Chris Bishop walks by The Skowhegan hotel entry at the former Solon Manufacturing and Maine Spinning Co. mill Wednesday at 7 Island Ave. in Skowhegan. Bishop was operating a lull forklift to move containers of paint and other materials for the project. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

SKOWHEGAN — John Gessner envisions the redevelopment of the Spinning Mill in downtown as a community hub.

The long-awaited project had been set back with millions of dollars in damage by Kennebec River flooding in December 2023. But now Gessner, who was hired last month as the property’s general manager, is getting ready to open its doors.

“This will become a true neighborhood gathering spot,” Gessner said during a recent tour of the 80,000-square-foot building. “I mean, you can’t get into or out of Skowhegan without going by it. So, if something is going on, you’re going to see it as you drive in or drive out of town. We’re really hoping to provide something special for Skowhegan as well as residents and guests.”

General Manager John Gessner walks onto a surface Wednesday where a patio is planned for the Biergarten, a new German-inspired restaurant at the former Solon Manufacturing and Maine Spinning Co. mill at 7 Island Ave. in Skowhegan. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

The mixed-use project at the former Solon Manufacturing and Maine Spinning Co. mill at 7 Island Ave., which has been touted as a key part of the town’s ongoing economic revitalization efforts, is expected to be finished this year in phases, beginning in the coming weeks.

The 20-room hotel — called “The Skowhegan” — on the first floor is set to open in the next few weeks, Gessner said.

The Biergarten, a German-inspired beer garden and restaurant operated by the owners of Miller’s Table at Maine Grains in Skowhegan, is set to follow with a targeted opening later in May. The restaurant space, which includes an indoor area and kitchen and outdoor patio overlooking the river, was originally planned for Skowhegan-based Bigelow Brewing Co.

After the restaurant opens, through the summer, residents are expected to move into the 41 apartments on the second, third and top floors, one floor at a time, from bottom to top.

Formal announcements about when exactly the hotel, restaurant and apartments will open are expected soon, said Dash Davidson, a principal of Bangor-based High Tide Capital, the Spinning Mill’s developer. The company needs to finalize its hotel booking website and other details before announcing a firm opening date, he said.

“Things are getting very close,” Davidson said.

General Manager John Gessner is shown Wednesday in a 10-foot doorway to a hotel room, under construction at the former Solon Manufacturing and Maine Spinning Co. mill at 7 Island Ave. in Skowhegan. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

A LOOK INSIDE

The 20 hotel rooms vary in layout. With high ceilings from the building’s industrial past, the rooms have massive 10-foot doors and windows.

Gessner said he is not sure what a typical night’s stay would cost, though he expects it will be competitive with the market in the area.

The hotel will be operated by High Tide Capital and branded as a Kasa hotel, Gessner said. Kasa, a national brand, uses technology for typical hotel services like check-ins and key pickup, although Gessner said hotel staff will be on-site during the day, and Kasa provides support for common issues after hours.

Gessner, who is originally from Massachusetts and now lives in Augusta, came to High Tide Capital with experience managing other hotels in Maine. He said he managed the hotel and food and beverage operation at the Senator Inn in Augusta for about three years and was part of the management team that opened the Best Western Plus hotel in Rumford in 2022.

He expects the hotel to be popular, especially with local businesses.

“With all the corporate partners in the neighborhood here, between New Balance, Sappi, and the hospital … I expect we will have people who are staying three or four days at a time on business, or possibly traveling nurses,” Gessner said.

The view over downtown Skowhegan is shown Wednesday from the former Solon Manufacturing and Maine Spinning Co. mill at 7 Island Ave. The 80,000-square-foot facility will feature a hotel, restaurant and apartments. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Upstairs, the 41 apartments vary in size, from a studio, loft-style unit to a three-bedroom/two-bathroom layout.

The units, most of which are to be market-rate, come unfurnished, Gessner said. About 35%-40% were leased as of this week, he said.

The top-floor apartments ­— with views overlooking the Kennebec River, the Weston dam and downtown Skowhegan and access to a rooftop deck — have already been claimed, according to Gessner.

The ground floor will feature several common spaces for residents and guests, including a gym, a screening room with a 100-inch television, a storage room, a conference room and a few office spaces.

A worker climbs steps Wednesday leading from the lower level to the hotel lobby at the former Solon Manufacturing and Maine Spinning Co. mill at 7 Island Ave. in Skowhegan. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Also downstairs, Gessner said an art room, when finished, will be available to local artists to use as a studio and will display local works.

“It’s all about getting the community involved and making it a gathering space, and the more we can do, the more we can serve the community,” Gessner said. “To me, that’s all the fun stuff.”

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Kristina Cannon, president and CEO of the economic revitalization nonprofit Main Street Skowhegan, said the development ties in with ongoing economic development efforts, including the long-planned River Park for which construction is anticipated to potentially begin this year.

“When High Tide Capital bought the property, they told us the reason that they purchased it was that they were excited about the momentum in Skowhegan,” Cannon said. “So, they took a chance on us … I think it’s an example of the development we can expect as a result of the work that we’re doing on the ground in Skowhegan.”

The hotel will fill a need for more lodging, Cannon said. The town currently has two motels operating as traditional lodging establishments, while other motel-like properties have been used almost entirely for short-term housing for workers at the Sappi paper mill, the New England Clean Energy Connect corridor and other major employers.

“I hear on a regular basis that people go to Waterville to stay, even if they’re conducting meetings in Skowhegan or north of Skowhegan, because they don’t find hotel rooms available in Skowhegan,” Cannon said.

The new apartments also help the town’s goals to add more housing.

A 2021 housing study that Main Street Skowhegan commissioned called for more units, specifically downtown. At the time, the study found the rental vacancy rate was less than 1%.

A draft of the town’s updated Ten-year Comprehensive Plan, currently in the final stages of development, calls for at least 75 to 100 new housing units in currently developed areas. An aging population is expected to affect the kind of housing in demand, according to the draft plan.

Bryan Belliveau, the town’s director of economic and community development, said he expects some of the people moving into the Spinning Mill will be locals looking to downsize from larger homes as costs of living increase, for example.

“We definitely need more housing stock,” Belliveau said. “This helps get us a little bit closer. We’re still a ways off.”

After the historic flooding following the December 2023 storm, Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, drew attention to the development’s importance to state housing goals. She toured the damaged basement, where rushing water tossed around 300-pound windows that were in storage and left behind several inches of frozen sediment on the floor.

High Tide Capital received financing to get back on track from several sources, including loans from the town of Skowhegan and Somerset County and a storm recovery grant from the state.

Skowhegan voters at June 2024 town meeting also approved a tax increment financing, or TIF, district for the Spinning Mill that includes a credit enhancement agreement that returns a portion of taxes on the increase in property value to the developer over the first 20 years of the 30-year TIF.

Belliveau, who is also still working in his previous role as Skowhegan’s code enforcement officer, said he anticipates no major negative impacts of added business traffic downtown.

The former Solon Manufacturing and Maine Spinning Co. mill at 7 Island Ave., center is shown Wednesday in downtown Skowhegan. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Site plans approved by the Planning Board call for 86 of the 111 required parking spaces to be on site. The town permitted the Spinning Mill to use the other required 25 spaces in the nearby parking lot off Island Avenue, on the south side of the Federated Church, during daytime hours. A rendering on the Spinning Mill’s website shows parking for the hotel, restaurant and apartments will be assigned to different areas around the building.

The Maine Department of Transportation did not require a traffic permit as the development did not meet its threshold to trigger that requirement, according to Belliveau.

But it remains to be seen how the Spinning Mill’s location — on the 90-degree turn between the Margaret Chase Smith bridges, Skowhegan’s major bottleneck — will affect traffic.

Belliveau said the worst impacts, if any, would likely be in the afternoon, after school dismissal and shift change at several large employers, including New Balance. People going to the restaurant would likely be doing so in the evening, which is generally a quieter time, he said.

“I think it’s going to be different because traffic hasn’t been in and off that site in so long,” Belliveau said. “It’s just going to be new. I think people are just going to have to pay attention a little bit more.”

Gessner, the general manager, agreed: “There will be a couple weeks of chaos,” he said.