Maine’s real estate and development industry keeps chugging along
Listening to the speakers at the recent MEREDA event, the outlook conference that's annually among Maine's most significant business events, there seemed to be more optimism than last year.
Concerns about a looming recession — so much a part of the discussion in early 2019 — seem to have dissipated this time around. A possible explanation is that construction companies and related businesses have been running flat out. They’re struggling to keep up with the work they have and are booked. Ongoing concerns like finding workers create a built-in regulator for growth, tempering any threat of overbuilding.
For the commercial development focus, we have a range of stories.
For our cover story, Laurie Schreiber, one of our real estate reporters, talked to Tom Watson about his plans for 132 Marginal Way, an apartment building that was built with students in mind — complete with a “quad” setup around common areas — but will now be converted to standard, market-rate apartments. In a market that needs affordable housing, the plan received some pushback, but there is also a clear need for market-rate housing — in this case, 200 units. “We said, ‘Look, the city of Portland needs workforce housing. Let’s take these 100 quads and turn them into workforce housing apartments.'” Story starts on Page 16.
Retail development has gone in different directions since the recession. One trend we’ve seen is hospital systems and urgent-care centers opening in malls. Renee Cordes looks into the recent growth of Convenient MD and AFC Urgent Care, whose clinics are cropping up with increased frequency. There were 9,279 urgent-care centers in the U.S. through November, up from 8,125 just two years earlier. Renee reports on how the trend is taking hold in Maine. See Page 20.
Several years ago, Mainebiz honored two entrepreneurs from Belfast-based GO Logic, a design-build firm that was building highly efficient homes. In recent months, an offshoot of that business, GO Lab, has shown even greater ambitions. It acquired the former Madison paper mill, where it plans to manufacture high-efficiency insulation that could potentially go into thousands of homes and have a more wide-ranging impact than the original design-build firm. Maureen Milliken catches up on the GO Lab effort. See Page 24.
For an overview of construction projects around the state, check out the Building Business column, on Page 14.
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