Mainebiz

V O L . X X X N O. X X I S E P T E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 2 4 16 A U G U S TA / WAT E R V I L L E / C E N T R A L M A I N E O n a late summer Tuesday, as Colby College students return to campus for the first week of classes, downtown Waterville's streets are busy with people walking to and from shops and restaurants. e green by the Paul J. Schupf Art Center is full of people enjoying a coffee or lunch while soaking up the last warm days of summer. e Lockwood Hotel, which opened in 2022, is preparing a lunch experience for travelers and the down- town free parking areas are full. Downtown has become more bus- tling. In recent years, more than $200 million in combined investment from Colby College, investors and small busi- nesses, along with help from tax incen- tives, has transformed the downtown. Colby has invested heavily in the downtown, adding the 100,000-square- foot Alfond Commons mixed-use building, buying and renovating sev- eral other buildings and opening the Lockwood Hotel. e area has wel- comed new arts centers, restaurants, cafes, a hotel, a bookstore and a new downtown roadway system. ere is more to come, including more new restaurants and apartments, and the downtown redevelopment is a work in progress. "Since the revitalization of down- town Waterville began, there have been several positive improvements, includ- ing the new Front & Main Restaurant located inside the Lockwood Hotel, the Paul J. Schupf Art Center, which includes the Maine Film Center, the Greene Block & Studios, the Bill & Joan Alfond Commons and returning Main Street to two-way traffic," says Bill Mitchell, a Waterville developer. "It's been incredible to watch," Mitchell continues. "is massive investment has created a new energy in Waterville, which has attracted several new businesses and young families to our city and has increased foot traffic in downtown Waterville. e former Manor Restaurant site has been redeveloped into housing, Lockwood Mill is under renovation, and hopefully construction of Head of Falls Village will begin soon. e city leadership is working on other important streetscape projects through- out downtown as well." Businesses are moving to Waterville Oliver & Friends Bookshop, a grow- ing business in Belgrade Lakes, picked up the shop and moved to Waterville in May. Renee Cunningham, owner and founder of the bookshop, is now in a ground-floor leased space at Main Street Commons, a Colby College mixed-use facility at 150 Main St. "e move has been fantastic and my store has been well received," says Cunningham. "e first couple of months have been exactly what I hoped for. I am gaining a new customer base on Main Street in Waterville while main- taining the great regulars I established during my four years in Belgrade. "e art center was the biggest deciding factor for me in terms of where I would move," she continues. "I thought that having that art center on Main Street established Waterville as a hub for the arts and humanity in central Maine, which, for my business books and litera- ture, was perfect. I think that more and more businesses are seeing that." Oliver & Friends opened its Belgrade Lakes location amid the pandemic lock- down with a soft launch in June 2020. Cunningham told Mainebiz that she decided to move her operations to Waterville because the business growth wasn't where she wanted it to be. She would need to be in a bigger market to continue. "Here in Waterville, what I could do confidently was to significantly add to my inventory," says Cunningham. "I felt confident that I would have a much more year-round sales base." Cunningham says she is on par with her Belgrade sales for the first three months of summer. She hopes to see the foot traffic continue into the fall. Unlike the fall drop-off in the seasonal Belgrade market,"I expect sales will not decline sharply now that we are going into September," says Cunningham. "Downtown has this great energy of a growing Main Street, and I have already seen new businesses coming. At least three businesses are opening their doors on Main Street in three months." Provisions retailer seizes opportunity Zachary Brann owns and operates another relatively new business, Main Street Provisions, which opened in October 2023. e store offers craft beer, wine, char- cuterie and chocolates, as well as hand- made glassware, pottery, cutting boards, potholders, cookbooks, cutlery and beer — and wine-making kits. Brann said he longed to open an artisan store. After working in Portland, the Oakland native's timing for a move back to central Maine seemed right — more than anything because of the revi- talization and growth that Waterville has seen in recent years. He wanted to be part of the revitalization and jumped on the opportunity. Brann received assistance in business and financial planning from the Central Maine Growth Council and Maine's Small Business Development Centers. He found a 1,500-square-foot street- level lease at 62 Main St. "For anybody from central Maine, Waterville and the surrounding areas, it is obvious that the revitalization of Waterville is underway," says Brann. "Colby has had a huge part in that, whether it is their general investment or the kind of traffic that the art cen- ter draws or the hotel draws, which is a huge boon to my store and to bars and restaurants you see downtown. It is nice to see not just the foot traffic P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F C O L B Y C O L L E G E New life coming to Waterville The downtown, still a work in progress, is up and coming B y A l e x i s W e l l s Renee Cunningham of Oliver & Friends Bookshop F O C U S The downtown has this great energy of a growing main street, and I have already seen new businesses coming. At least three businesses are opening their doors on Main Street in three months. — Renee Cunningham Oliver & Friends Bookshop

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