One man’s vision of turning a portion of the Bangor Mall into housing is beginning to take shape.
Michael Cole, a spokesperson for the Bangor Marketplace and Residences LLC, has been in talks with the mall’s current owner, Namdar Realty Group, for months to purchase and redevelop the building.
Cole’s plan includes creating roughly 175 condominiums of various sizes in the section of the Bangor Mall that once held Sears, located in the easternmost wing of the building.
If successful, the plan would breathe new life into a deteriorating building that for years has been the subject of legal disputes and code violations. The new housing would also make a significant dent in the region’s housing shortage.
“We need housing units at all levels, from market rate all the way down to supportive housing for people that are currently unhoused,” said Anne Krieg, Bangor’s community and economic development director.
The existing former Sears space is 90,000 square feet with 22-foot-tall ceilings, which could accommodate two floors of housing, Cole said. There was also a 17,000-square-foot expansion to that building approved in the 1990s that never took shape.
Cole’s vision is to have condos in a variety of sizes, from smaller studios to two-bedroom units that could have as many as two bathrooms, he said.
“There are plenty of buyers for all different sizes and types of units and we want to work with the market,” Cole said. “I’ve already gotten emails from buyers saying, ‘Let me know when they’re ready because I want to buy one.’”
While Cole doesn’t know exactly how many units might fit in the space or how big each would be, he estimated 175 condos is a “conservative” estimate for the building.
“We’ll see what the architects and engineers come up with,” Cole said. “The key is for everything to be very bright with lots of light and open spaces.”
The units would be available for purchase at market rate, which Cole placed around $275,000 to $375,000, depending on the size of the condo.
A 2025 housing study the city commissioned determined Bangor needs 700 more units for households earning $35,000 or less annually. While the new condos would likely be market rate rather than geared toward lower-income buyers, any new housing is beneficial and can have a trickle down effect, Krieg said.
For example, someone living in a lower-cost apartment who’s looking to buy a bigger unit with more amenities could move into a new condo, which would open up their old unit to someone who needs it.
Newly built, market rate condos could also accommodate local professionals, such as those who work in Bangor’s health care facilities, Krieg said.
“We hear from employers like the hospital that they need housing for all levels of their employees,” Krieg said. “I feel like having new market rate housing will bring people that otherwise might move to another community.”
Smaller units might also better serve younger families, as household sizes are shrinking, so the need for larger single-family homes is lessening, Krieg said.
The plan would also be a welcome improvement to that portion of the building, which the city condemned earlier this year and cut power to, forcing businesses in that area to temporarily relocate. Sears Holdings closed its Bangor Mall location in early 2018.
Selling the condos would help generate the funding needed to redevelop the other parts of the property, Cole said. Those plans include adding an assisted living facility and building a parking garage so existing lots could be turned into green space.
Cole hopes to keep a portion of the mall as retail space, but flip the entrances of the stores so they’re facing out, like outlet malls are arranged. There would also be space around the building for new businesses, such as cafes or entertainment centers, to move in, adding to the amenities in the area, Cole said.
“We’d be thrilled to have a development like that here,” Krieg said. “Other malls that have been redeveloped for mixed use have done well around the country so there’s no reason why that couldn’t do well here.”
