Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 9 J U N E 1 0 , 2 0 2 4 N O T E W O R T H Y C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N HospitalityMaine in Augusta awarded a total of $10,000 in scholarships to eight students to pursue a career in culinary arts and hospitality. Norway Savings Bank introduced a "Safe Banking" video series to help consumers avoid scams and fraud in general. The four-part series is now available for viewing at www.norway- savings.bank/security. Hancock County lumber mills sells Two months after putting its 100-acre mill complex in Hancock up for sale, Robbins Lumber Inc. has sold it to Elliott Jordan & Sons Inc., a general contractor, for the list price of $2.5 million. e buyer doesn't necessarily plan to use it as a mill. "We see it as a site that probably has more value being developed over a number of years," Duane Jordan, who owns Waltham- based Elliott Jordan & Sons with his sons Brian and Adam, told Mainebiz. Waltham is about 20 miles from the Hancock site; both are in Hancock County. Robert Baldacci and David Jones of F.O. Bailey Real Estate rep- resented both the buyer and the seller in the sale. With 108,655 square feet across 22 buildings, the complex at 17 Wyman Road is 2 miles from U.S. Route 1 and downtown Ellsworth. e property was marketed as a redevelop- ment opportunity, zoned for uses such as a business park or campground. MTI seeks applications for 'sponsorship' program e Maine Technology Institute unveiled a sponsorship program aimed at diversifying its demographic and geographic reach across Maine, and in turn supporting the state's innovation economy. From now till June 21, MTI will take applications from startups. For winning bids, MTI will offer "sponsor- ships" of up to $50,000. Examples of sponsorships include programming to support startups in the form of technical assistance, one-on-one mentorships, and educational programs. Preference will be given to in-person programs versus virtual offerings. e program is made possible by the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan/American Rescue Plan Act. N O T E W O R T H Y M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T Maine Seacoast Mission, a Northeast Harbor-based health care and social- services nonprofit that serves island communities, will host three open houses on its 74-foot flagship vessel, the Sunbeam. The open houses are scheduled for the Castine Town Dock on June 30, from 1-5 p.m.; Brown's Wharf in Boothbay Harbor, July 27, from 3-7 p.m.; and Northeast Harbor, Aug. 29, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Bangor braces for real estate revaluation Some 37 years after its last revaluation, the city of Bangor is getting ready for an update that will appraise more than 11,000 real estate parcels. e two-year revaluation project will collect property data and correct disproportionate taxes by valuing all property at fair market values as of April 1, 2026. State law requires that municipalities perform revaluations whenever the ratio of assessment to sales price drops below 70%. e city narrowly meets Maine's minimum assessing standards, in part because it relies on property data that in some cases date back to the 1980s. N O T E W O R T H Y N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle received formal notification from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing confirming accredi- tation of its practical nursing program. B R I E F After COVID delays, Portland cold-storage warehouse set to open by year's end B y R e n e e C o r d e s D espite supply-chain hurdles, construction of a $55 mil- lion cold-storage warehouse in Portland is nearing an end-of-the year finish line. The temperature-controlled facility on the city's waterfront is due to become operational by early 2025, ready to handle cargo from food and agricultural products to biopharmaceu- ticals needing refrigeration. Tom O'Shaughnessy, New York-based head of co-developer Amber Infrastructure North America, is looking forward to opening the doors. "We, like many, have had delays off the back of COVID with the supply chain and it has taken us longer to do this than we would have liked," he said in a phone interview. In addition to the U.K.-based company, the development consortium includes Yarmouth-based Treadwell Franklin Infrastructure and Eimskip, the Icelandic shipping and logistics company that has been operating at the adjacent International Marine Terminal for more than a decade. The freezer warehouse broke ground in August 2022, more than four years after Atlanta-based Americold abruptly pulled out of a previous plan, prompting the Maine Department of Trans- portation to work with Eimskip to assemble a new consortium. Despite the delay, the $55 million price has not changed because it was laid out in a fixed contract, according to O'Shaughnessy. He also noted that compared to Amber's other projects in the U.S. and globally with building timelines of 10 to 15 years, the Portland project feels relatively quick. "We can't wait to get this facility up and operational," he added. 'State-of-the-art facility' The 107,000-square-foot warehouse will have 85,000 square feet of storage space. "We've got a state-of-the-art facility," Matthew Burns, executive director of the Maine Port Authority, told Mainebiz in a separate interview on Monday. "We've just got to fill it." He also noted that his team has to consider how the warehouse operations will fit in with those of the container terminal next door. "We have no second thoughts about how that's going to work," he added. "We just have to plan accordingly." The cold-storage warehouse will be operated by Taylor Logistics Inc., a Cincinnati-based company selected last year following a competitive process. "We're looking forward now to having Taylor Logistics start reaching out to customers and start responding to requests to utilize the space," O'Shaughnessy said. P H O T O / R E N E E C O R D E S In Portland, construction of a $55 million cold-storage facility is slated for completion by the end of 2024. M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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