York Town News
Business beginning to boom on Route 1
By Jennifer L. Saunders
A new Rite Aid, pictured in this conceptual sketch, is being proposed as part of amendments to the approved York Village Business Center plan on Route 1. The site was previously approved to include mixed-use retail and office buildings, a restaurant and a hotel. The requested changes include reducing the size of the hotel and replacing what would have been two smaller buildings with one to house the Rite Aid pharmacy and store.
Courtesy photo
YORK - There may soon be a new Rite Aid on Route 1.
And maybe even a CVS Pharmacy.
Town Planner Steve Burns confirmed last week that he has the Rite Aid plans in hand as part of an application to the Planning Board to amend the previously approved site of York Village Business Center at the intersection of Route 1 and Route 91.
York Village Business Center is a project of Heyland Development, and Heyland Development Vice President of Sales and Marketing Rick Wesley spoke of the new vision for the site in an interview on Monday.
The proposal includes replacing two smaller mixed-use buildings that have not yet been constructed with one building to house the Rite Aid pharmacy and store. The developer is also proposing to reduce the size of the hotel that was previously approved for the site.
For the pharmacy, Wesley said, a Rite Aid developer is handling the permitting process. It is not known at this point whether the town's current Rite Aid store at the other end of York Village, in the Long Sands Plaza, will remain open or will be closed if the Route 1 plan is approved.
As for the hotel, Wesley said he hopes the Planning Board will agree with Heyland Development that a proposed shift in the hotel's location on the site, so that it better faces Route 1, along with the smaller size, will be the best fit with the town's size and the look of the entire project.
"We're proposing shrinking down the size to 57 rooms. There's actually less impact on the site than the old plan," Wesley said.
He said the site will be more attractive with the hotel facing Route 1 rather than Route 91.
As for the size, he said, "We've done feasibility studies on the hotel and 80 rooms was just too much for York."
As Heyland Development waits for its next day before the Planning Board, the first phase of the project is already open - with 85 percent of the mixed-use retail and office spaces there leased. There is a hair salon, bank, florist and even a toy shop. At this time, Wesley said, about 1,600 square feet of office or retail space remain available for lease in the first building, and he encouraged local business owners interested in learning more about the site to contact him at 641-2111 or email at rwesley@heylanddevelopment.com.
The second building is now under construction and has already been leased to house a new restaurant, Mainiax Café, to be owned by local resident Brian Cribby.
The restaurant will be very different in concept from Mainiax Restaurant on Route 1 in Wells, Wesley said.
While that establishment is a casual dining, family restaurant, the proposal for York is for a café.
"It's going to be a great restaurant," Wesley said, likening the overall concept to the popular Panera Bread, located in nearby Portsmouth, N.H., complete with a fireplace. "I think everyone is excited about it."
The hotel will be a Microtel Inn and Suites, which is part of the Hyatt family of hotels, featuring an indoor pool as well as free wireless internet and free local and long-distance calling for guests.
Heyland Development had also previously offered its services to the town for the master plan of the nearby Bog Road land. Wesley said he and Heyland Development President Erik Heyland felt that, given the proximity of their project to the town's land and the company's area of expertise in matching development projects with appropriate parcels, it was a way they could assist the town.
While the amendments to the York Village Business Center site will be coming before the Planning Board at a future meeting, the details around a possible CVS, Burns said, are still in the rumor stage.
As Burns put it in his most recent Planning Department report, "Remember back in April 2006 when I first noted that Rite-Aid, CVS and Walgreens were all looking around for sites on Route 1? Late this month a CVS representative contacted me to schedule a meeting to discuss a possible application to develop a pharmacy at York Corner."
The area that Burns was questioned about includes the site of Doherty's East Coast Classics and the nearby Bane House, which are located along the intersection of York Street and Route 1.
When the Planning Board meets this Thursday night, March 8, the Route 1 plans will not be on the agenda, as Burns is in the process of reviewing the requests from Heyland Development and has not received any plan submission for the other site. However, the board is scheduled to continue its preliminary review of the proposed Highland Farm subdivision.
Burns said it is not clear whether any action will be taken as the application is in a "holding pattern while the applicant negotiates possible property sales to Land for Maine's Future or the Kittery Water District."
Joanne Muckenhoupt, one of several residents who live near the proposed development and have advocated for preservation of the land, said she hopes that is exactly what will happen.
"If we can all truly say that this development would be fine for the environment, the watershed, the drinking water and the rural characteristics of our town, then it wouldn't be taking this long for the developer to try and get a permit," she said. "I believe more than ever that this is a great opportunity for the developer to preserve this land for future generations to be inspired by. He can either donate or sell it, but please do not build on it."
Also on the agenda are continued discussions of the Fazio/Woodbridge Square application for a new office building and a proposal from the Old York Historical Society to resurrect a 19th-century barn saved from demolition and stored with the society's hope of seeing it transformed into an educational facility adjacent to Jefferds' Tavern on York Street.
For full details on these and other proposals, see next week's edition of The Independent.
