By Dave Dyer

Staff Writer

Plans are continuing on a potential move for NorDx Laboratories to the Orion Center on Route 1 from its current location on Campus Drive in Scarborough.

Mark Harris, Chairman of Marketing for MaineHealth, a health care delivery network that works in affiliation with Maine Medical Center, said NorDx, an independent clinical laboratory, would move from its current location inside the Scarborough campus of Maine Medical Center, to the Orion Center, near the Sudzie Carwash and Chicago Dogs. He said the move is to free up expansion for the Maine Medical Center Cancer Institute.

Harris said as the rate of cancer has increased, it has become necessary to expand at the Campus Drive facility, as it has both radiation therapy and oncology administrative services.

Town Assessor Paul Lesperance said the Orion Center was purchased from the former owner, Hannaford Bros. Nov. 14 of last year for more than $7 million.

According to an article in the Jan. 9 Leader, in 2004 Dead River owned the more than 95,000 square foot center, valued at approximately $5.5 million, with the intent of converting it into a large shopping center, which Bacon said would have included a grocery store, restaurants and movie theater.

The project took two years for planning board approval and Bacon said the planning board granted the company a one-year extension to find an “anchor” grocery store in 2007. However, the project fell through, and Bacon said the popular belief of the deal falling through was Stop and Shop supermarket’s reluctance to move to Maine. Dead River then sold the property to Hannaford for $9.5 million in December 2007, which, according to the article, Bacon said was purchased by Hannaford to “prevent competition.”

Bacon said the Orion Center was originally the home of “Mammoth Mart,” a super shopping center built in the 1960s. The last businesses to be housed in the Orion Center were light industrial and manufacturing businesses, which closed in 2004.

During Monday’s planning board meeting, SMRT Architects, based out of Portland, who are developing the property, gave a presentation of its plan to remodel the Orion Center.

Two members of the planning board, Jeffrey Thomas and Anne Littlefield recused themselves from the presentation, as both have ties to Maine Medical Center.

SMRT Architect Mark Johnson said they plan to remodel the Orion Center in three phases; Phase I includes work on “building one,” the southernmost and largest building of the property and future home of NorDx laboratories. Phase II would involve remodeling the parking lot and current light posts and Phase III would be to create two tenant spaces in building two and construct a new parking lot on the property, located at the northernmost portion of the property, next to Sawyer Road.

SMRT Architect Paul Lewandowski said immediate work will begin on building one, as NorDx will be located inside that building. He said as of now, two tenant spaces inside the building have no known occupants.

Lewandowski said the entire  face of the building  facing Route 1 will be reconstructed. He said the plan would involve reusing as much of the current building as possible, but would also have a canopy connector between the two buildings. Both buildings are not currently connected.

Lewandowski said for the interior, building one would be designed to construct office and laboratory space for NorDx. He said interior remodeling would also include creating two remaining tenant spaces. 

Lewandowski said SMRT would like the Orion Center to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDS) certified.

During the meeting, Johnson said there would be two entrances to the facility, one from Route 1, and another from Sawyer Road. 

According to the planning board agenda, SMRT had originally come to the meeting for site plan review approval, but Bacon said they still needed to receive a standard stormwater permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, as well as a traffic movement approval from the Maine Department of Transportation, as the Orion Center would be an area which would be predicted to have more than 100 vehicle visits per day.

Bacon said the move is part of town planning policy, as he said the state must first give approval before a town can give approval in regard to site plans. 

Bacon said there could be two to three meetings worth of discussions on the parking layout, as well as a possible crosswalk connection of the facility with Memorial Park, located across Sawyer Road. He said he could see work on the building begin by summer.

Harris said MaineHealth has been working well with the planning board.

“As far as I know, it’s been very smooth,” Harris said. “The town of Scarborough has been very supportive [of the NorDx move].”