35. Why Maine's Old Mills, Tanneries, and Closed Schools Stay Vacant (And the Organization Working to Change That) | Gabe Gauvin, Maine Redevelopment

You've driven past it. An old mill building sitting right on the river, windows gone, roof caving in, weeds taking over. And you've thought the same thing everyone thinks: why hasn't anyone done something with that? The answer is complicated. And in this episode, I'm talking with someone who is working every single day to change it. Gabe Gauvin is the Programs Manager at Maine Redevelopment, a quasi-governmental organization created by the Maine Legislature to unlock the state's most stuck properties and get them back into productive use. Gabe brings a background in place-based economic development, rural planning, and environmental remediation, and he has lived and worked in nearly every corner of Maine. He knows this state and he knows these projects. We cover a lot of ground in this one. We start with Gabe's path from the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments to the Central Maine Growth Council and now to Maine Redevelopment, and how working across so many different parts of the state has shaped the way he thinks about community investment and revitalization. Then we get into what Maine Redevelopment actually is and how it works. They are one of only four or five statewide land bank authorities in the entire country. Their scope covers properties that are vacant, abandoned, functionally obsolete, contaminated, or stuck for legal reasons. And their structure as a quasi-governmental organization gives them something most public agencies do not have: the ability to move fast, take on risk, and operate with an entrepreneurial mindset. From there we dig into the Hartland Tannery, the first property Maine Redevelopment has acquired into its land bank. It is a roughly 30-acre brownfield site along the Sebasticook River in Hartland that has had some kind of industrial operation on it for about 200 years. There is an estimated four to five million dollars worth of contaminated material that needs to be abated and demolished before any real redevelopment can begin. Maine Redevelopment acquired the property in January 2025 and submitted an application to the EPA Brownfields Program two weeks later. They find out this June whether that federal funding came through. We also get into the school reuse crisis that is playing out right now across Maine, the toolkit Maine Redevelopment is building to help communities navigate it, and a piece of legislation that had broad bipartisan support, passed the House and Senate, and then did not make it through Appropriations. That one stung a little to talk about, but it is important context for where things stand. And we talk about the economics. Because great ideas and community support are wonderful, but at the end of the day the numbers have to work. Gabe walks through exactly how Maine Redevelopment approaches making projects pencil out, including in some cases giving the land away for free to a developer whose project aligns with what the community actually needs. If you have ever wondered why these properties sit for decades, or if you are a developer, investor, or community leader trying to figure out whether there is a path forward for a site in your town, this episode is for you. Connect with Maine Redevelopment at maineredevelopment.org. Their full team contact info is on the website and they are active on LinkedIn. Housing Matters is hosted by Matt Pouliot, CEO and Broker at Pouliot Real Estate in Maine. New episodes drop regularly covering Maine real estate, housing affordability, economic development, and the people doing the work to move things forward. Subscribe wherever you listen and find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@housingmatterspod.