With the summer construction season in full swing, there are big changes happening in the built environments of Freeport, Portland and other Maine communities.
Get Instant Access to This Article
Subscribe to Mainebiz and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Maine business news updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication.
- Special bonus issues like the Mainebiz Book of Lists.
- Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
For years, the former general store next to the South Freeport Post Office sat empty. It changed hands in July 2020, but still there was no action. For a brief time over the past winter, there was a handwritten note saying it would reopen before summer.
But now the white clapboard building, at 97 South Freeport Road, has been razed and a new building is in the works.
According to a Mainebiz Real Estate Insider from July 2020, the store site sold for $259,000. The seller had owned the property, on a fifth of an acre, since 2007 and first tried to sell it in 2016. The new owners are Christopher and MaryBeth Lorenz. The business will be known as South Freeport Village Market.
The new building was designed by Stacey Lodato of SDL Designs in Freeport. Shannon Richards of Portland design/build and real estate company Hay Runner was also involved, helping with design exploration and feasibility. Construction work is well underway
Earlier this summer, Yarmouth-based Scott Dugas Trucking & Excavation razed the old structure. Construction started right away, and so far the foundation has been laid and the framing is going up.
News from around the construction industry
PM Construction Co. is busy with two major projects in Portland. In the Bayside neighborhood, the firm is winding down the $22 million Daymark project, which will have 54 condo units and 2,400 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The developer is Middleton, Mass.-based Procopio Cos. Archetype Architects handled the design in collaboration with Boston-based CUBE 3.
On Washington Avenue, the Saco-based company has completed the framing of the 218 Washington condo project, with 45 one- and two-bedroom units.
In Ellsworth, PM Construction recently finished an apartment building with 29 one-bedroom units, providing much-needed housing.
Finally, PM Construction also has a new headquarters in the Saco’s Mill Brook Industrial Park. Design of the HQ was led by Archetype Architects, with support from Sebago Technics.
Wright-Ryan Construction of Portland is handling the expansion of the Preble Street Food Pantry. Design was done by Kaplan Thompson Architects. In Kittery, Wright-Ryan worked with Lassel Architects and Scott Simons Architects on the expansion of the Rice Public Library.
Penobscot General Contractors, which is based in Rockport, is managing construction of a six-story luxury apartment building on Hanover Street. The developer is Port Properties. In Auburn, the firm recently completed 46 Wright’s Landing, a 25,000-square-foot office and industrial building.
