensation fee based on the amount of impervious surface involved.

Board member Brian Thomas questioned the timing of the project, noting that the town’s subdivision rules require completion of project infrastructure within two years of project approval. Thomas noted that in the case of the adjoining Eco-Estates apartments and Efficiency Way homes, McIver has only eight months remaining under town rules to build the roads, retention pond and other infrastructure for that large project.

It was understood, however, that the housing project would be built in phases, depending on demand, over the next 10 years or so. And when that project was reviewed, it was noted that the commercial frontage on Route 302 would be developed separately.

Sawyer said the road will be built to town standards and “be built in for some distance” beyond the commercial lot, in anticipation of the phased-in development of the housing. The new building will have an address of 3 Sustainable Way, and will be owned by Sustainable Way LLC, the latest of McIver’s real estate development ventures.

Board member Mike Figoli pointed out that easement agreements with Vista Investments LLC, the owner of 300 Portland Road, will need to be recorded in the deeds to cover the use of common space.

Sawyer told the board he’d be back in either December or January with the additional information needed by the board.

Over the past two months, McIver’s Main Eco Homes’ crew has substantially completed work on the new 103 Main Street retail/office building, the Carry All Corner, located at the corner of Cottage and Main Streets. By early spring, first-floor tenants Towanda’s Specialty Foods & Deli and Firefly Boutique should both be able to move in.