Scarborough biotech firm gets discounted land for expansion in Saco
Image / Courtesy of Broadreach Public Relations
A rendering of Maine Molecular's new building in Saco.
Scarborough biotechnology firm Maine Molecular Quality Controls is one step closer to moving into a larger building in Saco to expand operations, after a real estate company closed on the land earlier this month — for half the advertised price.
Mill Brook Q LLC bought Lot 8, a 12.59-acre development parcel on Saco’s Mill Brook Business Park near Route 1, for $193,000 from the city of Saco, according to brokers involved with the deal. The deal closed July 1, and it was brokered by Roxane Cole of Roxane Cole Commercial Real Estate LLC and Greg Hastings of NAI The Dunham Group.
The real estate company plans to construct a 16,000-square-foot building on Lot 8 and lease it to Maine Molecular, Jillian Kanter, of Broadreach Public Relations in Portland, told Mainebiz on Monday, relaying information from Maine Molecular’s CEO, Joan Gordon. The building’s construction is estimated to cost roughly $5 million, according to a city document.
Gordon was away on vacation Monday.
Kanter said the biotech firm’s new “state-of-the-art” building, expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year, will more than double its current 6,200-square-foot space, allowing it to more than quadruple production and hire up to 10 more employees, with more possible hires in the future. Once constructed, the biotech firm will have an option to double their space to 32,000 square feet on the development lot, she added.
Maine Molecular plans to break ground on July 23, Kanter said.
Clark Rundell, who co-founded Maine Molecular with Gordon in 2000 and serves as its vice president of research, told Mainebiz that the biotech firm had reached its capacity its Scarborough facility and needed to expand in order to meet growing demand from customers. Maine Molecular designs and markets molecular controls that are used for inherited disease testing, infectious disease detection and pharmacogenetics in large clinical laboratories across the world, he said. The biotech firm also provides for the companies that manufacture the tests, he added.
Mill Brook Q, the real estate company that purchased the development parcel for Maine Molecular, appears to have scored a deal with its seller, the city of Saco. A flyer on the city’s website shows that the property’s asking price was $386,000, double what it was sold for.
Saco Interim City Administrator Cheryl Fournier told Mainebiz that the discounted price was meant to incentivize the buyer, with the hope that it would attract more businesses to the business park.
But that's not the only incentive.
The sale of the development lot happened after the Saco City Council approved a significant tax break for Maine Molecular’s new location. The city council approved the tax increment financing district about a month ago, according to draft minutes of its June 15 meeting.
The tax break will cover 80% of Maine Molecular’s property taxes, according to a city document detailing its credit enhancement agreement with the biotech firm. The tax break will help the biotech firm save about $80,000 annually to cover the cost of hiring at least one new scientist a year.
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