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V O L . X X I V N O. V I M A R C H 1 9 , 2 0 1 8 12 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 the Cedar Crest Inn, a 37-room hotel located at 115 Elm St. in Camden. The Couri Foundation donated Sky Lodge, an historic hunting lodge and accompanying 150-acre campus in Moose River, to Unity College. The multi-million dollar gift features 16 buildings, including the 7,500 square foot main lodge. Affordable housing grant for Micmacs e Aroostook Band of Micmacs has been awarded a $5,206 federal grant to promote aff ordable hous- ing activities in safe and healthy environments in Presque Isle, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced. Funding will come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through its Indian Housing Block Grant pro- gram. Under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self- Determination Act of 16, HUD provides grants, loan guarantees and technical assistance to Indian tribes and Alaska native villages for the development and operation of low- income housing. e legislation was amended in 2000 to add Title VII- Housing Assistance. Three 'de cient' bridges to be replaced ree "structurally defi cient" bridges in Piscataquis and Penobscot coun- ties are scheduled to be replaced, thanks to $10. million in TIGER grant funding the Maine Department of Transportation will receive from PR ES ENTI NG S PONS OR Join us at our second stop in the 2018 On the Road with Mainebiz event series at Spring Hill in South Berwick. Enjoy hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar while networking with business executives in the area. Network with Mainebiz and Area Business Executives on April 26 AT T E N DA N C E I S F R E E B U T S PAC E I S L I M I T E D! Please be sure to register ahead at www.mainebiz.biz/OTRBerwick FOLLOW US @MBEVENTS #OTRBerwick18 BERWICK BERWICK BERWICK BERWICK BERWICK BERWICK 5:00–7:00pm | Spring Hill, 117 Pond Road, South Berwick For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Publisher Donna Brassard at dbrassard@mainebiz.biz or 207.261.8379 x327 Waterville's hot single-family home market isn't cooling down B y M a u r e e n M i l l i k e n Waterville — Maine's hottest 2017 market for home sales is continuing to stay hot in what's traditionally a bad time of year to sell a home. Waterville home sales jumped 30% in 2017, according to the Maine Listing Service: 159 single-family homes were sold in the city in 2017 as opposed to 123 in 2016. Don Plourde, owner of Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate in Waterville, said the city's market is still percolating. Of the 40 homes his agency has listed since Jan. 1, half are either pending or sold, he told Mainebiz. "A lot of it has to do with what's going on downtown," he said. But Plourde said the improving economy is also helping. The last time he saw the market this positive for sellers was 2006, before the recession hit. "We're having a very strong winter," he said. "It's been a long time since I've seen it like this and I've been doing this for 34 years." The sales price in Waterville also increased in 2017, with the average home selling for $111,500, up $10,000 from 2016's $101,500. Maine Life Real Estate, which crunches the Maine listing numbers for an annual list of hottest cities and towns in the state, said Waterville wasn't in its top 20 in 2016. Plourde said that Colby College's activity downtown is a big part of what's spurring the Waterville surge. The college is building a 150,000-square-foot dorm with ground-fl oor retail space on Main Street downtown, recently renovated a mixed retail/offi ce building across the street, is building a boutique hotel at the other end of Main Street and announced recently that it will collaborate with the nonprofi t Waterville Creates! to convert The Center building at 93 Main St., on Castonguay Square, into an arts hub. Colby also owns a block of four buildings across Main Street from the hotel site that will be renovated. Plourde said the fact that Colby is encouraging employees to live in Waterville has resulted in home sales. The college has added 100 positions over the last couple of years, Brian Clark, vice president of planning, said. He said college faculty coming from urban areas are looking for a lifestyle that includes a downtown they can walk to. "And we're encouraging [faculty, staff and students] to be part of the community, living in Waterville and engaged in the community," he said. Waterville has 3,031 single family homes, half of which were built before 1940, according to the 2010 Census. B R I E F P H O T O / M A U R E E N M I L L I K E N Single-family home sales were up 29.27% in 2017, part of the city's ongoing revitalization, but the city needs to add new construction to its aging housing stock, a local Realtor says. critical next step in growing relation- ships in the area and cultivating new business," said Greg Dufour, presi- dent and CEO of the Camden-based bank. Overall, Camden National Corp. (NASDAQ: CAC) has 60 branch offi ces, 76 ATMs and the three out-of- state loan offi ces. It has 650 employees. 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 Savory Maine, Dining & Provisions re-opened a remodeled space at 11 Water St. in Damariscotta. Credit Union Lending Alliance of New England opened in the Baileyville branch of Down East Credit Union at 23 Third Ave. The alliance is a Credit Union Service Organization that will uti- lize technology provided by Credit Union Acceptance Company LLC of Houston, Texas and resources provided by the credit union to serve all of New England. Jill and Ted Hugger, owners of the Cod Cove Inn in Edgecomb, purchased N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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