Some Real Progress Has Been Made On the Saliba’s Building

I hated History in school, but I love knowing about where I live.

I never really had a lot of interest in world history or anything. Social studies was by no means my forte. Well, school as a whole wasn't, but that's another story. On the other hand, I could sit for hours and listen to elder family members tell stories about Hancock Street back in the day. Or Hampden's houses full of secret tunnels.

My uncle is an architect, so maybe that's where I got my fascination for buildings. I like new houses, old houses, abandoned houses, old buildings... all that stuff. So about a year ago, I saw that the old Saliba's building had been sold to a developer that wanted to return it to it's former glory.

It may not look like much, but a lot of work has been done.

Back in the 80's, according to a post on the You knew you grew up in Bangor, Maine when...Facebook page, Saliba's hired a UMaine engineer to design a plan for to tighten up the building. That's where it got the inches of foam insulation and stucco. They also boarded up and covered several windows in the process. But you can see here, how thick that layer layer must be, and a bunch of the stucco that's been removed...

The overall plan with the new owners is to restore the building to more of it's original look, with brick work and large windows. There are big plans for what will eventually anchor the building tenant-wise, and from the timeline laid out last year, they're a bit behind. But, that's nothing new for any construction project right now.

If you follow the Bangor Facebook page, the photo history they have in there is amazing. It's such a cool journey through all the snapshots of Bangor's waterfront life.

Get yourself 5 buildings at once in Orrington. Check it out...