For more than a week, rumors have been circulating among Belfast residents that a major waterfront business, Front Street Shipyard, could be sold.
Shipyard officials have declined to say whether a sale is in the works. But the possibility of new owners taking over it and other nearby properties has renewed longstanding questions about the public’s right to access the shoreline in the midcoast city. Some residents have raised their concerns about it on the popular “You Know You Love Belfast If…” community Facebook page.
For years, city officials worked with the owners of Front Street Shipyard and other prominent private waterfront properties to develop a public walkway along the harbor. That path, known as the Harbor Walk, is now a popular resource in Belfast, stretching 0.8 miles along the downtown and connecting with both the footbridge over the Passagassawakeag River and a scenic 2.3-mile rail trail that joins a longer trail network that extends to Unity.
So, could any new owners of those private properties revoke the public’s access to the waterfront Belfast walking path?
They likely could not, according to public records and a longtime former local official.
That’s because the city has worked to secure permanent agreements guaranteeing the public’s ability to walk along designated sections of those private properties. Those easements and rights of way are part of the land deeds that would be transferred to any new property owners.
Mike Hurley, a former mayor and city councilor who has long advocated for the Harbor Walk, said that any changes to those agreements would be “unpopular” and would require extensive deliberations by city officials and the public.
“I don’t think anybody would want to do anything with that,” Hurley said. “People love the Harbor Walk. They got to get along here.”
Front Street Shipyard has played a pivotal role in transforming Belfast’s waterfront since it opened in 2011 at the site of the former Stinson Seafood canning plant on Front Street. The high-end shipyard and marina has grown over the years, now stretching across multiple parcels totaling a few acres in size. It has ensured the area remains a working waterfront with its distinctive boat hoists and large green buildings.
It was long a priority of local officials that whoever redeveloped the former Stinson Seafood site maintain a public walkway there. The shipyard has done that, granting a series of easements starting in 2012 to let the city use the path. The Harbor Walk includes a section of raised wooden planks in that area that the shipyard has helped to maintain, including when they were damaged by storms last year.
Officials from the shipyard have not responded to questions about how public access to the walkway could be affected if the business is sold.
City Manager Erin Herbig couldn’t be reached for comment. Mayor Eric Sanders said he couldn’t “speculate” about rumors of a sale, and that he’s “heard nothing about the Harbor Walk being compromised, or anything at all.”
The shipyard isn’t the only waterfront Belfast property that could change hands. Two others are owned by Penobscot McCrum, the potato processor whose plant at 28 Pierce St. — near the start of the rail trail — burned down in 2022. The company has since decided to move all its operations to Aroostook County, where it’s headquartered.
The site of the Belfast plant is now empty, as is another property at 22 Front St. where the company had operated an industrial freezer that was demolished last year. The freezer site was previously listed for sale for $5 million.
But as with the shipyard, city officials worked in 2016 to gain access across the site of the former Penobscot McCrum plant — when it was still operating — to connect the end of the Harbor Walk with the start of the rail trail. The county registry of deeds now shows the city has a right of way from Penobscot McCrum for the path.
The city also reached an easement agreement for the Harbor Walk in 2017 with Paul Naron, who owns other waterfront property near the city-owned Heritage and Steamboat Landing parks.
Some of the debates over public access to those properties have been contentious. But according to Hurley, the end result is that the Harbor Walk will likely remain open to the public under any new owners of that private land.
“There’s all kinds of agreements. I wouldn’t expect anything to change there. The city has been very adamant about maintaining public access,” Hurley said. “Nobody’s closing the Harbor Walk, I don’t care who they are.”
