Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1490315
W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 21 JA N UA R Y 2 3 , 2 0 2 3 S O U T H E R N M A I N E Creative strategy Explaining the project to the public can be difficult. "It's really hard for people to under- stand why we're a nonprofit," Strater notes. "ey say, 'It's a boatyard. What's nonprofit about that?' As a nonprofit, it enabled us to receive the funding to pur- chase the property and provide afford- able waterfront access." In order to get that USDA loan, though, Strater first had to prove the facility could generate a revenue stream. e listing broker, Kirk Butterfield of KW Commercial Group at Keller Williams Realty, came up with a creative strategy that would allow Strater to develop the nonprofit and simultane- ously pursue the loan, along with an operating grant from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation in Freeport. Butterfield worked out a master lease and a leaseback. e arrangement meant Strater could lease the property from the Lowells, then act as the landlord and lease space to aquaculture operators and other tenants — including the Lowell brothers — even though he didn't yet own the property. With that arrangement, which took effect in 2020, Strater could demonstrate ROCHESTER PORTLAND AUBURN BRUNSWICK BOOTHBAY HARBOR DAMARISCOTTA BELGRADE FARMINGTON SKOWHEGAN FAIRFIELD GREENVILLE CALAIS BANGOR BUCKSPORT BELFAST CAMDEN ROCKLAND ELLSWORTH BLUE HILL BAR HARBOR CHERRYFIELD MACHIAS 22 LOCATIONS ACROSS MAINE & NEW HAMPSHIRE AUBURN • BANGOR • BAR HARBOR • BELFAST • BELGRADE • BLUE HILL • BOOTHBAY HARBOR • BRUNSWICK • BUCKSPORT • CALAIS • CAMDEN • CHERRYFIELD DAMARISCOTTA • ELLSWORTH • FAIRFIELD • FARMINGTON • GREENVILLE • MACHIAS • PORTLAND • ROCHESTER (NH) • ROCKLAND • SKOWHEGAN 1 - 8 0 0 - H A M M O N D W W W . H A M M O N D L U M B E R . C O M WHAT YOU NEED. WHEN YOU NEED IT. WHERE YOU NEED IT. YOUR BUILDING PROJECT PARTNER. YOUR BUILDING PROJECT PARTNER. PORTLAND STORE ADDITION COMING SOON C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY F O C U S Joe Lowell, owner of Downeast Custom Boats, works on turning wood on a lathe. The Lowell family The Lowell family history of boatbuild- ing dates back to William "Will" Frost, whose career into the 1950s spanned lobsterboats, sardine carriers, motor- sailers, cruisers and rumrunners built from Nova Scotia to New England, including Maine. At Beals Island and Jonesport, he was the originator of the Maine lobsterboat as it's known today, according to the Lowell family. Frost's daughter Wilhelmina mar- ried Maine boatbuilder Riley Lowell. Their son Carroll established Even Keel Marine in 1961. Joe and Jamie learned the craft from their father Carroll and their grandfather Riley.