Parts of Maine are reaping the benefit of the recent building boom. There are a number of commercial projects underway or recently completed. There are office buildings going up, hotels on the drawing board. There is some much-needed housing under construction. There are pockets of growth. But, to make the numbers work, developers are relying […]
Parts of Maine are reaping the benefit of the recent building boom.
There are a number of commercial projects underway or recently completed. There are office buildings going up, hotels on the drawing board. There is some much-needed housing under construction. There are pockets of growth.
But, to make the numbers work, developers are relying now more than ever on a range of incentives, from federal Opportunity Zones to historic tax credits to Tax Increment Financing. Putting together the “capital stack” is one of one of the central challenges of being a developer, as Senior Writer Laurie Schreiber reports in her story “Inventive incentives.”
Coupled with the tricky financing picture, the cost of construction has skyrocketed in recent years, a byproduct of the labor shortage and higher costs for steel and aluminum. As Senior Editor Maureen Milliken writes, construction costs can often make or break a project. And the challenges are only expected to grow.Â
Despite the higher costs, many employers are still intent on creating inviting and healthy workplaces for current and prospective employees, as Senior Writer Renee Cordes writes.Â
