A statewide land bank that's intended to help communities revitalize blighted properties is officially up and running.
The Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority launched Friday with its first project in East Millinocket.
The land bank, which the Legislature created two years ago, is intended to help communities repurpose old mills and former commercial and residential properties into productive use.
Tuck O'Brien, the land bank's first executive director, said Maine Redevelopment will work with all-volunteer group that has been trying to revitalize the former Great Northern Paper Mill as its first project. The town had purchased the property back in 2020, and a number of projects have been proposed for the 215-acre site.
"We're here to provide additional capacity, technical assistance and help with fundraising and identifying financing to get the project moving," O'Brien said. "What was once one big corporation that ran the mill in East Millinocket and Millinocket and employed upward of 6,000 people, the space in East Millinocket is going to be re-tenanted with probably 12 to 15 different businesses, and hopefully in the future, public facilities and maybe some housing as well."
O'Brien says there could be as many as 400-to-600 properties around Maine that could be redeveloped, and the land bank will create a statewide database to track them all.
In some cases, Maine Redevelopment may become the owner of a property, clean it up and hold onto it until someone else wants to invest it in. In others, it may simply help communities find the funds to finish an existing project that has been struggling to cross the finish line, O'Brien said.
