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V O L . X X X N O. X X I V O C T O B E R 2 1 , 2 0 2 4 14 M I D C O A S T / D OW N E A S T F O C U S F rom the outside, the former Navy aircraft maintenance building isn't much to look at — a drab relic of the 1940s when Brunswick Naval Air Station opened at a former municipal airfield. More than a decade after the base was decom- missioned in 2011, the Cold War vibe lingers inside long gray corridors that evoke military bureaucracy, a business suite furnished with a Navy-leftover brown leather sofa and chairs, and a windowless chamber once dubbed the "spooky room." Based on Maine's southern midcoast, TechPlace is an incubator for early-stage manufacturing and technology startups. A world apart from Northeastern University's modern Roux Institute in Portland, TechPlace is an equally important hub for entrepreneurs. Adjacent to the Brunswick Landing business park, TechPlace is a maze of rented and shared offices, manufacturing workspaces, laboratories and storage areas used by dozens of early-stage manu- facturers in sectors from aviation and aerospace to advanced materials and composites. "You come into a former Navy facility. en you open a door and there's crazy innovation going on," Jaimie Logan says during a three-hour tour of the 95,000-square-foot facility. As director of TechPlace since 2022, the former maritime attorney and state official with Maine's Department of Economic and Community Development is the self-proclaimed "den mother" of this unassuming innovation hub with an outsized impact. "It's not just a feeder for Brunswick," she says as she dashes in and out of offices. "It's a statewide asset." at asset has a big fan base among startup mentors across Maine. "I often describe it as a launchpad for compa- nies moving from concept to production," says Susan Ruhlin, executive director of Dirigo Labs in Waterville. Along similar lines, Eaton Peabody business consultant and Biddeford Mayor Marty Grohman TechPlace by the numbers 95,000 square feet 115 members (including 100 businesses) since 2015 38 current members with 111 combined employees 98% occupancy 622 estimated jobs created Daniel Greisen, president of Greisen Aerospace, in the welding booth in TechPlace in Brunswick. Nathan Varney, president of VarneyCNC, stands at the control panel for a five-axis CNC router in the company's production facility in TechPlace in Brunswick. P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R FROM THE Cold War TO high tech Behind the scenes at TechPlace, Brunswick's business incubator B y R e n e e C o r d e s

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