Business park nears deal for return of a corporate headquarters to Portland

Courtesy / The Boulos Co. This aerial photo shows the location of Portland Technology Park, outlined in yellow, just east of Exit 47 of the Maine Turnpike, at left.

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By William Hall

Portland Technology Park, a 26-acre, city-owned business campus created eight years ago but with only one corporate occupant, appears to be days away from adding a second.

Aroma Joe’s, a chain of coffee shops headquartered in South Portland, is poised to purchase a total of nearly three acres in the park for a total of $595,000, and could move headquarters there in 2023.

The Portland City Council’s Housing & Economic Development Committee on Tuesday night unanimously recommended the council’s approval of the deal. On Wednesday, Aroma Joe’s CEO Loren Goodridge told Mainebiz a purchase-and-sale could be inked by the end of next week.

The site comprises two neighboring lots in Portland Technology Park, near Exit 47 of the Maine Turnpike. The agreement calls for Aroma Joe’s to construct offices there totaling at least 12,000 square feet. Goodridge said the initial building might be slightly larger, and then followed by a second structure of 10,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet.

The goal for the space is to keep up with the company’s growth, he said. Currently, Aroma Joe’s employs 17 people at its offices on John Roberts Road in South Portland. By 2028, Goodridge projects, he’ll need a staff of 60.

“By buying the two lots, we can build [the first building] and then the second as we grow,” he said. “We like the idea of being able to stay put.”

Growth at home

As its chain of coffee shop franchises has grown across six states, Aroma Joe’s has been growing at its home office.

The company was founded in 2000 by four cousins, Marty and Tim McKenna and Mike and Brian Sillon, in East Rochester, N.H. Goodridge joined Aroma Joe’s in 2012, and the headquarters moved to Portland in 2016.

Growth has accelerated over the past few years. In 2020, Aroma Joe’s saw a 33.5% increase in sales from 2019, and last month reported that sales were already up 25% over last year. (The privately held company does not disclose revenue data in dollars.)

There are now 81 franchises across the Northeast, with another 42 in the pipeline for 2022 and as many as 300 over the next decade.

As the corporate operations grew to support the franchise growth, Aroma Joe’s employees found themselves “sitting in conference rooms and corners,” Goodridge said. “It just wasn’t feasible. It just wasn’t a good work environment.”

So the company moved last summer from its Portland office, on Warren Avenue, to John Roberts Road. The 8,000-square-foot digs are double the previous space, but Goodridge expects to outgrow these too.

“We can probably stay here 24 to 36 months, which is about how long we have to build our new headquarters,” he told Mainebiz.

The neighbors

If Aroma Joe’s completes the purchase at Portland Technology Park, the company will find plenty of open space even beyond its two lots.

The sparsely developed campus, laid out by the city in 2013 and designed with seven lots between 1.3 and 3.5 acres in size, is currently home to a single business, Patrons Oxford Insurance. The property and casualty insurer, which had been based in Auburn, moved to the park in 2017. Patrons Oxford built its 20,000-square-foot, eco-friendly headquarters on a lot purchased for $625,000.

Meanwhile, the city has been aggressively marketing Portland Technology Park, which is fully permitted and includes utilities, shared services and a 975-foot-long access road. If the Aroma Joe’s deal goes through, the road and utilities would need to be extended about 350 feet at a cost of $663,000, according to city documents. New tax revenue would be roughly $26,000 a year.

The park, originally conceived as a cluster for life science and technology businesses, has not yet attracted them — while an organization in those sectors, the Roux Institute, blossoms on the city’s peninsula.

But Goodridge, whose company surveyed and interviewed each headquarters employee to get input on the new space, is bullish on the prospect of returning to the western edges of Portland.

Plans haven't been drawn up yet; the company is currently considering architects. But he sees the new space as "fun and vibrant" as well as dog-friendly, with a gym for employees and an onsite coffeehouse that might open to the public. Design and permitting are expected to take about a year, and he hopes to break ground next fall and to relocate during 2023.

Surrounded by trees and walking paths, the site may not seem much like a technology hub. But times change, and today Portland Technology Park is close to another up-and-coming area that wasn't yet in development eight years ago.

“Look at what’s happening at Rock Row [in Westbrook], which will be almost in front of us,” Goodridge said. “I think our employees will love what’s available here. It’s becoming a desirable area.”