Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 25 F E B R UA R Y 4 , 2 0 1 9 F O C U S S O U T H E R N M A I N E From around southern Maine A Portsmouth, N.H., business has picked up and moved across the river to Kittery. Blue Mermaid, which opened in Portsmouth in 1994, has moved to 10 Shapleigh Road, opening Jan. 16. The own- ers are Scott and Karen Logan. The company still provides catering in both states and has a food truck available for events. "It has been great to make new relationships with our Maine community. We have lots of new regular customers as well as our regular clientele from Portsmouth," Logan says. "The move has been great and the town of Kittery our new community and state of Maine have been very supportive and nice to work with." Construction of a Hampton Inn & Suites in Kittery should wind up in time for the spring travel season. The 83-room hotel, at 275 U.S. Route 1, is taking reservations for March 31 and beyond. Kennebunk Savings remodeled its Kittery location, at 4A Shapleigh Road, and is rebuilding a branch office in Kennebunkport. Benchmark Construction is handling the rebuild. Moving north to Portland, on the site of the former city of Portland mainte- nance garage, several buildings are quickly progressing. The Public Works, built out by Barrett Made, is open and has office space available. At Parris Terrace, a resi- dential building, Hebert Construction has the sheathing on; condos there start at $215,000 and sales are being handled by Portside Realty. Wright-Ryan Construction is building 4,000 square feet of commercial space at 60 Cove St. in the East Bayside neighborhood. The space can be divided. Re/MAX Shoreline is handling leasing. A vacation market goes year-round S C A R B O R O U G H — Higgins Beach is undergo- ing significant changes, with new vacation houses popping up on nearly every street. While teardowns have been common practice in other vacation markets, Maine still does not have a lot of areas where this is happening. But the past two years, there have been at least a dozen new houses to go up, in most cases they replaced older summer cottages. ere are 361 "cot- tages" in the Higgins Beach area, which is part of the town of Scarborough. ere are at least six houses under construction now — most replacing an older cottage. One recent example: An older house at 15 Vesper St., a block from the ocean, sold for $650,000, accord- ing to Steve Seabury, a broker at Re/MAX Oceanside in Cape Elizabeth. e new owners tore down every- thing but the stone fireplace, which on a recent day stood on its own, wrapped in plastic. e new owners will build a custom house around the original fireplace, which was built for $300, Seabury says. While the newer houses are fully winterized and are built to last, the owners may limit use to sum- mer and off-season holidays. "Most are sold to out-of-state people with a con- nection to Higgins Beach — they grew up spending summers here or visiting," says Seabury. "ey're not coming here because they heard Portland is a dining destination." ere are still about 15 to 20 houses in that are in original condition and have never been winterized. eir days may be numbered. e same group of out-of-state visitors keeps a close watch on what may be coming on the market, Seabury says. "ey wait for it, they pounce and they rebuild," he says. He says he can recall only "three or four" recent sales to buyers who will live at Higgins year round. ere are also existing homes on the market that appear to be in move-in condition, or could be due for some updating but would not be a tear- down: A four-bedroom contemporary at 12 Ashton St. is listed at $1.2 million, while a two-bedroom house at 14 Shipwreck Road has an asking price of $1.35 million. Of the 361 cottages at Higgins, there are about 30 that are owned by someone who has more than one house there. While the rental market is hugely importantly here, Airbnb is not a major factor, at least for now, says Seabury. 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 / P E T E R VA N A L L E N P H O T O S / P E T E R VA N A L L E N Most are sold to out-of-state people with a connection to Higgins Beach. — Steve Seabury Re/MAX Oceanside Caleb Johnson Studio of Portland has a house under construction at Higgins Beach. The Public Works Parris Terrace

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