File Photo
Denis St. Peter
Updated: October 7, 2024
A Bangor engineering firm expands its Portland footprint with move
Photo / Courtesy The Dunham Group
Completed in 2022, 12 Mountfort St. attracted Haley Ward to lease 10,000 square feet on the first floor.
After outgrowing its previous Portland location, Bangor-based Haley Ward Inc. relocated to a new and larger space at 12 Mountfort St.
"This new space not only reflects our growth but also our dedication to providing a supportive and inspiring environment for our team,” said Denis St. Peter, the company’s president and CEO. “We look forward to continuing our work and expanding our presence in southern Maine."
The company has moved in eight employees from Final Draft CAD’s office at 203 Anderson St. in Portland, plus four from Haley Ward’s Saco office, which remains open
The employee-owned engineering, architectural, environmental and surveying consulting firm has 136 employees in Maine and 300 overall throughout its Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Florida locations.
Common amenities
Located in the East End, 12 Mountfort St. is a six-story 160,000-square-foot Class A office building and parking garage built in 2022.
Justin Lamontagne at the Dunham Group is the leasing agent.
“It’s been an incredible success story,” Lamontagne said.
Features marketed by the Dunham Group include natural light, water views of the Fore River, 12-foot exposed ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. Common amenities include conference rooms, training rooms, shower and lockers, a bike room, cafeteria, lobby/reception and a shared deck, plus covered parking adjacent to the building.
The property was originally planned as a single tenanted building for Covetrus Inc. (Nasdaq: CVET), a supplier of veterinary technology and services, said Lamontagne.
“Post-COVID, they made the decision to reduce their in-person employee count so I was hired, in partnership with Savills [a real estate services company in London], to sublease roughly 50,000 square feet on four floors,” he said. “In the last 12 months, we’ve subleased nearly 40,000 square feet to three separate tenants — OnPoint Health, Vetro and the latest deal with Haley Ward.”
Previous to Lamontagne’s involvement, Woodard & Curran, a Portland-based engineering firm, subleased the top two floors.
“Today we only have two suites left, for a total of roughly 10,000 square feet on the fourth floor,” he continued.
He added, “These deals reflect a commitment to in-person office space as well as the importance of having Class A, amenity-rich space for recruitment and retention of staff.”
Growth and efficiency
Haley Ward, leasing 10,000 square feet, said the design will support its growth and enhance operational efficiency; and has easy access to I-295, making it ideally situated for clients and employees.
“The additional space and improved facilities will allow us to better serve our clients and support our continued growth,” said Daniel Welch, director of Haley Ward’s service line devoted to building information modeling.
The need for a larger Portland location came about due to the company’s growth through mergers and acquisitions, said St. Peter.
Photo / Courtesy Haley Ward
Large windows offering plenty of natural light were part of the attraction at 12 Mountfort St.
That includes the acquisition last year of Final Draft CAD LLC, a Portland building information modeling, or BIM, firm led by Welch.
The acquisition of the Portland firm expanded the Haley Ward presence in southern Maine.
Welch is now a vice president and head of the BIM service line at Haley Ward.
Haley Ward’s headquarters remains in Bangor, while Portland becomes a service hub that allows the company to expand its presence in southern Maine, St. Peter said.
“We have offices throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut,” he said. “Portland provides a central location for us in the Northeast.”
The search
Haley Ward worked with David Hughes at Epstein Commercial Real Estate in Bangor on the property search. From an initial 20 possibilities in Greater Portland, the prospects were whittled to eight — all visited in a single day.
Search parameters included needing about 10,000 square feet in a nice location that would provide easy access to I-295 and would reflect the company’s reputation as one of the Best Places To Work in Maine for the past decade, said St. Peter.
“The Covetrus building was an early favorite,” he said.
Haley Ward is on the first floor. The layout includes a large open area with a lot of natural light from large windows; 80% is open space and there will be workstations and comfortable seating arrangements. The plan is to create some additional individual offices in the near future.
In-house interior designers are working on finalizing the design.
Investment in fit-up is expected to be about $500,000.
Company growth
A big driver of the company’s growth is its acquisitions as it expands geographically, said St. Peter.
The acquisition of Final Draft CAD, established in 2011, exemplifies that growth. The service line uses technology such as building information modeling, virtual design and construction and laser scanning to plan and execute large-scale construction projects.
“We generally thrive on very large, complex projects,” said Welch.
Image / Courtesy Haley Ward
Virtual design technology was used to provide a 3D model of the Groton Hill Music Center in Groton, Mass.
That includes the development of Vertical Harvest in Westbrook, Maine Medical Center’s Malone Family Tower in Portland and indeed, the Covetrus building itself.
The company’s hire of Vanessa Farr as regional manager of planning and design also reflects Haley Ward’s evolution.
In-house planners — who bring together all aspects of project development such as engineering, design, place-based economic development and zoning services — can create more value for clients in the process, said Farr.
With 12 employees coming into 12 Mountfort St. to start, there’s room to add more, said St .Denis.
“We’ll grow into it,” he said. “It’s a great place to recruit from.
Haley Ward said it would be planning an open house in the future.
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