Portland accepts grant to build Rand Road business park
The 26-acre facility will be designed to attract biotech, pharmaceutical and technology firms.
By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer
November 3, 2009
The City Council accepted a $660,000 federal grant Monday to develop a 26-acre business park on Rand Road. Officials hope the park will be attractive for biotechnology, pharmaceutical and nanotechnology companies.
The city is providing $660,000 for the project as a local match, using money that was allocated in previous budgets.
Plans for the Portland Technology Park, just off Exit 47 of the Maine Turnpike, call for nine lots to accommodate buildings from 6,000 to 13,000 square feet.
City officials hope to compete for new companies that might be considering the Boston market, which already is a major biotechnology center. Portland is working with Scarborough, South Portland and Westbrook to expand the region's emerging biotech and information technology economy.
The federal Economic Development Administration grant will pay for road construction and utility installation. Westbrook, which was a co-applicant for the grant, received $225,000 for improvements to the Five Star Industrial Park, the home of Idexx Laboratories.
The business park is carved out of a 40-acre lot that the city bought in 1999 for $1.7 million. The rest of the lot is designated as resource protection land. The city plans to develop trails and public access to the property, and link it to an adjacent 200-acre protected area.
Businesses will buy lots on a condominium model. They will own their lots but pay fees for upkeep in common areas owned by the city.
If successful, it will be Portland's first venture in owning and managing a business park.
Next spring, the city plans to request proposals for the road and utility construction for the first phase of the project, five of the nine lots. By the fall of 2010, the city will start selling the lots.
Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at: tbell@pressherald.com