A Vision Revealed: New Owners Of Bangor Mall Share Plans For A Local Centered ‘Bangor Marketplace & Residence’

Bangor's all a-buzz with the news that the beloved but bedraggled Bangor Mall, which has been at the center of years of legal battles with the City, is now in the process of being sold to a local, community-minded group of investors.

Read More: Bangor Mall Sale: Unnamed Local Buyer Plans Purchase

Many have been speculating about what's to come for this once bustling building. (Let's be honest, we've all thought about the possible ideas for how that space could be used.)

But now we're getting some clarity as to exactly what vision the 'local buyers' have for injecting new life and energy into that area, and what's been their inspiration for the project.

Spokesperson Michael Cole, who's on the team working to usher the Bangor Mall into the future, says growing up in the area, he, like others, has looked at the building's potential. He says the idea behind what's to come stems from looking at what the community needs.

"Everyone said, 'What are they gonna do? What are they gonna do?' Well, who's they? Nobody was coming forward."

That's when Cole says these community-minded members stepped forward, made some phone calls to investors, and ultimately made some plans to finally take care of business.

"Everything is local. From the financing to the investors to the ideas and who's going to make it happen, the contractors, everything is local, from top to bottom."

Cole says what he hopes people start to see going forward is that this is going to be a local and community-based effort that they're going to try to keep as transparent as possible (once they close on the facility and go public with more specific details).

There's already been a resurgence of sort in that area with the new Burlington shop moving out that way, and a new Arby's in the works where the old Arby's used to be.

"When my mom was in an assisted living facility with dementia, every time I'd go over, there'd be nothing for her to do except sit and stare at the wall...And I thought, 'wouldn't it be nice if there was an assisted living facility at the mall, and it was vibrant, and there were cafes and all the businesses that go with that. You know, with a lot of people living there, you'd need health clinics and convenience stores and grocery stores and bakeries and a gym and everything that you'd need. And then I eyeballed the Sears building, and I just had a vision of amazing condos in that bright building."

"It's called Bangor Marketplace & Residences. So it's going to have some really nice condos and yes, assisted living, but it's also going to be amazing retail and things to do."

"The money will be there. We don't focus on the money; we focus on the community, and it will do fine."

Cole says the pre-sale of the condos will allow them to renovate the building in a way that brings it not only up to the present, but into the future.

"The presale of the condos is going to pay for upgrading, and this whole building is going to be brand new...If it's good, it's going to stay. And if we can use it, that's great; we're not into wasting money. We'll do what we can, and if there's anything that needs to be replaced, then it will be replaced. But it's got good bones...so we have some big plans, which you'll see in time, and we're going to do some amazing stuff there."

"The condos will be one thing. The assisted living facility will be another. So there will be people living there, and there will be all kinds of businesses to support them. But also, we're going to turn the stores around...so there will be storefronts on the outside of the mall. And it's going to look amazing."

"We're going to do our best to rip up all of the entire parking lot and put in green space and, covered parking and a parking garage...You can have the exterior entrances and the interior entrances. So when the weather is great, you're outside in the green, and you've got the walking paths all around the mall, and a bunch of green space and things to do. But then, when the weather is horrible, you can go inside, and there's going to be all kinds of stuff to do in there, too."

Cole says that the entire parcel is about 77 acres, with about 60 of that usable land, so there's plenty of potential for revenue streams to help offset costs, and the group plans to do the best they can with what they have.

He also says that they'll be working with existing Bangor Mall tenants, like Dick's Sporting Goods, to incorporate them into their design for the future.

"They've been a link in the chain of the life of that place. They could have moved their businesses somewhere else where they could have made more money, but they chose to stay right there, and I think that needs to be accounted for."

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Cole, who had just been over to the site this week, says a lot of what leads people to believe the building is in dire straits is a buildup of trash and brush around the facility, and that is something he says is easy enough to take care of. He says the other issues are already in the works to be remedied.

What's most important, he says, is that the folks designing, remodeling, and eventually running the new place will be from the area, to oversee what's happening every step of the way.

"It's been really painful for everybody knowing that this has been owned by somebody that's not from around here."

A 5th-generation Mainer, Cole says that, unlike in years past, this new phase and life for the facility is something this local team is personally invested in, because they are from the area and know what this means for the people of Eastern Maine now, and what it could mean for them, going forward.

"I'm not going to disappear into the crowd...We've been here forever, and we're not going anywhere. If I did something horrible here, I'd have to leave, you know what I mean. So that's not happening. We want to work with the people."

Fun fact: Galen Cole, a distant relative of Michael Cole, served on the Bangor City Council back in the mid 1970s when the initial idea to develop the Bangor Mall was proposed. So it's kind of come full circle, for the Cole family, in a way.

The original Bangor Mall proposal would go on to be approved and built in the late 1970s, opening for business on October 4, 1978.

Cole says as far as a timeline goes, once the deal is done, he estimates it will take the architects and engineers at least a year to get plans for the new renovations/builds together. During that time, the repairs and updates will be made to the existing facility, addressing issues like water and sewer leaks.

"I'm just somebody who's got a vision. And I, literally, just like everyone else, have just watched and watched and waited and waited, and nothing was happening, so I finally stepped forward. We are going to be working with the City and the community every step of the way, and we're going to do something here that really works."

Cole says that the group hopes to close on the property by mid-June.