The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority acquired a former Navy exchange, lodge and chapel; a 250-room hotel, nine-hole golf course; and other Brunswick Naval Air Station properties from the U.S. Navy in July.

The property conveyance was deemed the No. 6 most important 2012 news story in the Mid-coast region, in an informal poll of readers and editors.

Amid the challenge of redeveloping a former military base to commercial use, the July transfer gave MRRA ownership of 619 of the total 1,098 acres to be transfered.

Steve Levesque, executive director of the MRRA, said MRRA — the entity created to guide civilian reuse of the Navy base that closed in May 2011 — would gain possession of more property as time progressed.

As with other buildings at Brunswick Landing, the name affixed to the 3,200-acre former military base the Navy departed, MRRA began marketing the buildings as part of its redevelopment effort.

MRRA has been offering incentives to assist businesses interested in locating to Brunswick Landing or Topsham Commerce Park, including tax breaks, exemptions, reimbursements and credits.

The authority has touted the property’s existing airport facilities and location “within 50 miles of two-thirds of Maine’s labor force and with easy access to I-295, I-95 and Route 1.”

Thus far, Oxford Networks, Kestrel Aircraft Co. and Mölnlycke Health Care have opened new business offices at Brunswick Landing — as has the Maine Technology Institute, which moved from Gardiner in 2011 — “because of the extensive existing and planned infrastructure and the vision that MRRA has for developing the property,” the MRRA says on its website.

Brunswick Landing also hosts the newest campus of Southern Maine Community College, including the Maine Advanced Technology and Engineering Center, which collaborates with businesses and industries to establish a well-educated workforce for the businesses at Brunswick Landing.

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