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Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque is such a fan of downtown development that he’s also a property owner.
His latest investment, through a new firm called Aegean Development, is the $5.5 million purchase of the Peck Building. Located at 184 Main St. in Lewiston, it was built in 1899 and housed the state’s first and largest department store for over a century. Still referred to as the Great Department Store Building, it’s now an L.L.Bean call center. Boutique law firm Brann & Isaacson is also a tenant.
Levesque bought the building from L.L.Bean, which will remain a tenant.
“When they approached me,” Levesque said, “it made a lot of sense for them. They wanted a good steward of the building, and I was looking for a good investment.” It’s his second downtown development, the first being the former McCrory’s Department Store on Lisbon Street that he renovated and made into offices for his call-center firm, Argo Contact Centers. He sold Argo in October 2017 and the building this past January.
Keen to pivot into commercial property management, he founded Aegean “to be that vehicle for property development.”
A fifth-generation Auburn resident who returned to Maine after attending West Virginia Wesleyan College, Levesque oozes enthusiasm about Auburn and the greater Lewiston-Auburn area in terms of location and affordability.
“The cost of homes and land for commercial development is very low, especially compared to Portland,” he says. “That’s one of our strengths.”
He also sees a benefit from the continued growth of Maine’s largest city, a half-hour drive from his hometown. “What’s good for Portland is good for Auburn.”
Auburn has seen close to $66 million in commercial projects (based on permits) over the past two years, according to Brett Sawyer, an economic development specialist with the city. And Levesque recalls one recent Monday where five new housing permits were issued in a single day.
“In the rest of the state permitting can take days if not months,” he said. “We’re pushing through building permits and really living by this mantra that the business of government is business.”
The following projects are in various stages of development, all permitted over the past two years. Some started very recently while a few have been completed, according to a city official.
Gracelawn Apartments, 48 Units / $2.5 million
Evergreen Subaru, 649 Turner St. / $2.8 million
Futureguard expansion, 101 Merrow St. / $700,000 to $1.2 million
Synagogue Apartments, 35 Laurel St. / 10 Units / $300,000
Bangor Savings Bank, 170 Turner St. / $1.7 million
Mystique Way, commercial buildings / $3 million
Schooner Estates, New Memory Care Facility / $18 million
48 Hampshire St., 53 Apartments / $9.4 million
62 Spring St., mixed-use structure with 41 apartments / $5.4 million
East Auburn Baptist Church, addition / $3.1 million
Hannaford, store upgrades / $2.5 million
477 Minot Ave., 36 Apartments / $5 million
Advantage Payroll, upgrades / $1.9 million
Tambrands, equipment production upgrades / multimillions
Panolam, equipment production upgrades / $10 million
Hammond Tractor Store / $1.6 million
Kassbohrer/Pisten Bully Grooming Equipment, NE headquarters / $1.4 million
65 Mt. Auburn, retail store / $900,000
Auburn Mall, new payroll management office / $860,000
Rainbow FCU, renovations and addition /$860,000
JFM Nursing Home / $1 million
Auburn Airport, airplane hangar / $500,000
Source: City of Auburn
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Work for ME is a workforce development tool to help Maine’s employers target Maine’s emerging workforce. Work for ME highlights each industry, its impact on Maine’s economy, the jobs available to entry-level workers, the training and education needed to get a career started.
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