COURTESY / KW COMMERCIAL|MAGNUSSON BALFOUR
ChemStation and PODS are the newest businesses at the Gardiner 95/295 Business Park.
October 4, 2021
MA sanitation company opens its first Maine location at Gardiner business park
COURTESY / KW COMMERCIAL|MAGNUSSON BALFOUR
Two more companies have signed on for lots at Gardiner 95/295 Business Park, leaving five to go.
A sanitation franchise in Weymouth, Mass., plans to open its first Maine location to serve a growing Maine clientele.
JRN Holdings LLC bought Lot 20, a 13.4-acre parcel in the Gardiner 95/295 Business Park, from the city of Gardiner for $57,250.
Dennis Wheelock of KW Commercial/Magnusson Balfour brokered the deal.
JRN Holdings LLC is owned by Rich and Jim Nissi, father-and-son partners who have a franchise with ChemStation, a Dayton, Ohio, company that provides customers with custom-formulated, environmentally friendly industrial cleaning products delivered to refillable containers directly to customer facilities, according to the company’s website.
“We’re very busy in Maine,” said Rich Nissi. “Our truck is up there quite often. It’s time to take the next step and deliver to the state of Maine from a Maine location.”
The business park sits just off I-295 exit 49 and Route 201 and is marketed as a key location for distribution across the state. It’s home to one of the city’s tax increment financing districts, utilizing credit enhancement agreements to encourage development.
The lots are shovel-ready with public infrastructure already in place.
Park construction began in 2000 with Phase I’s 120 acres and 12 lots; several lots were since combined.
Phase II was 107 acres with 16 additional lots.
Wheelock’s company took over the park’s marketing in 2017.
Niche company
ChemStation is somewhat of a niche company, said Nissi.
The parent company was founded in 1977, according to its website. It provides customers with refillable tanks. Low tank levels trigger a cellphone message that’s sent to a local branch. The branch prepares the client’s custom cleaning solution and sends it in a delivery truck to refill the tank. The system is designed to eliminate the need for disposable or returnable containers.
“From a landfill perspective, it’s an environmentally-friendly concept,” said Nissi.
Nissi’s Weymouth location is one of 63 around the U.S.
“We’re a quiet company,” he continued. “Not many people know who ChemStation is, but we’re one of the major sanitation players in the food and beverage industry.”
Nissi opened the Weymouth franchise in 2004 and entered the Maine market in 2008. Today, his franchise has 50 to 100 clients in Maine and is adding an average of one per month. Clients include wild blueberry and seafood processors, bakeries and breweries.
“We have customers all over Maine,” he said. “We happened to go by Gardiner and we saw the park. I made an inquiry and it took off from there.”
His facility is in the design stage. Generally, ChemStation facilities are between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet.
“We’ll be within that,” he said.
Nissi said he expects the project to break ground in 2023. He has one Maine-based employee now and expects to be hiring more once the plant is built. A typical ChemStation plant has been 10 and 20 employees, he added.
PODS takes a lot
Earlier this year, Lot 15, a 10-acre parcel, sold to AUG Commerce Distr. LLC for $59,950.
Wheelock and Chad Sylvester of Androvise Realty brokered the deal.
Wheelock said a facility is under construction on the lot for PODS, a moving and storage portable container service, headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., that provides residential and commercial services across the U.S., Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, according to its website.
COURTESY / KW COMMERCIAL|MAGNUSSON BALFOUR
Proximity to the highway is considered a major selling point at the Gardiner 95/295 Business Park.
“Steel is going up,” said Wheelock.
Five lots left
Of the park’s original 28 lots, five are left, said Wheelock.
“I have strong interest in and showings of all five,” he added.
Queries from potential developers are coming from around New England.
“Once word got out, the park sells itself,” he said.
The park is now home to 14 businesses. They include EJP Inc., Common Wealth Poultry, Pine State Beverage, Scientific Games, Troiano Waste, Dennison Lubricants, Oak Hill Crematorium, and Black Diamond Consultants. And two lots totaling 8.8 acres sold last year to James Posillico, president of Posillico Real Estate and Construction in Hampton Bays, N.Y., who told Mainebiz that he plans to build a business incubator there.
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