Site Work on Scarborough Gallery Begins This Week

Development to feature Lowe's, Wal-Mart Supercenter, restaurants and $4 million in traffic improvements

The Scarborough Gallery retail development, anchored by a Lowe’s and a Wal-Mart Supercenter, begins site work this week on property bordering Mussey Road, I-295, and Spring Street across from the current Wal-Mart in Scarborough.

The $60 million development is expected to create 700 jobs and feature nearly 500,000 square feet of retail space and restaurant pads. Scarborough Gallery will be the largest retail project after the Maine Mall in Southern Maine.

The project will be owned and developed by KGI Properties, a partnership between Great Island Development of Boston and the Koffler Group of Providence, Rhode Island. KGI Properties has developed more than $125 million of retail projects in New England with national tenants such as Target, Kohl’s, and Home Depot as anchor tenants in the last 36 months.

Scarborough Gallery has gone through an extensive, two-year permitting process and has received more than 30 permits from local, state and federal review agencies. In the permitting process, which included traffic peer reviews and studies by the Town of Scarborough and the Maine Department of Transportation, KGI Properties committed to perform $4 million in off-site traffic improvements, including a new public road that will traverse the property from Payne Road to Mussey Road.

“It’s a great project for Scarborough economically, but the real benefit will be the traffic improvements,” said Ben Devine, a Maine native and a principal of KGI Properties. “The traffic upgrades should help to ease the current traffic congestion in the area which is good news for Scarborough residents as well as shoppers and commuters coming to the Maine Mall area from South Portland or Cape Elizabeth.”

Richard Bornstein, a principal of KGI Properties, said that roughly half of the 80-acre property will be developed. The balance of the land will be put into permanent conservation. Additionally, KGI has purchased 58 acres a half mile away along the Nonesuch River and will deed it to the Scarborough Conservation Land Trust. The 58-acre tract will be preserved in its natural undeveloped state.

Devine said the company plans to break ground later this week and complete the project in about 18 months.

KGI Properties is in negotiations to acquire the existing Scarborough Wal-Mart upon completion of the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Devine said that interest is strong for the second phase of development which could include a complete demolition of the existing Wal-Mart for additional retail shops and restaurants.

(Media: For more information on the location, go to GoogleEarth.com and enter 48 Spring Street Scarborough, Maine to get a bird’s eye view of the site. A jpeg of the site is also attached)

Over the past two years, the project has been reviewed and permitted by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Department of Transportation, the Army Corp of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Scarborough Planning Board, the Scarborough Town Council, as well as wildlife and archeological agencies. KGI Properties met with neighbors in the area and purchased property from seven homeowners.

The Scarborough Wal-Mart Supercenter will be the 12th supercenter in Maine and will include 60,000 square feet dedicated to a full line of grocery products. Other Wal-Mart Supercenters in the region are in Brunswick, Biddeford, Windham, Augusta and Auburn. Scarborough will be Lowe’s fifth home improvement store in Maine.

KGI Properties is one of the Northeast’s most active developers of real estate. An owner, developer and management company, KGI owns properties in all six New England states and New York. In addition to large scale retail projects such as Hooksett Commons and Mountain Valley Mall in New Hampshire and the Woburn Mall, the company owns and manages office, industrial, telecommunications, and research and development parks.

Ben Devine is a resident of Falmouth, Maine.


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