Grants to help with Holbrook Wharf revitalization

by Steve Mistler

The Forecaster, January 10, 2008

HARPSWELL — The ongoing effort to preserve one of the state’s last remaining working waterfront wharves received a boost last week.

The Holbrook Community Foundation announced it received a $10,000 grant from the Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust for restoring and protecting the historic Holbrook Wharf in Cundy’s Harbor. The foundation also won a second $2,500 contribution from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust.

The funds will be used to upgrade the infrastructure of Holbrook’s Wharf, a 157-year-old property that was once a bustling place of marine commerce and the epicenter of Cundy’s Harbor.

Holbrook is one of the few areas on the coast with deep-water access that is also accessible to a transportation corridor. The area’s tuna fishermen have long unloaded their catch there. The property includes the wharf, a restaurant, store and house that dates to the 1860s.

The wharf fell into disrepair after years of neglect, creating an uncertain future for a waterfront property that would be coveted for private development.

But in 2006, the Trust for Public Land purchased the property from Holbrook Landing LLC for $1.2 million. The Holbrook Community Foundation, a nonprofit entity, was then formed and charged with raising money to buy the property.

Last year the foundation successfully completed that transaction using state and federal grants and private donations. It is now working on a plan to breathe new life into the facility.

The foundation hopes to reopen the wharf and accompanying restaurant and store.

It originally planned to turn the nearby house into apartments, a plan that has since come to fruition.

Bill Mangum, president of the foundation, on Monday said his organization has already put $100,000 toward renovation of the property, including emergency pilings and decking for the snack bar, replacement of the floats and ramp and desalination equipment for water.

“The preliminary restoration was actually more extensive than we originally anticipated,” said Mangum, adding that the presence of iron and salt in the existing well forced the foundation to seek desalination equipment, a choice he said would pay off in the long run.

Site plan and permits are still being developed for the property. Fundraising efforts are also well underway. Mangum said the foundation would like to raise another $400,000 for the project.

Last year, Harpswell residents approved a $50,000 allocation toward the property during Town Meeting.

“It’s not our intent to ask for more donations from the town,” Mangum said. “We’ll be seeking private donations.”

Mangum said he hoped to have the permits and site plan approved by the Planning Board in the coming months. In an ideal scenario, he said, further restoration of the wharf could begin by autumn or early next winter.

“We’re doing terrific,” he said. “We’re almost there. It’s just amazing how this whole thing has come together. The ultimate goal is the revitalization of the commercial fishing industry at the wharf. Right now it’s basically unusable, but the idea that we could end up with three to four lease locations (for marine tenants) is fantastic. It would bring back Holbrook and Cundy’s Harbor to the way it was before.”