City manager says building will stay for ‘at least 10 years’
CARIBOU, Maine — While it was recently announced that the Sincock Street National Guard readiness facility will be shutting down and moving to a new location in Presque Isle, the Armory facility on Bennett Drive will likely remain in Caribou for another decade, according to City Manager Austin Bleess.
Bleess said that announcement “didn’t take anybody by surprise” in City Council, as the local National Guard had been discussing the move for roughly two years.
The new facility in Presque Isle will begin construction in 2018, and is projected to be complete by 2020, with a total cost of $15.5 million. WBRC Architects and Engineers of Bangor are in the conceptual phase of design and plan on building a high-efficiency energy system in the new space, which will also have an additional 43,000 square feet of space.
The city manager added that the move could potentially have a positive effect on Caribou if the building goes back into private hands.
“The land and property is valued at just under $1.5 million,” said Bleess. “Assuming it goes into privately hands, which we believe it will at some point, it would be another $34,000 in property tax revenue that the city would receive, which would be a benefit to the community for sure.”
Bleess said the National Guard pays no property taxes for either the 48,000 square-foot Sincock or the 2,000 square-foot Bennett Drive facilities.
Both City Council and the committee for a new preK-8 school in Caribou have met with Guard officials located in the Bennett Drive facility to discuss the close proximity their facility will have to the new school along with the possibility of moving. It was during these recent talks that they announced no plans of leaving the area in at least 10 years.
