What the new folks say about Saco
Hey Biddeford, you’ve got company!
That’s our conclusion, anyway. The new people who have just moved in with us are saying that Saco Island is “cool.” Since The Forge Collection began a focused marketing effort at the end of March, our number of available, brand new apartments has dropped from 31 to 3. Our available office spaces have dropped from 13 to 1. And that’s right in the teeth of a pandemic! We are delighted, of course, because not in our wildest dreams did we anticipate this much demand. We confess to being more than a little pleasantly surprised that occupancy has soared so quickly.
As members of this community, we are well aware of all the good press that Biddeford has received in the last few years. Just absolutely glowing articles in Mainebiz, Downeast Magazine, the Portland Press Herald, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, not to mention adoring TV stories like these on WCSH, WMTW, WGME and even WCVB out of Boston. We know we had plenty of company in thinking, “Why can’t Saco ever get press like that?” That’s why the rush of new tenants and new life at Saco Island caught us just a little off guard. But as we were getting people moved in and settled, we learned a few things.
First of all, none of our new tenants has kids, so these new Saco citizens are not a drain on the school system. Second, more than half of them come from outside Maine! The new blood is from Michigan, Idaho, Toronto, Florida, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Colorado and the like. We never expected that. Another interesting thing is that many are just in their 20s and all are professionally employed. So just like Biddeford, Saco has definitely arrested and reversed the unfortunate trend gripping the rest of Maine, the graying of the population. The numbers back it up. The median age in downtown Biddeford-Saco has been plummeting. In Biddeford, the median age in that city of 21,500 is 35.6 and the overall median age is 44.9. Different sources report various figures for Saco’s median age, but the most reliable figure appears to be 41.7. Saco experienced a 4.7% increase in population between 2010 and 2018, and is now home to 19,748 residents.
That’s great news for Saco and its taxpayers. The City is alive and vibrant, and on the rebound. We’ve been talking to our new apartment dwellers and our new start-up businesses that now call our campus home, and they provide some fresh, interesting perspectives.
Surprisingly, most did not even know before touring our campus that a pedestrian bridge connects downtown Saco to downtown Biddeford. Turns out thus is a HUGE plus.
New arrivals don’t look at Saco as a separate town. They see downtown Biddeford-Saco as one community, one river, one economy. Very interesting. They could not care less about any “rivalry” between Biddeford and Saco. They see such attitudes as ancient, parochial and counter-productive to the future success of this area.
Public transportation options are key, especially having The Downeaster just steps away.
Fiber optic Internet here on the Island provides a basic requirement that young people need and expect, in order to succeed in the new Information Economy.
The comparison to Portland certainly exists, but the emphasis on cost is less than you might think. The quest for “cheaper” is a factor, but not a deal-breaker. What surprised us is our area has a growing reputation for being “cool” in comparison to Portland! That seems to be almost more important than price points.
Some people just like living in an urban setting, and Saco Island fits the bill perfectly.
Just from talking to these folks, our conclusion is that high occupancy rates at Saco Island are an excellent harbinger of new life --- and new prosperity --- for downtown Saco. There will be bumps and obstacles along the way, and COVID-19 is certainly one of those, but as Mainebiz noted a couple of months ago, good things are happening at Saco Island. We plan to keep telling this area’s story, because we know that downtown Saco --- and Biddeford --- are great places to live and work.