South Portland Development News

City Committee Recommends Soliciting Proposals for Mahoney School Redevelopment via Public-Private Partnership

The Public-Private Partnership (P3) committee presented its findings on exploring public-private partnerships for the Mahoney School development. The committee interviewed four respondents (Developers Collaborative, Great Falls Construction, Barrett Made, and FD Stonewater) to an RFI and recommended that the city solicit proposals to identify a developer partner. This approach aims to leverage specialized experience and financing opportunities, such as historic tax credits, to redevelop the historic Mahoney School building. The P3 model could involve the city transferring ownership to a developer with a potential land lease, who would then undertake the development, likely using historic tax credits to reduce costs by up to 30%. The developer would then create a lease payment structure for the city, with flexibility in lease length and payment amounts. Several respondents suggested incorporating City Hall into the Mahoney School. An open-book financial approach is favored for transparency. The committee emphasized that the P3 approach would allow the city to leverage expertise in redeveloping large historic buildings, with the developer managing project oversight and spreading risk. The recommended next step is to solicit proposals and enter a due diligence period to fully investigate options and opportunities, with the goal of determining project costs and feasibility. The committee unanimously passed a motion to recommend that the city solicit proposals to identify a developer partner.