Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 25 F E B R UA R Y 1 0 , 2 0 2 5 Developer Nathan Szanton will move to Colorado, will hold onto Maine holdings B y T i n a F i s c h e r N athan Szanton, developer of affordable housing projects in several Maine cities, tells Mainebiz he plans to move to Colorado on June 1. Szanton Co. has had a Denver development office, headed by the owner's son Carl, since 2022. He notes that Colorado has an "even larger need for affordable housing than we do here in Maine." The Colorado office's first project, which will start construction this summer, is a 76-unit middle-income apartment building in Fort Collins. Szanton says his final development project in Maine is the 63-unit affordable housing apartment building in the Libbytown neighborhood in Portland, 45 Dougherty, due to be completed this July, ahead of schedule. (Penobscot General Contractors, of Falmouth, is man- aging the build.) The company's Picker House Lofts in Lewiston has just wrapped up construction and is currently moving tenants into the 72 mixed-income apartments in the refurbished Continental Mill. Szanton has developed apartment buildings in Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Bath, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach, as well as Exeter, N.H. He has no plans to sell his New England projects, and will continue to co-own the company's Saco Falls Management arm, now headed by Kristin Martin. OTHER CONSTRUCTION NEWS FROM AROUND MAINE Optimum Construction, of South Portland, has broken ground on the Mooring's Kennebunk memory care center, which will be off U.S. Route 1, at 80 York St. The 10,000-square-foot building is expected to welcome 12 residents by the end of the year. It will be the Mooring's third facility in Maine. The architect is Gawron Tu r g e o n D i l l o n, o f Scarborough. Optimum is concurrently engaged in building additional ter- minal space at Portland International Jetport, along with a new munici- pal building in York for the Maine Turnpike Authority. The crew is also renovating 1 Commercial St. in Portland into first- floor retail and upper story condos. Penobscot General Contractors, of Falmouth, is finishing construction of the Eddy, a six-story, 200,000-square- foot market-rate apartment building located at 8 Eddy Road, Biddeford. Pre-leasing for the 250 studio and 1-bedroom units has begun; occupancy is slated for March 1. The developer is Reveler, of Biddeford, and the design team was Portsmouth- based Market Square Architects. Consigli Construction's Portland office is targeted to finish the 43,000-square- foot Crewe Center for the Arts at the University of Southern Maine's Port- land campus by this fall. The design team included Pfeiffer Partners Archi- tects, of Los Angeles, and Biddeford- based Oak Point Associates. Benchmark Construction, of West- brook, is to complete Conroy-Tully Walker's newest funeral home at 300 Allen Ave. in Portland, this August. The 9,899-square-foot building was designed by Portland-based Harri- man Architecture and Design. Gor- rill Palmer, of South Portland, was the engineer. Hebert Construction, headquartered in Lewiston with a satellite office in Portland, is doing site work on the Portland Emergency and Specialty Care Veterinary Center, on an 80-acre site off U.S. Route 1 in Falmouth. The proj- ect team includes Acorn Engineering, SMRT and Augustine Design Group. P H O T O / T I N A F I S C H E R One Company. One Vision. TEAM HANCOCK Trusted. Respected. Valued. Heard. 2025_0129_MaineBiz_One Company.indd 1 2025_0129_MaineBiz_One Company.indd 1 1/30/25 10:29 AM 1/30/25 10:29 AM B U I L D I N G B U S I N E S S Nathan Szanton's final proj- ect in Maine before moving Denver, is the apartment building at 45 Dougherty in Portland. P H O T O / T I N A F I S C H E R 1 Commercial St.

• Cover