Maine Heritage Timber has an interesting twist on the forest products industry. The Millinocket company recovers logs from area waterways — logs that were lost headed to mills.
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Maine Heritage Timber has an interesting twist on the forest products industry. The Millinocket company recovers logs from area waterways — logs that were lost headed to mills. It turns them into planks and panel designs that are used for accent walls, ceilings, backsplashes, doors, columns and other interior features under the trade name Timberchic. The company, which is led by Tom Shafer, has 23 workers from the Millinocket area. Maine Heritage Timber, which was co-founded by Shafer in 2010, provides quality millwork and markets its sustainability angle — reclaiming rather than cutting down trees. It salvages pine, spruce and fir logs that were destined for the mills as long ago as the 1830s, before much of Maine was logged. Being stuck under water for a couple centuries preserved the wood while creating “a rich array of unduplicated patinas not found in any other types of wood,” the company says. The panels are sold with peel-and-stick backing to apply to existing walls. It’s sold on Amazon and at Home Depot or on timberchic.com for $10 to $12 a square foot.
Ducas Construction of Scarborough finished a building on Widgery Wharf on the Portland waterfront that houses lead tenant F.L. Putnam. Archetype Architecture of Portland designed the four-story building. Pete Harrington of Malone is handling leasing of the remaining floors.
Landry/French Construction is on track to finish up the Wells Public Safety building on time and on budget, with a September completion date. The Scarborough firm is also at work on the Scarborough Public Safety building, which is scheduled to be completed in March 2020. Landry/French also completed two major office projects for the state, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System and a 104,000-square-foot building for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Turner Brothers Construction, a Massachusetts contractor, is at work on Commercial Street in Portland, at the Portland Shipyard site.
Development notes
Portland Museum of Art has submitted a site plan application with the city of Portland to expand its parking lot at 87 Spring St., from 15,000 square feet to 22,396 square feet. The site would accommodate a total of 69 cars, including spots for two electric vehicle charging stations
A limited partnership that owns the building with the Drydock Restaurant, 84 Commercial St. in Portland, applied with the city of Portland to add 2,115 square feet, which would include an unfinished basement, an addition for the first-floor kitchen and a second floor addition for restrooms and an office-storage area. The site is in the Waterfront Central Zone and is subject to Portland’s site plan standards.
