Courtesy / Lewiston High School
Lewiston High School's 40,000-square-foot expansion, being built by Ledgewood Construction, is on track to be completed by late summer and early fall.
Updated: May 19, 2021
Biz Bites: Sodexo helps sow Vertical Harvest; best places to be a broker, more
Courtesy / Vertical Harvest
A rendering of the planned Vertical Harvest in Westbrook.
By Maureen Milliken
The 300,000-square-foot Vertical Harvest multi-use development in Westbrook won't break ground until August, but food service provider Sodexo is already prepared to reap as much as 80% of its lettuce products from the hydroponic indoor farm.
Sodexo announced this week it will serve Maine Vertical Harvest lettuce at all 14 of its partners, including on college campuses from Fort Kent to South Portland. Earlier this year, Sodexo pledged to spend at least $1 million at local Maine farms and food producers in 2021.
The four-story 70,000-square foot Vertical Harvest farm will be the first vertical farm in the U.S., and is being developed by Westbrook's TDB LLC on Mechanic Street in Westbrook. The building will also include 50 mid-market apartments, retail space and parking.
The first harvest is expected for fall 2022, in time for the academic year. Varun Avasthi, director of strategic partnerships at Sodexo, said the company, which employees 760 in the state, is committed to using local food, but Maine's growing season is a challenge to that. "The partnership with Vertical Harvest will be a game-changer for Sodexo’s ability to buy fresh produce twelve months per year," Avasthi said.
Nona Yehia, Vertical Harvest founder, has said that the company will not replace other local producers, but will make it easier to buy local than from out of state, where much of Maine's produce comes from. he Westbrook farm will be Vertical Harvest's second. The first is in Jackson, Wyoming.
The project is designed by Portland-based architect and engineering firm Harriman Associates, in partnership with GYDE Architects in Jackson, which was cofounded by Yehia.
WINDSOR FASHIONS COMING TO MAINE? Santa Fe-based Windsor Fashions issued a news release Tuesday that it plans to open 150 retail stores this year and next, "a dramatic acceleration of store openings" spurred by pent-up demand for women's clothing, particularly for formal occasions. The women's clothing retailer has 230 stores in 42 states, 10 of which opened last year.
While it didn't specify where the 150 new stores will be, and didn't answer an inquiry from Mainebiz seeking to find out if Maine is included, the company filed as an LLC with the state in 2018. And it sent Mainebiz a news release. So...
"Windsor has built a store model that is successful across all mall types and geographies," the company said in the release. The resurgence in social events and special occasions spurred by the economy reopening — think proms, graduations and weddings — is benefiting Windsor both online and in its brick and mortar stores, it said.
Pent-up party demand aside, shopping center and mall developers will tell you having a women's clothing store is a key to success. Currently, the nearest Windsor Fashions is in Manchester, New Hampshire.
'BEST' PLACE TO BE A REAL ESTATE AGENT: Wallethub has released a list based on the "best" places to be a real estate agent in the country, and Portland came in 15th. The ranking algorithm combined 22 factors in two categories — job opportunity/competition and real state market health — that make up a healthy real estate working environment. The 22 factors have different weights and include things like sales per agent, annual median wage for real estate agents, housing market health index, and even some COVID-19 death and infection stats.
Portland, surprisingly, has the highest national "housing market health index," which includes homes sold for gain, foreclosure ratio, Zillow home value index, year over year change, stock of REOs (homes held by banks), mortgage rate holders in negative equity and underwater home owners delinquent.
Lewiston, which comes in at 147, is ranked top in the country as "most attractive for real estate employment," which measures both real-estate job density (number of real estate agents per 10,000 working-age population) and competition (number of real estate job openings per 100 resumes).
Bangor and other cities, like Augusta and Waterville, aren't on the list, which compares 179 cities in the country — 150 of the most populated and then the two most populated in each state.
The top overall spot is Seattle, followed by Pearl City, Hawaii. Portland beat out the rest of New England — Boston is 19th; Manchester, N.H., is 31st; Burlington, Vt., is 65th; Worcester, Mass., is 89th; Nashua, N.H., is 91st; Lewiston is 147th; Bridgeport and New Haven, Conn., are166th and 168th, respectively.
LEWISTON HIGH ADDITION ON TRACK: The 42,000-square-foot addition at Lewiston High School remains on schedule and on budget, according to Lavallee/Brensinger architect Jay Doherty. That can be chalked up to "the excellent estimating of the accounting staff; astute procuring of particular construction components at the right time; diligence of the clerk of the works Tim Brochu; and professional ability of the Ledgewood Construction management and crew," he said in a news release.
The two-story expansion includes 33,700 square feet for special education, adult education and fine arts — including a visual arts gallery — as well as an atrium-like main entrance and lobby with "dramatic two-story curtainwall windows," Brochu said. Also underway is an 8,500-square-foot renovation of the administrative and guidance areas, including a new elevator, according to project architect Eric Leblanc.
The renovated administration offices and the new entrance and lobby are expected to be done in time for August's 2021-22 school year opening. The new wing is expected to be ready by the beginning of the second quarter.
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE: Greater Portland Council of Governments virtual annual summit next week will focus on recovery and resilience, with one of the panelists being Rick Domino, president and CEO of A Better City, a business member organization in Boston that explores city, regional and statewide efforts to expand affordable housing, land use and development, strengthening public transportation and preparing for climate change.
Other panelists at the Thursday, May 27, event are Hannah Pingree, director of the Governor’s Office of Policy and Innovation; Kerem Durdag, president and COO of Maine-based high-speed internet provider GWI; Kristin Baja, programs director of climate resilience at the Urban Sustainability Directors Network; and Lynn Tillotson, president and CEO of Visit Portland.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments