Photo / Maureen Milliken
Jim Dinkle, executive director of FirstPark Commerce Center, in Oakland.
July 1, 2020
Insider Notebook: Landry/French celebrates 10 years; FirstPark to announce broker
Photo / Tim Greenway
Denis Landry, left, and Kevin French founded Landry/French, of Scarborough, 10 years ago this month.
By Maureen Milliken
Landry/French Construction, founded as the Great Recession receded, is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the midst of the pandemic.
The company was established in July 2010 by Denis Landry and Kevin French, when Maine was lagging in the economic recovery and construction employment was at a 15-year low, a news release Wednesday said. Today Landry/French provides construction management, design/build and general contracting services.
“Looking back, it was the perfect time to start Landry/French," said Landry, executive vice president. "It gave us the opportunity to start small, grow organically and create the culture we wanted for our company."
Of the "handful of employees" hired the first year, the release said, five are still with the company — Rob Donahue, Becky Knox, Charlie Baillargeon, Scott Cristina and Ian McCracken. The company now employs 50 and has clients throughout northern New England, with offices in Scarborough and New Hampshire, where it opened an office in Portsmouth last year.
Executive Vice President Kevin French, said, “Over the past 10 years, Landry/French’s growth has allowed us to attract some of the best talent in the industry and compete for more challenging, complex projects.”
The company’s first project was a new branch for cPort Credit Union in Augusta. The founders' goal was to be client-focused and build lasting relationships, and cPort is an illustration of that. Still a client, Landry/French has built several projects for the credit union since.
Other early clients who are still with Landry/French are Abbott, which the company is completing an addition for as it ramps up production of COVID-19 tests; Allagash Brewing and Bangor Savings Bank. The company's portfolio spans education, health care, municipal, commercial/corporate, housing and industrial/manufacturing projects.
Notable projects are:
- The state of Maine DHHS Buildings in Augusta and South Portland;
- Colby College's Bill and Joan Alfond Main Street Commons, Waterville;
- Casco Bay Ferry Terminal addition and renovation, Portland;
- Harvey Performance Company's new manufacturing building in Gorham;
- Public safety buildings for the towns of Berwick, Yarmouth, Wells and Scarborough;
- Patriot Insurance Co. headquarters, Yarmouth;
- Charles E. Moody School at Good Will-Hinckley in Fairfield;
- Mount Washington Valley Adult Day Center in Center Conway, N.H.
Landry/French is employee-owned and, among its accolades are the Best Places to Work in Maine for the last five years and Inc. 5000 Fast Growing Companies list in 2017 and 2016.
FirstPark to announce broker soon
Oakland's FirstPark Commerce and Technology Center plans to announce soon a new broker selected to market and sell the business campus.
FirstPark issued a request for proposals in May for qualified real estate brokers to market and sell the property, with a May 26 deadline. The 285-acre campus was established by the 24-town Kennebec Regional Development Authority in 2000.
Executive Director Jim Dinkle told Mainebiz last year that while individual sites on the 22-lot campus are for sale, the authority would also be interested in a buyer for the entire site, which is off Exit 127 of Interstate 95.
He said, though, a developer couldn't buy it to use as a "land bank."
"We'd want development, we'd want job creation, we'd want a return on the investment for the partners," he said.
The industrial park had a tough time finding footing as the Great Recession hit, but a change of focus over the last couple years, including hiring Dinkle, enhanced marketing and reaching out internationally have given it greater scope.
Recent transactions include these two.
The 78,610-square foot office building at 133 FirstPark Drive, home to T-Mobile, was sold to J.B. Brown & Sons, of Portland, by Lexington Realty Trust for $10.7 million. Joseph Porta, Charles Day and Mackenzie Simpson of Porta & Co. brokered the deal, which closed April 17.
At 25 FirstPark Drive, units A and B medical office condos, were sold to PHAT LLC by CV Diagnostics, Inc, for $685,000. Bruce Holmes, of Century 21 Venture Ltd, and Don Plourde, of Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate, brokered the deal, which closed March 27.
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