Mainebiz

V O L . X X X I I N O. X I I J U N E 1 , 2 0 2 6 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N Norway Savings Bank donated $10,000 to the Mitchell Institute in Portland to support its mission to expand access to higher education for Maine students. Stock Photo Queen, an independent stock photography web platform, was launched by photographer Katie Dobies. Hannaford Supermarkets in Scarborough announced a partnership with Uber Eats to bring enhanced on- demand grocery delivery to customers across New England and New York. Hangar Food Truck Park opened at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for June 4 for Depot Terraces, a 45-unit condominium building being developed specifically to address the growing need for attainable workforce housing in Maine, located at 45 Depot St. in Freeport. The city of Portland selected Stantec to lead the development of a compre- hensive long-range transportation plan, Portland in Motion. The project will be led by the company's urban mobility team in Boston, with local support from the Portland office. Maine Preservation, in partnership with the 1772 Foundation, awarded grants totaling nearly $131,000 to 20 nonprofit organizations in Maine. Hale Trailer, a national independent trail- er dealership, announced a groundbreak- ing in Saco that will result in its Portland location moving to the property that was formerly the Saco Drive-In Theater at 969 Portland Road. Portland Hearts of Pine opened a flag- ship club shop at 127 Marginal Way in Portland. Rock Row in Westbrook signed on as a premier partner of Portland Trails to help expand trail connections between Portland, Westbrook and the region. Retail center in Ellsworth gets upgrades e buyer of an 85,370-square-foot retail center in Ellsworth plans to invest in upgrades to modernize the property. A limited liability corporation, 248 State LLC, bought the Mill Mall, at 248 State St., from Willey & Grant Co. LLC for $7.4 million. omas Gadbois of F.O. Bailey Real Estate represented the buyer and seller on the transaction. e prop- erty was listed for sale for $9.5 million in November 2024. e shopping center, on 9.2 acres, was built in 1953 along the U.S. Route 1A corridor between Bangor and tourism hotspots, including Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park, the Blue Hill Peninsula and Downeast destinations Boothbay Harbor insurer buys Damariscotta agency J. Edward Knight Insurance in Boothbay Harbor is set to acquire the David Chapman Insurance Agency in Damariscotta, with an effective date of June 15. e buyer has 35 employees, Katie Chilles, the company's CFO, told Mainebiz. Chapman had one employee, the owner, Sarah Worster, who is not joining Knight. e buyer acquired the policy rights for Chapman's clients and worked with the landlord of Chapman's office to continue to lease the space. Chapman clients will have no immediate changes to their policies or cover- age. Knight will continue operating the Damariscotta office, at 372 Main St., occupied by Chapman. Midcoast sports complex taking shape e owners of Rockland-based Maritime Energy fuel and heat- ing oil company are developing a 64,000-square-foot sports center nearby in omaston. e WareHouse Sports Complex is a mission-driven project, designed to both create a wellness hub for the community and provide facilities that are in short supply in the region. e complex will feature three high- school size basketball courts, along with three pickleball courts, two batting cages, a weight room, a walking track and sprint lanes for runners and two golf simulators. 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 General Dynamics Bath Iron Works started work on its next Navy destroyer, the future USS J. William Middendorf (DDG 138), at the shipyard's structural fabrication facility in Brunswick. DDG 138 is the 47th of its class built at Bath Iron Works and the sixth Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to start construction at the Maine shipyard. Advancements in radar and combat B I Z M O N E Y The Landing School of Boatbuilding & Design builds its last boat B y T i n a F i s c h e r F aced with a "significant and sustained decline in enrollment," the Landing School of Boatbuilding & Design, based in Arundel for close to 50 years, has announced it graduated its final class this spring. President John Caron and board Chair Susan Swanton announced the closure in a joint statement on the school's website. "It is with deep sorrow that we announce the Landing School will be closing," the message read. "Despite strategic planning, program adjustments and tireless efforts by our board of trustees, faculty and staff, the enrollment shortfall created financial pres- sures that make it impossible to sustain operations at the level our mission demands." Enrollment at the marine trades college had dwindled from a high of 83 students in 2014 to 33 in the final graduating class. Broader forces reshaping higher education — rising costs, shifting work- force trends, and changing perceptions of higher education — "have hit small, mission-driven schools like ours especially hard. We did not make this decision quickly or lightly," the leaders said. Two-year degree program Since its founding in 1978 by John Burgess and Cricket Tupper, the school has graduated close to 1,800 students through accredited degree programs in yacht and commercial design, marine systems and both wooden and composite boatbuilding. It claimed to be the only college offering accredited programs in all of those disciplines under one roof. The school was named for its location near "the Landing," a stretch of the Kennebunk River which was once home to more than 20 shipbuilding firms dating back to the 1600s. The first class of students, just nine in total, launched a Chamberlain dory- skiff, from a cow barn as a classroom. Tuition for the most recent academic year was just over $27,000 for the 9-month diploma program. The college also offered two-year degrees. Revenue in the most recent year tracked by GuideStar was $2.3 million, according to the 2025 Mainebiz Giving Guide. Information on the school's website said deposits for the upcoming academic year will be fully refunded, and the school pledges to continue to offer career services to graduates "for the foreseeable future." No decisions have been made regarding the campus at 286 River Road in Arundel, the equipment or student work and archival materials, but the school plans to share updates as they become available. The legacy "While our doors are closing, the Landing School lives on in every graduate who carried their skills to a boatyard, design studio or workshop," board Chair Swanton posted on the website. "It lives on in the vessels built, the careers launched and the communities strengthened by the marine professionals we helped shape. Nearly five decades of craftsmanship and passion do not disappear, they endure in the hands and work of the people we were privileged to teach." F I L E P H O T O Enrollment at the York County marine trades college had dwindled from a high of 83 students in 2014 to 33 in the final graduating class. M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T

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