‘Good stuff happening’ in Bangor: Region draws out-of-state firms

This year, four companies from out of state expanded to the Bangor area: TurbineOne of Virginia in Old Town, Tropical Cheese Industries LLC of New Jersey and R Cubed Engineering of Florida in Bangor and Amazon in Hermon. Maine & Co., a Portland-based one-stop shop that helps businesses relocate or expand, marshaled resources to assist with site selection and other aspects of the expansions. The region is viewed as one that offers modern conveniences without the hassle of some larger metropolitan areas. “I think people are starting to realize that,” said Peter DelGreco, Maine & Co.’s president and CEO. A Q&A with DelGreco has been edited for clarity. Mainebiz: Two of the four Bangor area projects had a defense component. Are you seeing activity in that sector? Peter DelGreco: Right now, the hot term is “dual use” — technologies that can have both military and civilian use. We have a lot of defense-related projects and dual-use technologies in our pipeline. One thing we’re seeing in the last couple of years, as a national trend, is the Pentagon putting a lot of money into early-stage companies. That becomes validation for the venture capital community to then follow the government money. MB: How did Greater Bangor become a hub for expansion? PD: It feels like there’s good stuff happening in Bangor, professionally and civically. There’s the new YMCA being built, the summer concert series is pretty amazing, events at the Cross Insurance Center — a lot of civic engagement happening right now. Add in the work at UMaine, Eastern Maine Community College and Husson University. Add in the ease and access at Bangor International Airport. MB: Are other companies eyeing Greater Bangor? PD: There are always a few. We’re looking at projects throughout the state. MB: What does regional siting depend on? PD: It goes to the question: what does a company need to be successful? You might want to be close to the forest for the raw materials. The point is to understand what a company needs, and then the geography funnels into that. MB: How many companies does Maine & Co. assist at any given time? PD: We’ll have 60 to 70 projects in our pipeline in various stages of development. A big part of our job is to pull together the right resources, bring people to the table, and to bring new investment to the state of Maine. It’s nice when someone says, "Hey, we want to be in Maine." But I’ll also frequently travel to growing companies and demonstrate how they can be successful and profitable in Maine. MB: How far away are these companies? PD: We work with growing and expanding companies that are both domestic and international. Historically, we have seen a lot of activity from the Boston area with early-stage companies evolving into their next phase of growth. That said, whether a company was geographically close or far away, our goal is to show them how Maine could fit into their growth plans. MB: What type of assistance do they want? PD: We help companies identify what they need to be successful and then help them find it somewhere in Maine. We’ll help them figure out where they’ll find the people to hire that work within their cost structure, education requirements, things like that. We’ll help them coordinate the resources they tell us they need to establish a successful operation within their operating cost environment. We’ll work with the real estate community, our partners in state government, education and workforce training resources, partners and trade associations, and whatever traditional or nontraditional needs they might have. We want companies to invest in Maine and be successful and grow. MB: How long do you work with companies? PD: Years. I’ve been with Maine & Co. since 2004 and became president in 2012. The way information is distributed has changed. When I started, organizations like ours had the information. As data became more readily available to everyone, people calling us had a base level of information. At that point, our job became about synthesizing the data. Now, even that’s starting to change as large language models come in. People are coming to us with more and more information and may be well into their decision-making process by the time they reach us. Projects are moving faster — but the projects are more complicated, so we’re staying with clients much longer after they’ve made the decision. Whereas before, we were staying with them longer before they made the decision. TurbineOne was the fastest project we’ve ever turned around — months, not years. But they had done a lot of research, and it’s a different type of company — venture-backed, high-growth, with an experienced senior team who knew exactly what they wanted. As soon as we put the site in front of them, they said, “That’s what we want.”