Building Up Downtown
Recent economic news from Waterville has been grim.
National media outlets from Boston to Los Angeles covered the announcement in May by Warnaco CEO Linda Wachner that the Hathaway shirt factory in Waterville would close before the end of the year. (A group of investors led by former Maine Governor John McKernan is working to save the plant.) Levine's, an anchor for the downtown business district, has closed. Avian Farms, an internationally recognized poultry breeding and research firm, has delayed expansion plans because of a national downturn in demand. And, aside from the revival of the Harris Baking Company, which is emerging from bankruptcy, local industry is flat.
So it was with considerable enthusiasm that Waterville embraced a plan by a group of local leaders to purchase the Sterns Cultural Center on Main Street, defunct since late last year, and christen it the Waterville Regional Arts and Community Center (WRACC).
Colby President Bill Cotter leads the group, which purchased the former Sterns department store at auction in early June. WRACC will use the building as a venue for performing and non-performing arts, for community group offices and for retail businesses. The intent is for the facility to serve not only Waterville and surrounding towns but central Maine from the coast to Skowhegan. All members of the community will be invited to become members of the center.
More than $500,000 was raised for the purchase from Colby, Mid-Maine Medical Center, philanthropists Elizabeth Noyce and Bert Clifford, Colonial Distributors, Walter and Mary Simcock, Hannaford Brothers, Thomas College, A.G. Edwards & Sons and an anonymous donor. The building sold for $350,000, and much of the remaining $150,000 will be used for repair and renovation. An additional $500,000 must be raised by next spring. The group plans to approach other local corporations and businesses for additional major gifts and hopes to attract at least 2,000 individual donors at the $25 membership level.
The building's current tenants are expected to stay, and WRACC has hired a general manager and a group to administer arts programs. Other new tenants may include community non-profit groups and the City of Waterville.