By David Harry
Staff Writer

As renovation projects go, Bob Gaudreau said converting the former Konica/Minolta photo processing plant on Route 1 is easier than the last area project he took on.
“Some of the Humpty Dumpty plant had potato skins all the way to the roof,” Gaudreau said of his work to convert the former potato chip plant into Nonesuch River Plaza, just north of the former photo processing plant.
Even if the renovation is easier and the building is in better shape, Gaudreau still needs to return to the Planning Board. Next Monday he’ll seek approval for a revised site plan with changes to an entrance road to the planned Foundation Center.
Interior and site work began soon after Gaudreau bought the 65,000-square-foot building from GR I Scarborough LLC, an investment company owned in part by Cape Elizabeth resident Robert C. S. Monks.
But just as Gaudreau prepared to close the sale last month, he learned he lacked a right of way to Science Park Drive, the road he intended to use as an entrance to the planned complex of medical and office space.
Without a right of way on the land, owned in part by the Foundation for Blood Research, Gaudreau needed Planning Board approval to amend plans to reconstruct a portion of northbound Route 1.
The distance from Science Park Drive to the access road once used for the photo processing plant is 60 feet. But extending a left turn lane from Route 1 and removing concrete divider to create the lane could cost thousands.
Foundation for Blood Research President Jane Sheehan said she is confident her board of trustees can come to an agreement with Gaudreau on access, but approving an amended plan could be detrimental to the foundation’s future development plans.
Sheehan said a property easement given to the foundation in 1990 by former owners of the photo processing plant restricts access to other parcels of land the foundation owns.
If the amended site plan altering the access road is approved, Sheehan said she hoped the easement would be amended so other land owned by the foundation could be accessed. After the amended site plan was presented to the Planning Board Jan. 11, board members tabled the issue to see what agreement Sheehan and Gaudreau could reach.
Meanwhile, work has started on what Gaudreau called “my own little stimulus plan.” He said Coastal Women’s Healthcare will move into a 16,000-square-foot office, perhaps in mid-summer.
“They have been the lead tenant from the beginning,” Gaudreau said.
The health care center currently is located on Campus Drive, a short distance away.
Gaudreau expects the renovation to be an 18-month project, which includes removing interior walls and ceilings.  Outside, the hill behind the building, bounded by the I-295 connector, is getting reshaped.
He said a center courtyard will be created, which will reduce the interior 63,500 square feet, and additional insulation will be added to portions of the ceiling.
Gaudreau had a positive assessment of the condition of the building, vacant since 2006 when Minolta ceased its U.S. operations.
Unlike the Humpty Dumpty plant, where he recalled standing in four inches of grease that coated a section of roof, the photo processing plant owners were very careful managing the building, he said.
Sheehan said she likes what Gaudreau did to create Nonesuch River Plaza from the former potato chip manufacturing plant – the issue is ensuring Foundation for Blood Research interest are protected.
But Gaudreau said it is time to move forward, no matter what.
“I develop in bad times, I get more for my money that way,” he said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219