Genesis lends $700,000 to preserve Cundy's Harbor waterfront

Holbrook Community Foundation purchases vital property

posted December 22, 2006

With the help of a $700,000 bridge loan – the Genesis Fund's largest loan ever – the small coastal community of Cundy's Harbor located at the tip of Great Island in Harpswell has purchased and will begin emergency repairs to the historic and locally-important Holbrook Wharf property. 

In the spring of 2005 when the privately held property, which includes a wharf for commercial fishing, the community's general store, a waterside restaurant, an 1860 house with two apartments, moorings, and parking, came up for sale, the Trust for Public Land secured an option. To finance the purchase local residents mobilized to form the nonprofit Holbrook Community Foundation. Over the last 18 months, the “Campaign to Keep Holbrook's Working” has raised more than $700,000 from more than 550 donors and supporters toward the $1.5 million goal.

To meet the purchase price of $1,230,000 and ensure additional funds to cover emergency repairs and renovations to expand the working waterfront capacity, outside funding was required. In November the Holbrook Community Foundation applied for a grant of $600,000 from the new Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program (WWAPP) —a $1.8 million state-funded and voter-approved initiative of Land for Maine 's Future. Additionally Senator Susan Collins has asked for $200,000 for the project in FY2007 budget appropriations and the Town of Harpswell has been asked to contribute $50,000.

However, with these sources of funding still pending and with the Trust for Public Land's option on the .77 acre property running out at the end of 2006, the Holbrook Community Foundation realized that the purchase of the property needed to happen soon. That's when the Genesis Fund, with its nimbleness as a private revolving loan fund, entered the picture. With a bridge loan of $700,000, the Genesis Fund has been able to step into this project at a critical juncture.

“The Genesis Fund was extremely responsive to our timeframe,” said Holbrook Community Foundation president William Mangum. “When one of our board members brought Genesis to our attention, we weren't sure our need for short-term financing would fit the Fund's lending guidelines but we found them to be very flexible and helpful in accommodating our unique situation.”

 

The Holbrook Wharf project will open the waterfront to more commercial fishermen for multiple uses and preserve a vital community center and meeting place (the store). Additionally the popular seasonal restaurant will continue to provide local jobs and the house on the property will ensure that two much-needed affordable year-round rental apartments remain available. As owner of the property, the Holbrook Community Foundation will derive income from the rental of wharf space, the store, the restaurant and the apartments. While some revenue will go into sustaining the property and facilities, excess income will be redistributed to community groups such as the volunteer fire and rescue departments, the library and for scholarships for local students.

The face of Maine's coastal communities and harbors is changing, but the quick and committed work by people at the Holbrook Community Foundation and the significant private and public support their proposal has garnered has made a difference. Open access to the waterfront is threatened each time private ownership results in conversion of commercial wharves to non-commercial and recreational marine use. The purchase of the Holbrook property and its renovation will provide a model for other Maine communities to take bold steps toward preserving their way of life. Mangum said he has already been approached by two other communities with similar challenges.

The Genesis Fund is proud and pleased to play a role in this important work.   Holbrook Community Foundation board member Elsa Martz commented, “Working with the Genesis Fund has been an extraordinary experience -- and a truly rare one in these times of often frustrating bureaucratic inefficiency.  From my vantage point, the Genesis Fund is a remarkably flexible organization.  Under the leadership of Beth McPherson,  the organization recognized a good project, did the necessary research, solved problems, made decisions, and took amazingly quick action to meet a deadline.  That's fantastic, and the Holbrook Community Foundation is extremely grateful for Genesis Fund's role in supporting our purchase of the historic Holbrook working waterfront property.  We are proud to be another one of the worthwhile ventures undertaken by the Genesis Fund.”

 

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