Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I I N O. X I V J U LY 1 1 , 2 0 2 2 8 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 supporting individuals and families temporarily housed in hotels through- out Cumberland County due to COVID-19 protocols and the lack of shelter and housing space within the city of Portland. NBT Bank in Portland made a $50,000 commitment to the Equality Community Center in Portland to help the organization continue its positive impact for the LGBTQ+ community in Maine. NaviTour in Portland released its first version of a local tour guide, travel concierge and experience booking plat- form directly focused on rural commu- nities and individual guides. Rural transportation the focus of grant Affordable, climate-friendly transpor- tation in Piscataquis and Penobscot counties will be the focus of a new project that has received $450,000 in federal money. Eastern Maine Development Corp. in Bangor said it obtained the funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation. "e point is to increase access to afford- able transportation and to connect people to the resources they need but may not have in their small towns," Eastern Maine Development President and CEO Lee Umphrey said. e goal is to review the two counties' transportation system and recommend solutions for the region to implement. Transportation is con- sidered a barrier for many residents in Piscataquis County — one of the poorest and most sparsely populated areas in Maine. N O T E W O R T H Y C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N Fontaine Family, an Auburn real estate firm, said its Bid for Wishes Virtual Auction $26,486 with half donated to Lewiston teen Johnathan Morin and half to Make-A-Wish Maine. Skowhegan Savings said it awarded a total of $14,000 in college scholar- ships to seven high school seniors at- tending high schools in the municipali- ties of which the bank has branches. Over-55 apartments planned for Bath Szanton Co., a Portland-based housing developer, has broken ground on the Uptown in down- town Bath, a $12 million project to create 50 new apartments for resi- dents ages 55 years and older. It will be on the site of the former YMCA at the corner of Summer and Front Streets. Most of the apartments will be set aside for households age 55 or greater. Roughly 70% will be reserved for households earning $30,000 to $42,000 per year with rents ranging from $790 to $953 per month for a one-bedroom unit. e remaining 30% will be rented at market rates, without regard to tenant incomes. MaineHousing says there is a need for 180 similar units in Bath and more than 14,000 in Maine. Steuben chosen for rocket testing BluShift Aerospace, a Brunswick rocket startup, said it will do sea- based launches, mission control and manufacturing in Steuben, a coastal town of 1,129 people in Washington County. BluShift sought feedback from interested towns before mak- ing the decision. e selection was based on the location's proximity to a suitable off-shore launch site, existing physical and human capital assets, and willingness to provide permitting assistance and economic development tools such as tax incre- ment financing. Iconic Castine restaurant has new owner Dennett's Wharf, a waterside restaurant in Castine that's been closed since 2017, has reopened in the hands of a new owner who moved to the town two years ago from Brooklyn, N.Y. Max Katzenberg is the co-founder of two Brooklyn restaurants. In Castine, he's brought aboard a pair of fellow New Yorkers — Ingrid Paronich, as general manager, and Taylor Hester, chef. Together, they bought and restored Dennett's Wharf restaurant, and reopened in B R I E F 'Greenlight Maine' hands Season 7 winner, OpBox, $25,000 prize B y R e n e e C o r d e s N o b l e b o r o — OpBox, a Nobleboro-based startup that designs and builds modular, eco-friendly pop-up spaces for retailing and other uses, was crowned the "Greenlight Maine" Season 7 winner. Beating two other contestants in the final round of the televised business-pitch contest, OpBox won $25,000. Asked what OpBox plans to do with the prize money, co- founder Ben Davis told Mainebiz that the company plans to "document and create engaging content" for a new venture in Boston: OpBox Village, in South Boston, a collaboration with two partners and branded as the C Street Pop-Up Iron Works. The village consists of 80,000 square feet in modular rental spaces intended for retail, food and drink operators for two consecutive seasons, from July through September and October through December. The website lists rent as starting at $1,500 a month. "This is a very repeatable model that we hope to roll out nationwide," Davis said. The company currently employs 11 people and plans to add several more by the end of the year, he added. He and his sister, Emily Davis, with whom he founded OpBox, were honored on the Mainebiz Next List in 2018. At that time, Ben Davis told Mainebiz that applications for OpBox storage containers are "endless." The grand finale of "Greenlight Maine," a series hosted and produced by Julene Gervais that aims to "grow Maine's economy, one dream at a time," was broadcast Thursday night on Maine Public. Second prize, and $10,000, was awarded to the Good Crust, a maker of frozen pizza dough owned and operated by Heather Kerner that recently moved from Skowhegan to Canaan. NKENNE, an African language learning app founded by Michael Odokara-Okigbo, came in third and won $5,000. The company was also the Emerging Business Award winner in last month's Gorham Savings Bank LaunchPad business-pitch contest, winning a $10,000 grant plus $10,000 of in-kind business and marketing-related services. The three finalists were whittled down from 10 contestants at the start of the season, out of more than 35 applicants this year. Last year's winner was Bixby Chocolate, an arti- sanal chocolate maker founded and run by Kate McAleer. All three finalists made their pitches in front of judges on stage at Maine Public's studio in Lewiston. "This was our first time in the studio in more than two years," Gervais told Mainebiz. "We have been virtual since March 2020, but the companies were very adaptive to pitch- ing live in front of the judges." P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F " G R E E N L I G H T M A I N E " Ben Davis, right, of OpBox talks to "Greenlight Maine" judges and host and producer Julene Gervais. OpBox was crowned the Season 7 series winner. M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N

• Cover