The Ralph Doering family is “open to all kinds of possibilities,” spokesman Mark Robinson said. He was talking about Wawenock Block, the Main Street, Wiscasset building the family has owned for close to half a century. The 1858 building is not listed, nor has the family otherwise advertised it as being for sale or lease, Robinson said. But a new website, at wawenock.me, is talking up the property and drawing inquiries; those have so far centered on hospitality, which could suit the family's hope for the building's next use, Robinson said in an interview Oct. 21.

“The one word I keep hearing (from the family) and that I know is what they want is ‘stimulative.’ They want a project that is going to be stimulative to Wiscasset’s downtown in the long term. So, although some people might have been in touch about hairdressers or t-shirt shops or cannabis shops on the first floor, that's not the route they want to go. They want to figure out the long-term best use of the building. So I said, ‘Let's put up a website.’"

One month in, several inquiries have come in from hospitality developers, Robinson said.

"I've been through the building with four or five of them. They've checked it out. They're going away and doing their thinking about it. And literally we have not put any money behind the marketing other than putting up the website. (This) tells me there is this huge interest in this building ... I think the horizon is wide open."

He set up a Dropbox to share with the town government all the drone footage that's been shot for the website. And town officials have had a "cooperative attitude" on the family's effort to look toward the building's future, he said.

Wiscasset Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky sees the building as "an opportunity, a giant opportunity for our village. It has a lot of potential and it is very important to the vibrancy of our downtown," Chrostowsky said in an interview Oct. 21.

What would Chrostowsky like to see there? "Anything that would help support the current businesses and also drive traffic into town."

In his latest department head update to selectmen, Chròstowsky said he's working with the owner's representative "to identify the building's highest and best use."

The website Robinson created at wawenock.me describes Wawenock Block as "Primed for an Entrepreneur. Might that be you? ... A Landmark Ready for Its Next Chapter. In the heart of downtown Wiscasset, the historic Wawenock Block offers a rare opportunity to create something entirely new." The website describes the interior as "a true blank slate" for creating "a memorable destination."

In 2021, the building became news for years for another reason: Hundreds of bricks fell from the facade, injuring no one but leading to years of tie-up of that part of the new, wider Main Street sidewalk with scaffolding. Town leaders repeatedly voiced frustration and representatives of the Doering family cited contractor and other issues for the then-unfinished work.

According to a Museum in the Streets sign, the Wawenock building was named for a group of Penobscots, Native Americans whose time here predated the English settlements.