Mainebiz

V O L . X X V N O. X I X S E P T E M B E R 2 , 2 0 1 9 12 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E Bangor's downtown gets another lift with an HQ moving in B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r BANGOR — CES Inc., a growing engi- neering consulting firm, will move its headquarters early next year from Brewer across the river to One Merchants Plaza in Bangor. The firm of engineers, environmen- tal scientists and land surveyors has been based at 465 South Main St. for decades. "Our current location has served us well over the past 40 years but with our continued growth, we needed more space to accommodate the increasing number of employees who work in our headquarters," CES President and CEO Denis St. Peter said. The CES announcement comes on the heels of the property's finalized sale to David St. Germain, who owns the Bangor property management company Sky Villa LLC. St. Germain paid $1.85 million for the building in a deal that was finalized Aug. 22. "With the commitment from the purchaser of the building, David St. Germain, to provide a significant investment in addressing the deferred maintenance, we became very excited about the opportunity. The move also allows us to update our working space to match our goals of attracting and retaining high caliber employees and will be a reflection of our quality and service we provide to clients," St. Peter said. CES's move was driven in part by its growing staff. Since January 2017, it has hired 19 employees and more new hires are expected. CES has offices in Brewer, Saco, Bar Harbor, Lewiston, Machias, Presque Isle and Waterville. Last September, it acquired Bean, Whitaker, Lutz, and Kareh Inc., a 23-person civil engineering and surveying firm in Fort Myers, Fla. "The bigger location will help us adapt to clients' needs by strategically hiring technical experts in a new service or bringing additional depth to the services we offer," said St. Peter. "For example, we have hired five employees to bolster our building services work in the past 18 months to accommodate clients' needs. With the limited space at our current location, we realized that we did not want a physical space to hold us back when it came to adding or expanding a service." Site upgrades planned CES will take over the top two floors at One Merchants Plaza, a total of 18,000 square feet, and there are options for additional space and parking. Its cur- rent site in Brewer is 14,000 square feet. The building is listed with Epstein Commercial Real Estate. In the deal for One Merchants Plaza, St. Germain was represented by Bev Uhlenhake of Epstein Commercial Real Estate. The seller, Merchants Plaza LLC, was represented by Charles Day of Porta & Co. Built in 1972 and home to the Bangor Daily News and UBS, One Merchants Plaza has experienced significant vacancies in recent years. St. Germain told Mainebiz he plans to invest $2.2 million on renovations, including upgrades to the HVAC system, lighting and other infrastructure that dates back several decades. "It's an iconic building in downtown Bangor that has had some issues over past years," he said. "It's a great project to bring it back to life." Elsewhere, St. Germain also owns about 150 apartment throughout Bangor, Brewer and Hampden. Last year, he bought the former Verizon building at 6 Telcom Drive in Bangor and has been doing construction there to bring in the Penobscot Community Health Center, which is expected to become operational there in the first week of November. He's working with First National Bank to finance his projects. B R I E F P H O T O / L A U R I E S C H R E I B E R CES Inc. is moving to downtown Bangor's One Merchants Plaza, which is also home to the Bangor Daily News and UBS. 800.244.6257 | clarkinsurance.com We love insurance so you don't have to. BORN to insure.

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