Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 7 A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 6 replace the bridge decks on four state- owned bridges along Interstate 95 in Penobscot County. Senior housing project breaks ground in Freeport e Freeport Housing Trust and Tim Gooch are developing a 42-unit apartment complex at 22 Varney Road designed for residents aged 55 and up. Site work on the $16 mil- lion project started late last year and Lajoie Brothers Construction, based in Augusta, is now framing the three- story building. e 35,500-square- foot complex will provide amenities including a clubhouse and community kitchen, game room, laundry room and a community garden. MaineHealth to move HQ to Westbrook MaineHealth said it plans to move its headquarters from 110 Free St. in Portland to an office building it owns at 1 Riverfront Plaza in Westbrook. S O U T H E R N Higher Efficiency Means Lower Costs Efficiency Maine offers incentives that can reduce your costs now, and over time. Efficiency Maine's Commercial and Industrial Prescriptive Initiatives serve Maine businesses, non-profits, schools, municipalities, manufacturing and industrial facilities, multifamily buildings, and mixed-use buildings with at least one commercial meter. Eligible solutions include certain heat pumps and biomass technologies for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; water heating; compressed air system components; refrigeration equipment; lighting retrofits; and more. Learn more about Efficiency Maine's Commercial and Industrial Prescriptive Initiatives at efficiencymaine.com/at-work. Scan the QR code to access the link. B I Z M O N E Y With $11.9M in loan guarantees, a plywood factory takes root B y P e t e r V a n A l l e n A Chicago businessman, Charlie Martin, has been work- ing for the past several years to reestablish a plywood factory in the Somerset County town of Bingham. He trucked in industrial plywood-manufacturing equip- ment from Canada and bought surplus boilers from the old B&M Baked Bean factory. Until just recently, he was running into challenges rais- ing capital to finance the operation. Mar tin may have turned the corner with a recent loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced in early April. Maine Plywood USA LLC, as the Bingham operation is known, will receive $11.9 million in loan guarantees through the USDA Rural Development program. It will guarantee loans from a bank in Florida that specializes in projects of this kind. "We're taking a building that was vacant for 14 years and turning it into a state-of-the-art plywood factory," Martin told Mainebiz. The factory — which resurrects an earlier plywood produc- tion site that has been closed for 14 years — is expected to employ up to 110 people. "This investment reflects the USDA's and Trump Adminis- tration's commitment to invest- ing in our natural resource industries in rural America," John Butera, director of USDA Rural Development Maine, said in a news release. "In Maine, the forest prod- ucts industry has a long tra- dition of strengthening our local economies," he added. "This support for a Maine timber business is anticipated to create economic prosperity and jobs in rural Maine." The financing is earmarked for construction, renovation, equipment purchase, refinancing debt, inventory and work- ing capital costs associated with converting an existing sawmill and wood manufacturing facility into a plywood underlayment facility in Bingham. What's next Martin said the project faces at least six months of outfit- ting to get up and running. The facility is anticipated to produce 2.5 million sheets of plywood underlayment in the first full year of stabilized operations. The funding, which includes two loans of $5.9 million and $6 million through the Timber Production and Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program, will be supplemented with owner and investor equity of $2.2 million. Maine Plywood also received a $1 million grant from the Maine Technology Institute. F I L E P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F C H A R L I E M A R T I N

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