Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1537848
V O L . X X X I N O. X V I J U LY 2 8 , 2 0 2 5 4 A division of New England Business Media LLC C E O / GROUP PUBLISHER Peter Stanton P R E S I D E N T Tom Curtin DIGITAL DIRECTOR Jan Holder SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGERS Ken Hanson, Kerry Rasor, Betsy VanderPloeg ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Michelle Phillips EVENTS & MARKETING DIRECTOR Samantha Elliott OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER Allison Spies AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST Leah Allen CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mark Jeanneret Carrie Yardley RESEARCH DIRECTOR Stephanie Meagher RESEARCH ASSISTANT Heide Martin ART DIRECTOR Matt Selva HOSPITALITY Buster, Claire HOSPITALITY EMERITUS Malcolm, Zoey PUBLISHER Andrea Tetzlaff EDITOR Peter Van Allen DEPUTY EDITOR Renee Cordes DIGITAL EDITOR Alexis Wells SENIOR WRITER Laurie Schreiber STAFF WRITER Tina Fischer C O N T E N T S Portland at a crossroads Downtown safety tensions taking a toll on small businesses, real estate 12 18 Building modular Factory prefab can provide efficiencies and make it easier to train and retain employees 24 29 Mass timber expands building options But, for now, it is not produced locally Maine's largest architecture firms Ranked by number of Maine architects, then Maine employees R E A L E S TAT E / C O N S T R U C T I O N / E N G I N E E R I N G F O C U S B U I L D I N G P E R M I T S F O R N E W, P R I VAT E LY OW N E D H O U S I N G U N I T S I N M A I N E O N PAG E 1 1 ยป P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y M A K E R C O N S T R U C T I O N P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY 12 18 Portland Downtown Ambassador Nimoy Gallow uses a vacuum to clean Monument Square in Portland Modular construction can cut construction timelines from months or years to weeks.