WEX tables plans for expanding headquarters
WEX Inc., the South Portland-based international provider of corporate payment services, has put plans for a new headquarters on hold. In a written statement Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said WEX will use satellite offices, as an interim plan, to accommodate some of its employees.
“Over the past year, WEX has considered a variety of potential options for new office space, including possibly expanding at our current location in South Portland,” Patricia O’Donnell, senior corporate communications manager, wrote in the prepared statement. “We have made a decision to put on hold building a new corporate headquarters. We are committed to staying in the greater Portland area, and our interim plan is to secure satellite space for our employees in addition to our current locations.”
O’Donnell told Mainebiz she could not elaborate on the reasons for the decision, saying that “the options we considered were just not a right fit at this time.” The 1,400-employee company, with 600 Maine workers, has since started its search for that satellite office space, somewhere in the greater Portland area.
The Portland Press Herald reported the decision follows a meeting two weeks ago with city and Department of Environmental Protection officials about expansion plans near the company’s headquarters off of Gorham Road.
The paper reported the company and a Massachusetts-based developer, the Gutierrez Co., presented plans for a 100,000-square-foot expansion and parking garage at 225 Gorham Road, a plan that would need a site location permit from the city’s planning board.
Marybeth Richardson, a licensing and compliance manager for the DEP’s southern office, told the paper the company said in that meeting it planned to file an application for a permit on that expansion by the end of August. William Caulder, managing director of Gutierrez, told the paper he had worked on the WEX expansion project for the past two months and was informed a few days after the July 25 meeting that the project was put on hold.
The company’s consideration of a new headquarters had prompted city officials to open negotiations to keep WEX in South Portland. James Galley, South Portland city manager, declined to speak to the paper about whether the city is considering extending a property tax break for the company or any other incentives if it stays.
A 15-year tax increment financing package approved in 2001 with the city is set to expire June 30, 2016, the paper reported.
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