WESTBROOK – Five years after purchasing a 40-acre parcel of land with intentions of building a business park, city officials are looking into increasing the marketability of the site.

With only two of seven lots currently occupied at the Westbrook Heights Business Park off Saco Street, city officials maintain a decision to enter into the development business was the right choice. Officials say the collapse of the economy has been the major obstacle to selling the lots.

Glass manufacturer SIGCO Inc. and uniform supplier Cintas bought and developed two lots on the land the city purchased from a private developer for $550,000 in 2005.

The city paid for the initial purchase of the land and infrastructure improvements through a 36-month bond of $2.4 million. Grants provided $900,000, while SIGCO paid $609,450 for its lot and Cintas purchased its lot for $503,742, City Administrator Jerre Bryant said.

“That really has carried the project,” said Bryant of the sales to SIGCO and Cintas, which occurred a short time after the city purchased the land.

Lot sales and grants have covered all but $343,000 of the city’s expenses, with five lots left to sell, Bryant said. He added the city estimates another $336,500 in expenses before they are done with the project.

In order to increase the marketability of three of the remaining lots, the City Council recently approved $3,750 for engineering services with Terradyn Consultants of New Gloucester for the design and engineering of a grading plan. The Westbrook Environmental Improvement Corp. is funding the work.

Initial infrastructure work the city conducted in 2005 included the installation of Spiller Drive, which cuts through the parcel. SIGCO and Cintas are situated on relatively flat land on the southern side of Spiller Drive.

The northern side of the road, however, is rather steep land leading up to Saco Street.  The approved engineering project will explore grading and drainage work for three lots on the sloped land, Bryant said.

The design work is only the first step, and once it is complete the city will have to determine how to proceed and fund the work, he said.

The project dates back to 2005, when a private developer wanted out of attempts to create the business park. Bryant said the city was working closely with the developer and had already secured grants for infrastructure improvements, and rather than lose the funds the city decided to buy the land and develop it.

“We had gone so far with it and it was such a good project,” he said.

At the time, the city viewed it as a low-risk, high-reward scenario.

“Our goal is simply to break even,” Bryant said. “We want to create tax base, create jobs for the community.”

Estimates in 2005 had the city making between $95,000 and $200,000 in profit from the venture. Bryant said those estimates are still valid.

The land was valued at $755,000 in 2005, but today, SIGCO’s and Cintas’s lots alone are currently valued at $6,540,000, he said.

While Bryant acknowledged that “there is no such thing as a guarantee,” he remains confident the land will eventually be sold, bringing jobs and broadening Westbrook’s tax base.

City Council President Brendan Rielly was on the council in 2005 when it approved the purchase agreement. He said he thinks the city should not normally look to become a developer, but it was a special case given the extensive work the city had already put into the endeavor.

“It’s worked exactly as we’ve hoped,” he said, noting there has been much interest in the park.

Rielly said it can be difficult to find areas to develop large industrial businesses, which are an important park of the city’s future.

The city is already seeing returns on its investment. Bryant said SIGCO and Cintas alone generate $109,210 in real estate taxes, $58,300 in personal property taxes and $18,067 in excise taxes for vehicles and equipment.

SIGCO is planning a 20,000-square-foot addition, which will occur on the land they already own. Bryant said they may need to expand onto one of the other lots for parking.