PROFILE-March 2009

by Joshua Bodwell
Photography Trent Bell

The Biddeford developer who walks the talk

Doug Sanford is talking about Biddeford. And people are listening.

On this particular afternoon, Sanford is engaged in an animated conversation with several representatives of Saco & Biddeford Savings. He is showing them the new entrance to his North Dam Mill, a complex of three interconnected, five-story brick buildings encompassing 370,000 square feet along the edge of the Saco River.

Sanford bought the former textile mill in 2004. A menagerie of more than fifty residential and commercial tenants has since moved in, setting up offices, retail space, art studios, light industrial shops, and striking brick-walled studios and lofts.

As the bankers depart into the windy afternoon with enthusiastic looks on their faces, the 50-year-old Sanford climbs the stairs into the main lobby. Tim Hewitt of myOstrich Golf—a custom golf-club and golf-club-component business—grabs Sanford’s attention. Hewitt needs an oversized mailbox to receive his frequent UPS shipments. The two men quickly brainstorm a solution.

North Dam Mill is growing rapidly and each day seems to bring new fires for Sanford to extinguish. “When I started, there was nothing here. Nothing. That was the first fire to put out!” he says with a laugh as he moves briskly down a hallway. When discussing the mills, Sanford speaks with exclamation points and gently jabs arms or shoulders to emphasize his points.

The once sleepy hamlet of Biddeford is bristling with renewed energy these days. In many ways, thanks to Sanford’s gusto, North Dam feels like the epicenter of the city’s reinvention. Where else in Maine can you find a master bookbinder such as Scott Mullenberg across the hall from stringed-instrument aficionados Valerio Mongillo and William Dalbec of Old Mill Violins? The buildings are brimming with artists, designers, craftspeople, photographers, bakers, and gallery owners—if Maine ever needed a representative snapshot of the state’s “creative economy,” surely this mill would suffice.

As Sanford navigates the hallways, he occasionally knocks on doors and calls out the names of tenants in greeting. Finally, he slows and pokes his head into the doorway of Vervacious, a European-truffle and gourmet-food business. “Smells good in here!” he calls out to Heidi Stanvick, a Le Cordon Bleu–trained chef. To meet rising demand, however, Stanvick is in the process of refinishing a new space in North Dam that is five times the size of her present location.

Outside Vervacious, a painting crew approaches Sanford to get his opinion on a wall color. He stops to chat with the guys and lob a few lighthearted jokes. It seems Sanford has memorized the name of every person associated with the mill, whether they are tenants or just there for the day to hang sheetrock.

And then Sanford is off again, moving at a brisk pace through the serpentine hallways and up and down the zigzagging stairs. His cell phone buzzes every few minutes, and he fields each call with short, decisive instructions. Sanford possesses that rare combination of visionary thinking and managerial competence needed to make the execution of big ideas profitable.

“Back in September,” he explains, “we finally finished the first twenty-two studio apartments.” With eleven-foot-high ceilings, restored hardwood floors, and new fixtures, appliances, and cabinets, the one- and two-bedroom units were snatched up practically overnight.

By the first of November, Sanford had finished another twenty-two residential units on the floor above. “I’ve only got one of those studios left unrented,” he says with a smile. “And people told me it would take a year to rent all of those!” It’s obvious that Sanford relishes the opportunity to surpass expectations and prove the skeptics wrong.

“Hey Tammy, let me give you a birthday hug!” Sanford calls out when he sees Tammy Ackerman coming down the hallway. Ackerman is the artistic force behind North40Creative, a design studio responsible for branding North Dam’s image—including its logo, website, advertising, and signage—as well as that of many other businesses in and around Biddeford.

“There’s a great synergy here,” says Sanford, sweeping his hand through the air in a wide arch. “Everyone works on things with everyone else here because we’re all under the same roof.”

When Sanford gushes about his mills and the town of Biddeford, it’s not just a sales pitch—he’s a businessman who walks the talk.

A New Hampshire native, Sanford has lived in Maine for more than twenty-five years. Beginning in the mid-1980s, he has bought and renovated several city blocks’ worth of buildings in downtown Biddeford. Now, Sanford has not only relocated the showroom and manufacturing facilities for River’s Edge Wood Products—his custom cabinetry, furniture, and moulding business—he has also carved out a prime space on the fifth floor for his own apartment.

On the way to tour his future home, Sanford pauses at a window. “I mean, look at this location! We’re right on the water, right off the turnpike, and right next to the Amtrak stop. But it’s both affordable and sustainable here!” If Portland is the Manhattan of Maine, then Biddeford is its Brooklyn: a haven for youthful urbanites and creative entrepreneurs that’s still a little rough around the edges.

Standing in what will soon be his living room, Sanford counts the church spires he can see out one set of windows, before turning to admire the Saco River.

“That’s 1980s thinking over there,” he says finally, gesturing across the river to the many Saco Island mills that have been converted into expensive condominiums. “It used to be all about how much money you could make and how fast you could make it. I’m more interested in affordable and sustainable over here,” he adds, using those two words again.

By growing North Dam Mill incrementally, Sanford has sought to avoid the potentially debilitating pressures and skyrocketing prices that can come with redevelopment schemes that require massive, multimillion-dollar infusions upfront.

“People thought they needed a big Boston developer to come in here, and a big out-of-state contractor,” he says. “But I’ve used local crews on everything I’ve done. Then these guys spend local and they bank local. It’s a big circle. No money here is going out the door to China! It’s synergy,” he says again—it’s a word he repeats often, like a mantra.

“Excuse me,” says Sanford, taking a call on his cell phone. Moments later, he pockets the phone. “That’s it,” he says, “the last one-bedroom unit is rented. Just like that.” He grins and looks out the window.

“You will not recognize Biddeford in another five years,” Sanford predicts.