CARIBOU, Maine — Local real-estate developer Dana Cassidy has purchased the former Sitel building in Caribou, which closed its doors last year on Oct. 31 due to “recent business changes,” according to a Sitel spokesperson.
Cassidy, who bought the building from Sitel, said he cannot announce any specific plans for the site yet, but is currently speaking to two interested leases.
Cassidy owns the building across the street which houses Miss Jordyn’s Child Care and Preschool, and said he decided to purchase the Sitel building when it became available as it has a great deal of potential.
“There’s 37,000 square feet there,” Cassidy said. “It’s housed up to 350 people. It’s a class A office — it’s absolutely beautiful.”
He said he’s receptive to anything from having another telemarketing company move into the building, to a retail store, to upstairs apartments.
“I’m willing to do a buildout for the right business,” he said. “If a big office was needed, or someone needed one large room, I would turn it into one big room, or if they wanted 40 offices in there I could do that too, depending on the terms and conditions of the lease.”
In general, Cassidy said the current COVID-19 pandemic has slowed business down, but recently he has started to see activity pick up.
“Normally in March or April I’d start to get a lot of calls from new businesses or potential new startups,” he said. “Now I’m getting these calls at the end of May and in June. So what it amounted to was a two month deferral. I’m still getting a lot of interest but that interest is coming a couple months late.”
Cassidy owns the Bennett Drive shopping center in addition to several other shopping centers, hotels and properties in the state. The pandemic caused him to temporarily close Playtime Adventures at that location, a newly opened recreational facility for young children, just after it began to grow in popularity among local children and parents.
Cassidy said he is looking forward to the possibilities the former Sitel building holds.
“We could have a multifaceted business scenario where a bunch of small businesses are under one roof separated by a big hallway through the center of the building,” he said, describing one of many possibilities for the building.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen,” he said.
