Building Business: Freeport church’s addition of arts center moves forward

Photo / Peter Van Allen Keeley Crane Service of South Portland hoists a new HVAC system to the roof of Meetinghouse Arts and the First Parish Church in Freeport.

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By Peter Van Allen

Keeley Crane Service, a South Portland-based heavy equipment provider, hoisted a new HVAC system to the roof of Meetinghouse Arts and the First Parish Church, where the arts center is a tenant. The Arts and Cultural Alliance of Freeport is making changes at the sanctuary level of the church, which is at 40 Main St., to create space for performances, a gallery, classes and meetings. Plans call for preserving the historic character of the interior, while allowing the church to continue to hold services. Warren Construction of Freeport is the contractor.

Elsewhere in Freeport, Shaw Bros. Construction is handling earthwork at the Residences at Crosstree, an apartment complex underway on Desert Road.

DeStefano & Associates Inc., which is based in Portsmouth, N.H., and does work in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, has been busy this spring. It has started construction on 16 apartments on two floors above the Tontine Mall on Maine Street in Brunswick. Portland-based Ryan Senatore Architecture Portland is the architect. In South Portland, it has completed the first phase of building five condominiums. Phase II, now underway, calls for five more condos. Portland-based Bild Architecture is the architect.

Consigli, which is based in Massachusetts and has local headquarters in Portland, has taken advantage of a mild spring, getting much of the steel framework up for the future Sun Life site on Portland’s East End.

A well-deserved award for Cianbro

Cianbro, Maine’s largest construction company, and its subsidiary, A/Z Corp., received the National Excellence in Construction Award for the retrofit of a property on a vacant manufacturing site at 129 Main St. in Pittsfield. That is the site of the now-highly publicized factory for Puritan Medical Products, which produces COVID-19 testing swabs.

“We’re proud of our dedicated team members and trade partners, who worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure Puritan was able to increase swab production, knowing that these swabs are integral to helping our country fight COVID-19 and move forward,” said Peter Vigue, chairman of Cianbro. “Hopefully this project gives businesses the confidence to continue to invest in Maine and invest in Maine’s people. We do have the capacity — and we do have the ability — to compete and be successful.”

The project had a significant impact on the central Maine economy, employing 700 individuals over the course of the renovation, with Puritan creating 300 permanent positions at the facility following the project’s completion. The project also enabled Puritan to produce 90 million COVID testing swabs per month, which contributed to identifying hot spots for the virus and saving countless lives.

Overall, Cianbro has 4,000 employees and does work in 40 states.