Staff Writer 

For more than six months, Cape Elizabeth resident Eric Matheson has discussed the possibility of transforming the former National Guard Armory on Broadway in South Portland into Maine’s first sound stage. During the past several weeks, he and a local movie producer have taken multiple tours of the building, and he said they think the space is “perfect” for filming three multi-million dollar films – productions the city would collect taxes on. 

On Tuesday, Matheson said the plans came “grinding to a halt.” 

The roughly 3,500 square foot building – bought by the city for $650,000 in 2006  – currently sits in the city’s Residential A zone, as does the nearby Fire Department building. City Manager Jim Gailey wrote in an email that discussions with the city’s code enforcement office and corporation council determined the current zoning would not allow a sound stage on the Armory property.

“We just couldn’t fit that use in the zoning,” Code Enforcement Officer Patricia Doucette said. “The applicant or the city would have to initiate a text change to ordinance. That change would go to the planning board, which would have a public hearing on it, then to the council, which would have a workshop and another two public hearings.”

Gailey estimated rezoning the 2.74-acre Armory parcel – assessed at more than $750,000 – could take up to three months.

“Unfortunately I think this will postpone any interest in the building from the upcoming films,” he wrote.

Matheson said the new timeline would cause the producer to film the movies a different  location in Portland, even though they had a strong desire to do the work in South Portland. 

“It would mean there wouldn’t be any filming there this summer,” Matheson said. 

Matheson said he was puzzled by the restriction, as Gailey had mentioned that the Armory building had already been used to film a television commercial. 

Matheson had already determined that the existing electrical systems could handle the demands of filming, as long as the producers were allowed access to the building.

“I was not aware that they did that,” Doucette said of the commercial production.

Gailey said filming the commercial only took two hours, as opposed to film production being the primary use.

At least two members of the city council think the sound stage proposal is worth hurrying along, if, as Councilor Linda Boudreau – who voted against the initial purchase of the Armory – said, “it means making it or breaking it.”

“If we can do it for the airport we can do it for anyone,” she said of the possibility of expediting the rezoning process. “It may not be a permitted use, and I’ve always said I wouldn’t ever support rezoning the other side of Broadway, but I wouldn’t let that stop things.”

Mayor Tom Blake, who voted against a recent proposal to rezone portions of the Jetport property on the basis it was rushed through the process, said there may be quicker ways to prepare the Armory for a new use. 

“The airport thing was two weeks. It never made sense to me that they took five years planning it and we had 14 days,” he said. “I don’t think [the Armory property] would have to be completely rezoned, [a sound stage] would just have to be a special exemption. I see that as a major difference. Heck, if we can do a zone change in two weeks, [a special exemption] can be done a lot faster than three months.”

Boudreau said it wouldn’t be the first time the city has hustled to encourage new development.

“When people need things done, things just happen,” she said. “I think that’s what councils do.”

Both councilors said they were receptive to the sound stage proposal as a whole, as long as the city retained the deed to the property. Matheson said his most recent plan involved entering into a short or long-term lease agreement with the city to allow the producers to get to work as soon as possible. If the productions went well, he said there were several investors who would likely make an offer on the building. 

“The one thing we cannot do right now is sell [the Armory], because we would take a loss,” Blake said. “Whatever we do has to be in the interest of the neighborhood and I think this use would be.”

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.

Armory through the years

January 1943 – Maine State Military Defense are the first owners of the new building and the surrounding 2.75 acres of land.

1994 – The National Guard moves out of the building, which has remained largely vacant since.

October 2002 – The Museum of Glass and Ceramics purchases the property for $550,000. 

March 2006 – The Estate of The Museum of Glass and Ceramics begins bankruptcy proceedings and is removed as the parcel’s owner.

April 2006 – The city of South Portland purchases the property for $650,000, a decision made during executive session.

September 2006 – City Councilor Maxine Beecher requests the formation of a  South Portland Armory Committee to brainstorm future uses for the building.

November 2007 –  The city council accepts a report by the South Portland Armory Committee. Using the building as a new city hall is at the top of the list.

October 2008 – The city holds the first public hearing about what to do with the Armory. Suggestions ranged from converting the space into a new city hall, a sound stage or a skate park or simply bulldozing the building and selling the remaining land.