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V O L . X X V N O. I I JA N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 9 20 W hen WEX Inc. employees start moving into the pay- ment processing company's glass-encased new headquarters on Feb. 1, it will mark the beginning of a new era for the city's oldest neighborhood. While the roughly four-block area east of Hancock Street and at the foot of Munjoy Hill has gone through a lot of changes over the past four hundred years, it's never seen anything quite like this: More than 700,000 square feet of new construction. 2,500 estimated new workers in the next three years. $256 million in development investment. And that's just from five major projects that have been completed or started in 2018 and the first weeks of 2019. It doesn't count the more than a dozen projects in the last three years east of India Street on Portland's east- ern waterfront. "It's been some time since we've have this amount of activity in one area," says Richard Brescia, vice presi- dent of Cianbro, the state's largest construction firm. Cianbro is construction manager on the WEX building, at the corner of ames and Hancock streets, as well as on the planned 100 Fore St. mixed- use project on the same block. at project was approved by the planning board Jan. 8 and will include 539 park- ing spaces and 86,000 square feet of office and retail. Next door to the WEX build- ing, the 178-room, 120,000-square- foot AC Hotel by Marriott opened in July. Honesty, integrity and mutual respect are the values that guide us. Stephen Dumont, VP CONTACT (207) 490-5900 www.tpdconstruction.com CO N S T RU C T I O N M A N A G EM EN T s D E S I G N / B U I L D s G EN ER A L CO N T R A C T I N G P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY F O C U S Right time, right place for major commercial development in a Portland neighborhood B y M a u r e e n M i l l i k e n The view from Fore and Hancock streets in Portland's East End. At right, is the new headquarters for WEX Inc. At far left (green building) will be 100 Fore St. development. In the distance is 58 Fore St. EAST END COMES alive