Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I N O. X X V I N OV E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 6 6 Sugarloaf, Sunday River among 14 ski resorts sold Two of Maine's most popular ski resorts, Sunday River and Sugarloaf, are being acquired by a New York City hedge fund as part of a wider deal. Och-Ziff Capital Management is buying 14 ski resorts from a Florida company, including six ski areas in New England, the Associated Press reported. Skiers may not see any immediate changes. e properties have been on the market for at least the past year, according to the AP. e seller is Orlando, Fla.-based CNL Lifestyle Properties Inc. It's part of a wider deal in which CNL will also sell water parks, another ski resort and amusement parks to Kansas City, Mo.-based EPR Properties. Overall, CNL will receive $840 million in cash and stock, the wire service reported. Sugarloaf and Sunday River have a long history in Maine, and many ski- ers have an emotional attachment to the resorts. e resorts' stickers are a common sight on cars. Sugarloaf 's fi rst season was 1953-54, launched with a 20-year property lease from Great Northern Paper Co. and a simple tow-rope system to get ski- ers up the mountain, according to NewEnglandSkiHistory.com. Sunday River had its fi rst season in 1959-60. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E The Administration for Children and Families awarded Maine Behavioral Healthcare in South Portland $375,000 per year for a two-year project to address childhood exposure to domestic violence in Maine. The project will serve York and Washington counties and the Passamaquoddy Tribal Reservation at Pleasant Point. Southern Maine Community College in South Portland and the University of Maine at Farmington entered into a partnership that allows graduates from SMCC's early childhood education program to live and work in southern Maine while earning a UMF bachelor of science degree in early childhood education with K-3 certifi cation. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that fi ve Maine organi- zations were awarded $3,649,544 in community development assistance grants. Community Development Financial Institutions Program awards went to Coastal Enterprises Inc. in Brunswick, $1.75 million; MaineStream Finance, Bangor, $500,000; Genesis Fund Inc., Brunswick, $475,000; and Northern Maine Development Commission, Caribou, $124,544. In addition, Four Directions Development Corp. in Orono received an $800,000 grant from the Native American Community Development Financial Institutions Assistance Program. The Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development in Portland announced a partnership with MaineStream Finance to deliver the "Top Gun" program in the mid-coast region of the state. This marks the third year the program con- venes in Rockland but the fi rst time with a partner organization there. The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges was awarded an $810,000 grant from The Kresge Foundation to support Maine's seven community colleges and help more students achieve a college degree. The grant will enable all seven col- leges to join the Achieving the Dream network, a national initiative that aims to help more Americans achieve suc- cess in higher education. The U.S. Department of Agriculture pro- vided nine Maine agricultural produc- ers a total of $1.36 million in grants through the Value-Added Producer Grant program. Ricker Hill Orchards in Turner, Avena Botanicals in Rockport and Thirty Acre Farm LLC in Whitefi eld each received $250,000; Penobscot McCrum LLC, Belfast, $248,000; South Paw Farm, Margaret Mitchell, Freedom, $63,856; Dogpatch Farm LLC, Washington, $50,000; American Unagi LLC, Thomaston, $49,400; and Noami Brautigam, independent produc- er, Monroe, $24,145. The department also announced a $427,000 invest- ment to help six Maine small busi- nesses purchase and install renewable energy systems or upgrade to more energy effi cient equipment through its Rural Energy for America Program. Those recipients included Double G Farms Inc., Blaine, $151,271; Maine Textiles International LLC, Biddeford, $140,295; S.P. Real Estate LLC, Fort Kent, $49,875; Little River Flower Farm, Buxton, $42,226; KAPH Inc., Eliot, $25,637; and Goranson Farm, Dresden, $17,696. B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state S T A T E W I D E Wishcamper has 2017 solution for powering an 1867 building W e s t b r o o k — The Wishcamper Cos., a Portland-based fi rm specializing in development of affordable housing projects in Maine and across the country, is building its fi rst solar energy array in Maine and hopes to expand in the future. The array will go on the 3.43-acre Lot 3 in Westbrook Heights Business Park. In a deal that closed Sept. 30, Wishcamper, under the name Icarian Associates LLC, purchased the lot from the city of Westbrook for $150,000. Tony McDonald of the CBRE|The Boulos Company represented the buyer and Greg Hastings of NAI The Dunham Group represented the seller. The schedule called for ReVision Energy to break ground in October, with completion by the end of the year. It should be fully operational in 2017. The 200-kilowatt array comprises 598 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels and is expected to supply most of the electricity used in Wishcamper's North School Apartments, a 60-unit complex at 248 Congress St. in Portland, said Wishcamper's vice president of asset management, Jordan Betts. The array is expected to produce 276,000 kWh of power in the fi rst year, which is about 95% of the 290,000 kWh used at the complex on an annual basis. Power will be sold into the grid and then applied as a credit toward energy costs at the North School Apartments building. The North School Apartments, which is on Munjoy Hill in Portland, dates to 1867 and was converted from a public school to apartments in the early 1980s. It is now subsidized housing for seniors. The company has one previous solar project and its construction is just fi nishing up — a smaller, 100-kilowatt array in Haverhill, Mass., which offsets energy costs for a low-income housing project there. Betts said Wishcamper and its affi liate, Wishrock — also developing and investing in affordable housing nationwide — are constantly on the lookout for additional ways to lower utility costs throughout their portfolio. Other initiatives include low-hanging fruit such as swapping into LED lighting and low-fl ow plumbing. McDonald said criteria for the site included fl at ground with little obstruction such as trees, buildings and hills; as well as size and solar exposure. McDonald looked at a couple of dozen sites for the client, and presented about a half-dozen, but this one was clearly the best, he said. Plus, the site had little groundcover and was pretty much ready to go. "And Westbrook has been very helpful, working with us to get this project expedited," Betts added. An exact fi gure wasn't available, but Betts said the project is expected to cost over $500,000. Not all of the land is needed for the array, so the company hopes to expand the project at some point. "We're looking forward to the opportunity to install more solar for our other apartment complexes in Maine," said Betts. — L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r P H O T O / P E T E R VA N A L L E N The Wishcamper Cos.' North School Apartments in Portland will be the benefi ciary of solar power generated at a parcel recently purchased in Westbrook.

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