Thursday, May 24, 2012
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By Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com
Staff Writer
WESTBROOK — Idexx Laboratories this fall will begin construction of a $60 million corporate headquarters for 700 employees in Westbrook.
Artist's depiction of future Idexx headquarters building.
Site plan for Idexx expansion.
Idexx has talked about building its corporate headquarters in Westbrook since 2006, but plans were sidelined in 2008 when Pike Industries announced its plan to expand nearby quarrying operations.
The first phase of Idexx's expansion will be a $30 million, 107,000-square-foot administrative building adjacent to its existing building on Eisenhower Drive. The new facility will enable the company to hire 300 new employees, said Dick Daigle, Idexx's director of facilities. He said construction is scheduled to begin in September and be complete by August 2013.
A second administrative building of about the same size that would house another 400 employees will be built a couple of years later, Daigle said.
Idexx currently employs 1,700 people in Maine and 4,800 people worldwide, according to a press release from the company.
Idexx's initial plan to expand in Westbrook was stalled when Pike came forward with a proposal to build an asphalt plant and start blasting rock at its previously dormant quarry on Spring Street.
Idexx said the close-by quarrying operations would be incompatible with the image of its business.
The conflicting expansion plans launched a years-long battle, in front of local boards and in court, among Pike, Idexx and other residential and commercial neighbors of the quarry about whether Pike should be allowed to operate on Spring Street.
The city, Idexx and Pike reached a consent agreement in the fall of 2010 that will allow Pike to operate the quarry with certain restrictions. Neighboring businesses Artel and Smiling Hill Farm have appealed the consent agreement.
Although the conflict is still being played out in court, Daigle said Idexx is confident the consent agreement will be upheld.
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