NORRIDGEWOCK — New Balance has offered to donate its shuttered factory to the town as part of a proposal from Skowhegan-based miller Maine Grains to use the facility for its long-discussed expansion.

The deal — if it works out and voters give the green light at a special town meeting next month — would give the town the 170,000-square-foot facility at 20 Depot St., which the shoemaking giant in 2024 announced it was closing.

The town, in turn, would split off about 50,000 square feet to transfer to Maine Grains for its new production line for grain-based cereals, bars and other products.

What exactly would come of the other two-thirds remains to be determined, but putting the building under town ownership would open up potential major funding sources for redevelopment like Congressionally Directed Spending, Town Manager Richard LaBelle said. The town was part of a recent application for $8 million in CDS funds through the office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, but was rejected due to the private ownership of the factory.

New Balance, meanwhile, has offered to pay the estimated $200,000 to $225,000 in annual costs to maintain the now-vacant facility for two years, which would buy the town some time to determine what to do with the space.

The talks among the three players — the town, Maine Grains and New Balance — became public at Wednesday night’s Norridgewock Select Board meeting. Town officials previously had discussed the project in closed-door executive sessions, LaBelle said.

The Select Board approved spending up to $35,000 from tax increment financing funds for the engineering firm Haley Ward to conduct a study of the property. The town, Maine Grains and New Balance are equally splitting the cost of the study, estimated at between $90,000 and $100,000.

The board also set a special town meeting July 20 to ask voters to accept the building. The vote will be by secret ballot, with polls open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Norridgewock Town Office at 16 Perkins St.

Absentee ballots are now available and may be requested through July 16. Completed absentee ballots must be returned no later than the close of polls July 20.

Officials also set a required public hearing at 6 p.m. July 1 before the regular Select Board meeting, also at the town office. Informational materials are available on the town’s website, norridgewock.gov. 

LaBelle noted the vote will be to authorize the board to accept the donation, not to require the board to seal the deal. If the study raises concerns, the town could still change course and walk from the offer. The study is expected to be completed in the next month, before the special town meeting,

Boston-headquartered New Balance announced in July 2024 it planned to close the Depot Street plant, moving its approximately 200 workers to a $65 million expanded facility in Skowhegan dubbed “Central Maine.” The announcement took some local officials by surprise.

In the wake of the closure, Maine Grains was among the entities that approached town officials about using the shuttered factory, LaBelle said. 

The site would house a new $1.4 million production line that Maine Grains has looked to house in various locations over the years. The company currently sells only raw ingredients, and the new equipment, technically known as a precision single screw extruder, would allow for the production of cereals, bars and other processed foods.

The company originally planned its expansion at the site of the former Kennebec Valley Inn at 42 Court St. in Skowhegan, adjacent to its grist mill that opened in the former Somerset County Jail in 2012. Maine Grains co-founder and CEO Amber Lambke bought the Court Street lot in 2020 through another company, Land & Furrow LLC, after the hotel was demolished in 2018.

Plans for that site have evolved several times since then. In December 2024, Maine Grains announced plans for an 80,000-square-foot building.

But the economics of building a facility did not work out, Lambke said. Construction costs were expected to far exceed the anticipated appraised value of the finished building. It’s a problem not unique to Maine Grains: The Wall Street Journal, focusing on Lambke’s predicament in a 2023 report, dubbed it “the math problem stymieing small businesses in rural America.”

Lambke last year turned her sights to the Northgate Industrial Park in Skowhegan. But the Skowhegan Economic Development Corp., which runs the park, ultimately decided against pursuing a sale.

The expansion would create 15 jobs, Lambke said. The company currently employs 20 people at its grist mill, and the associated Skowhegan restaurants, The Biergarten and The Miller’s Table, employ about 42 more, she said.

“This is an incredible opportunity for partnership,” Lambke said at the Select Board meeting, “and we’d be very excited to be in Norridgewock and help play a part in creating some jobs here.”

The equipment line has arrived from Germany and is being stored in Lewiston, Lambke said. 

“Time is of the essence,” she said, noting there is a tight window to bring in German engineers to assist with the setup and teach her staff how to run the machinery.

New Balance spokesperson Amy Dow said her company is committed to supporting the project and partnering with the town on seeking funding moving forward.

“Certainly, we’re equally excited about the opportunity with Maine Grains,” Dow said at Wednesday’s meeting, speaking via videoconference. “It certainly reflects the history of manufacturing at 20 Depot St. and the opportunity there.”

Norridgewock officials, meanwhile, expressed a mix of optimism and caution.

“We’re really at the first step,” Select Board Chair Matthew Everett said. “This study is step one.”

“I couldn’t be more excited,” Vice Chair Lindsey Lynch said.

State Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Norridgewock, who said he was speaking in his capacity as a Norridgewock resident and not as a legislator, urged officials to do their due diligence on all of the details of the project and ensure they are protecting taxpayers.

“I just hope that the town and the board — in the fever of trying to move this thing forward — that we dot our I’s and cross our T’s,” Farrin said.