Camden Select Board endorses Tannery deal with movie company
March 17, 2011
Camden — If permits and financing can be obtained by a film studio company, then the former Apollo Tannery on Washington Street will become a site for sound stages used in movie productions.
The Camden Select Board voted unanimously March 15 at its regularly scheduled meeting to approve a $175,000 purchase and sale agreement with B'D' Turman'D Entertainment LLC of Milwaukee, Wis., to develop sound stages — soundproof structures — at the 3.5-acre town-owned site.
The next step in the process is for citizens to approve the same agreement at a special town meeting, scheduled for April 6, in order for the transaction to proceed. Pending that, a real estate closing date is to be held sometime before June 15, according to the agreement.
"We're excited about the elements that Camden has and the region has, and excited about bringing that into our production," said Bill Ferrell, one of the three principals of B'D' Turman'D Entertainment LLC.
He spoke to the Select Board and approximately 20 citizens who gathered in the Washington Street Conference Room, describing the scope of his business and its intentions for the 3.5-acre parcel that once belonged to Apollo Tannery.
The name B'D' Turman'D reflects both a combination of initials and names of those involved in the enterprise, along with their collective determination to succeed in the movie business, said Ferrell, after the meeting.
The principals of the LLC are Larry Read, Ferrell and Jerome Turman, who work on feature films. Ferrell and Read, along with their attorney, Marty Greenberg, were at the Select Board meeting to present their project to the town. They had been in Camden for several days, meeting with town officials, as well as visiting Augusta to investigate public financing incentives for expanding their business to Maine.
Currently, the LLC and Camden are negotiating with commercial and community banks, the Finance Authority of Maine and Coastal Enterprises to establish incentives, said Camden's economic development director, Brian Hodges, earlier in the day.
The project will result in a $13 million-plus investment at the Washington Street site, along with the creation of 25 permanent jobs and approximately 50 new full-time equivalent jobs for each potential movie production, said Hodges.
The purchase and sale agreement reflects the nature of the unique offer that Camden made to the world at large last fall, when it circulated widely a press release outlining terms of "free land":
"The beautiful coastal town of Camden, Maine, is offering a 100 percent rebate on a prime site — to the right business," the town said. "The citizens of Camden have developed an innovative 'land for jobs' incentive that will offer a business, that can create good, year-round jobs, a 100 percent rebate on a prime business location. The 3.5-acre site is located in the heart of Camden on the Megunticook River, with commanding views of the mountains, all just blocks away from downtown and the Camden Harbor. It has three-phase power, sewer, water, and cable/broadband all in place — and is zoned to accommodate up to 300 workers and parking all on this site. In addition to the 100 percent rebate, other state incentives are available to the right business."
Hodges said that Read, Turman and Ferrell, of California, saw the free land advertised at Yahoo.com. The three were looking for a spot to site a film studio, expanding their business somewhere in the United States. They were scouting for a location to produce movies, and subsequently called Camden's former interim economic development director Matthew Eddy earlier in the winter.
Camden had been trying for several years to sell the former tannery property following an ambitious environmental remediation, and was committed to the creation of jobs as a criteria in its disposition.
The purchase and sale agreement worked out between B'D' Turman'D Entertainment LLC reflects that goal, and stipulates that the land will be transferred to the company following a special town meeting — scheduled for April 6 at 7 p.m. — for $1. In exchange, the company is to create 24 net new jobs with a combined yearly wage/benefit of $40,000 per job within five years. If that does not happen, the company must pay $175,000 to the town.
The purchase and sale agreement contains contingencies, including obtaining appropriate permit approvals, receiving financing for both the bricks and mortar and production programs, and other critical due diligence issues, including the environmental cleanup. The project is both consistent with the guiding principles for the development of the property and with existing zoning ordinance provisions, according to the town.
There remains a section of the former tannery site where the soil is capped that may require additional environmental mitigation, Hodges said.
The vision
Ferrell told the Select Board that the project, referred to as "Camden Studios," will entail building two, two-story 18,000 square-foot "state of the art" sound stages with adjacent offices.
The studios will also house offices, dressing rooms and a green room, where crews gather to eat, relax and wait, said Ferrell. The sound stages are to be used to support major film productions, television shows, band rehearsals, concerts, events and fundraisers.
According to Hodges, it will be the "first legitimate 'purpose built' sound stages in Northern New England, with the potential for capitalizing on an untapped market in the movie production industry."
Ferrell reinforced that Monday evening, saying there are no purpose-built state-of-the-art sound studios in the region; existing sound stages, he said, tend to be converted warehouses.
"We're going to open up the minds of a lot of independent filmmakers," he said. "This is an area of the country that has not been exploited by the movie industry."
Ferrell said his company would also be sensitive to the neighborhood and the town.
"We know this is a very culturally rich community," he said, adding that Camden Studios would be constructed to fit in, "and become part of the community."
Camden Studios is also to develop relationships with Maine Media Workshops and the University of Maine "to foster student education/intern program, and future employee training," said Ferrell.
The timetable
Camden Studios hopes to get approval on April 6, break ground in July, build for nine months, and hold a grand opening in April 2012.
Anticipated jobs include production support — hair and makeup, wardrobe, special effects, transportation, lighting, electric, sound, editing, catering and craft services — and studio operations — office, engineering, maintenance, landscape and restaurant.
Ferrell told the town that Camden Studios wants to incorporate a cafe along the riverwalk, a sliver of land along the river that remains in public ownership.
Nina Holland, who lives across the street from the tannery site, asked Ferrell about parking and traffic control.
"We're very respectful of the community and residents of that area," said Ferrell, saying there may be one or two parking facilities constructed.
Anita Brosius-Scott of Camden asked him about expansion plans, should the need arise.
"Any business hopes things are successful enough to have expansion," he said, adding that the LLC has looked at other properties in the area, should the business grow in Camden.
"What are your big hurdles," asked Geoff Scott of Camden.
"Answering questions from people named Geoff," said Ferrell.
"I'm an L.A. kind of guy," said Scott.
Ferrell responded that the hurdles include assembling all the potential incentives and resources into one package.
Camden resident Carla Ferguson asked about lighting and whether the place would be gated.
"This isn't L.A. or New York," said Ferrell. Working those details would be up to the design team, he said, but the goal was to have the least impact on the neighborhood. Additionally, the street trees would remain, and the design, architecture and footprint would be created as seamlessly as possible.
"Beedy's trees," said Scott, attributing the trees there to the plantings by Camden resident Beedy Parker.
"Do you know what movie was filmed here 50 years ago?" Ferguson asked Ferrell.
That sparked a general conversation by those in the room, which included a rundown of all the productions that had been filmed in the area over the past few decades, and ended with "Peyton Place" again earning its top spot in local film history.
"I did do some research on the state of Maine," said Ferrell. "I did know that the state bird is a chickadee, and the state tree is a pine."
About B'D' Turman'D
The LLC has control of 16 movies that may be produced over the next five to six years. The company is connected with producer Peter Bogart and Special Effects Studio Kerner Films. Past films have included "Con Air," "Ace Ventura" and "Lake Placid."
The draw of Camden for the LLC, said Hodges, is the fact that there are no sizable film production facilities in New England, let alone Maine, and "provides a great addition to the film industry."
There are a number of celebrities and actors in Maine, some summer residents, others year round, he said. With a film production facility here, more "substantial" movies can be made in Maine, he said, with actors and those in production inclined to say, "Let's film it in Maine," he said.
"This is a good fit for the arts-type environment that is thriving in this area," said Hodges.
Tannery site history
The possible sale of the site follows more than a decade of change where once animal hides were processed into leather in a factory that dominated the part of town nicknamed Millville.
In the fall of 2010, there was interest in developing a fish processing business there, but that did not materialize.
The tannery property, assessed by the town at $750,700, had been appraised in 2008 at $450,000. That year, a tannery work group recommended that the town sell the property in accordance with guiding principles and buyer/developer qualifications. Incentives proposed by the group included supplying a "land for jobs" rebate as a means of encouraging the creation of year-round jobs that are also well paying.
"Qualified buyers, who provide a viable business plan supporting the creation of full-time, on-site jobs, may qualify for a rebate of all, or a portion, of the purchase price," said last year's report of the work group.
To qualify for the rebate, the buyer is to create 24 net new jobs within five years of the completion of construction and within five years of the completion of construction and improvements to the site.
The property was determined ready for sale in 2008 when the last load of industrially contaminated soil was carried away to a safe landfill in Scarborough, concluding a $836,000 demolition and cleanup job of the site.
In 2010, the town and the Knox/Waldo Regional Economic Development Council circulated a press release attempted to sell the land, advertising rebates on it.
The tannery closed in October 1999 following a spring fire and subsequent financial problems. Cleanup costs associated with removing contaminants from the property on Washington Street became a central issue in the bankruptcy case of Apollo Tanning Ltd.
The town acquired the site in a tax lien foreclosure in March 2003. That September voters gave the Select Board the authority to sell the 3.5 acres. In 2005 voters approved borrowing $836,000 for the cleanup, which included the demolition and removal of the buildings and underground tanks.
In September 2005 the tannery buildings were demolished. Approximately 2,100 tons of contaminated soil was removed from the site.
Courtesy of Village Soup
By Lynda Clancy
