Waterville Planning Board to review final plans for $18 million Paul J. Schupf Art Center

An architect’s rendering of the Paul J. Schupf Art Center coming to 93 Main St. in downtown Waterville. Courtesy of Susan T. Rodriguez Architecture • Design, New York City

WATERVILLE — The Planning Board is expected Monday night to consider approving final plans for the $18 million Paul J. Schupf Art Center at 93 Main St. in downtown Waterville.

Those wanting to view the virtual 7 p.m. meeting should contact the city’s planning office before 5 p.m. Monday to receive a Zoom link.

Elm City 93 LLC, an affiliate of Colby College, is expected to present final plans for the art center, on which work has begun.

The center, expected to be finished in the fall of next year, is to include Waterville Creates, Maine Film Center, with three cinemas; Ticonic Gallery & Studios; and the Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art, an extension of the Colby College Museum of Art.

The center is also to be home to the Maine International Film Festival.

Plans also call for improving access to the Waterville Opera House, thanks to a new skywalk, and for the Opera House lobby and offices inside City Hall to be reconfigured and the lobby expanded.

After the center opens, 15 to 20 employees are expected to be there during the day and 10 to 15 in the evening, according to plans.

Susan T. Rodriguez Architecture • Design of New York City, the lead architect on the project, was hired more than four years ago to design the Schupf Center, working with OPAL Architecture Research Design of Belfast, the architects of record.

Plans call for two main building entrances, one on the Main Street side and the other on the Castonguay Square side. A third entrance will also be on Main Street, opening into the Ticonic Gallery & Studios, through which people will be able to see to the end of the building.

The Ed Harris Box Office, to serve all programs in the building, will be on the first level. A cafe overlooking the square will also be on the first level.

The building will feature a large, glass curtain overlooking Castonguay Square to the south side and a large windows on the west or Main Street side.

The center is named for Schupf, an art collector, longtime Colby benefactor and emeritus trustee of the college, who made a significant contribution to the project. Schupf of Hamilton, New York, died in 2019. He was 82.

In other matters Monday, the Planning Board is expected to consider final plans by Pondwood LLC for a mini mall at 195 College Ave. The board is to review the plans under the city’s site plan review and subdivision ordinance.

D.H. Smith & Sons LLC is also expected to request final plan review for the construction of a 6,400-square-foot wood products facility at 135 Airport Road.