Maine Street Capital created a financing structure for the acquisition and rehabilitation of this historic, Biddeford mill property. The RIverdam Mill complex consists of 90,000+ square feet of space spread across two buildings on the banks of the Saco River.
Riverdam’s original building was built in 1842 and is known as Machine Shop #1. Five additions to the property happened over the following 100 years. A portion of Building 4 was torn down in 2016 to create what currently exists today. Following the model used in Lowell, Massachusetts, mill owners in Biddeford-Saco opted to produce machinery on-site in order to outfit their local cotton operations. Riverdam housed all facets of machinery operations including production, storage, stocking and drafting. Machine drafting was the primary use of Riverdam’s 1850 addition, known as “the drafting room.”
The redevelopment plan for Riverdam that envisioned the creation of 71 residential units and 14,000 square feet of commercial space. Commercial tenants include Dirigo Brewery, Blaze Restaurant and Stone Fort Distillery. MSC created a financing solution that combined bank financing and historic tax credit equity. Working with a regional lender and a national Historic Tax Credit investor, MSC worked with all parties to bring the deal to the closing table.
