User:MarkHB/Brunswick Maine Street Station

Brunswick Maine Street Station is a multi-modal, multi-use real estate development in the middle of Brunswick, Maine, located on Maine Street. It is currently under construction and when finished will consist of commercial offices, service centers, retail, restaurants, theatre and residential space. Maine Street Station will also be a transportation hub for city buses, taxis, and passenger trains.

The development is split into two parts, the "West" and "East" sides (West and East of Union Street respectively). The west side will consist mostly of residential apartments and homes, along with some retail and commercial office space. The east side will consist of mostly retail and commercial office space, along with some apartments. The east side is also the location of the passenger train station. This development is currently being built on vacant lots surrounding the railroad junction between Portland, Lewiston, Augusta, and Rockland.

History
The first steps of the project began on August 20, 1998, when the Town of Brunswick purchased the land that the development is now on for $655,000.

It wasn't until 2004 (four years after the Downeaster's Boston-Portland service began) that the idea of creating a commercial development around a train station came to be.

On May 28, 2008, the planning board approved the final plan for Maine Street Station. The plan, developed by JHR Development of Maine, was submitted on January 15, 2008. The current plan was scaled down from the original proposal. Ground was broken for the station on October 18, 2008. The bookstore of nearby Bowdoin College opened in one of the buildings constructed as part of phase I of the development on October 30, 2009.

Construction of building three (connected to the platform) was completed in 2009, along with site work and preparation for the other buildings, including building four, which will host the train station.

In December 2010, construction began on Building Four (designed by Gawron Turgeon Architects, and being constructed by Wright Ryan Construction). Mid Coast Hospital's Primary Care and Walk-In Clinic will be the anchor tenant in this 20000 sqft development.

Passenger train station
The development will serve as an interchange between the Downeaster (from Portland and Boston), and the Maine Eastern Railroad (from Brunswick to Rockland).

Current Amtrak service only extends as far north as Portland. On January 28, 2010, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority received approval for a $35 million grant from the federal government to fund track and signal upgrades for the Portland-Brunswick line. Pan Am Railways began work on the line in spring 2010. NNEPRA anticipates that scheduled passenger rail service to Brunswick will commence by late 2012.

Maine Eastern Railroad has been operating passenger service between Brunswick and Rockland since 2004. Maine Eastern used the open lot on Cedar Street prior to the construction of the first phase of Maine Street Station, when it began boarding passengers from a portable platform at the beginning of the 2010 season. Once the Amtrak "Downeaster" service commences in late 2012 a connection to the Maine Eastern Railroad from Maine Street Station will be possible.