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Committee approves direction on option to lease portion of Behrend (Baron) Center with developer; amendment preserves parking and trees

5075150 · June 17, 2025

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Summary

After an executive session, the committee voted to forward to the council an option-to-lease agreement for redevelopment of portions of the Behrend Center campus (1125 Brighton Ave) with explicit conditions protecting current parking, trees, and allocating developer-borne funding for any additional parking infrastructure.

Following an executive session to discuss real-estate negotiations, the Housing and Economic Development Committee voted June 11 to forward to the City Council a staff-recommended option to lease portions of the Behrend (Baron) Center campus at 1125 Brighton Avenue to the selected development team — Developers Collaborative 3 Development LLC and Prosperity Management — with amendments requiring the developer to preserve existing parking counts, not remove trees outside the leased area, and to fund any additional parking or related infrastructure.

Greg Watson explained staff negotiated a draft option-to-lease; a limited number of terms required executive-session discussion under Maine statutes governing confidential real-estate negotiations (1 M.R.S. §405(6)(B) and 5 M.R.S. §13119-A). After the executive session, Councilor Pete Sykes moved and Councilor Sara McNevich seconded a motion to forward the option to lease to council with the amendment that the developer must provide a plan satisfactory to the city that (1) does not reduce the total current parking spaces available to the Baron Center, (2) does not include taking down trees outside the leased area, and (3) requires the developer to pay for any needed additional parking spaces and infrastructure. The committee approved the motion on a roll call (Sykes — yes; McNevich — yes; Phillips — no; Chair Bridal Ali — yes). The vote carried 3–1.

The committee also discussed timing: staff said the development team was pursuing a 9% low-income housing tax-credit allocation and was concurrently working through planning-board site approval and local TIF processes; staff asked for guidance to finalize lease terms promptly to avoid jeopardizing the developer’s funding timeline.

Next steps: staff will present the amended option-to-lease to the City Council for final approval. The committee noted that if the council approves, the parties will move forward with site approvals and the developer’s financing packaging.