Pier rehab project seeking bids
Coast Guard cutters could return to Portland, if plans to rebuild the former Naval Reserve Pier move forward.
The project, pitched by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, received a $1.5 million boost earlier this month when voters approved the $71 million transportation bond, according to the Portland Press Herald. The institute now has a total of $3.3 million in state and federal funding, just shy of the $4 million estimate needed to rebuild the pier. But Donald Perkins, president of the institute, said he's hoping construction firms looking for work in the recession could lower their bids, which are due Dec. 3. Construction could start as early as this winter and wrap up by the summer, Perkins told the paper.
Once the pier reopens, the Coast Guard plans to move at least one of its three cutters from its overcrowded South Portland base. The institute could also use the pier on a short-term basis when not in use by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard gave the pier and adjacent 2.4 acres to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in 2003 in exchange for a rebuild, the Press Herald reported.
Go to the article from the Portland Press Herald >>
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