NORWAY – One of the state’s largest commercial real estate companies has taken over the marketing of the vacant C.B. Cummings dowel mill in downtown Norway.

The Dunham Group of Portland has listed the mill along with other major commercial sites on the market in its latest 16-page brochure distributed throughout northern New England.

The asking price? $400,000.

“They have extensive experience with these fairly large industrial sites,” said C.B. Cummings & Sons President Brad Cummings. “We hope that will serve us well.”

Dunham Group partner Frank O’Connor said the Norway mill, which closed in September, has tremendous potential for redevelopment.

“This is a great site. It’s right downtown with four acres of land and 80,000 square feet of buildings,” O’Connor said.

He said the mill could be redeveloped as incubator space for many different businesses, using its 11 buildings both large and small. When the 250,000-square-foot Dana Warp mill in Westbrook closed, the Dunham Group found a buyer who redeveloped it for 100 different businesses, and 90 percent occupancy.

“I think they (C.B. Cummings) could pull from the Lewiston-Auburn area,” said O’Connor. “We’ve had a lot of experience in marketing these kinds of sites.”

The Dunham Group, he said, represents many local, regional and national companies in their search for real estate in Maine.

When the mill first closed, Western Maine Health officials considered the property’s potential for an assisted living facility, according to Brett Doney, chief executive officer of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills. But it would take years to secure the necessary funding, he said.

The mill employed only 35 people when it fell victim to overseas competition. The company was founded in 1860 and employed 200 people in the mid-1990s. Its buildings include an office, machine shop, dowel mill, planer room, sawmill, warehouse and cinder block mill.

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com