• TOURISM: Ski resort plans expansion, including covered pavilion

The Mt. Abram ski area in western Maine is planning its largest expansion since the late 1970s.

The ski mountain in Greenwood plans to add six trails and expand its Dudley Terrain Park. The last time the ski area pursued such a significant terrain expansion was during the 1978-79 season. Plans include establishing a dedicated ski racing trail and building a covered pavilion to provide a large outdoor seating area at its Westside Lodge. The Greenwood Planning Board is scheduled to consider the expansion plan at its meeting Monday. The $150,000 project follows a $1 million upgrade last year in snow-making equipment and solar energy installations. Read the story.

Turnpike traffic tops 1 million over Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend traffic on the Maine Turnpike was up 2.1 percent over a year ago, according to the agency that runs the toll highway. In all, there were just over a million transactions on the 109-mile-long highway over the four days between Friday and Monday. The highway is on pace to have the busiest year on record, said Erin Courtney, spokeswoman for the Maine Turnpike Authority. Eight million motorists were counted on the turnpike for the entire month of August. The strong summer tourism season is extending a year of high volumes of traffic. From January to July, the turnpike experienced a 4.7 percent increase in traffic compared to the same period in 2014. Read the story.

• REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT: Kennebunk shopping center sold for nearly $7 million

The Shops at Long Bank in Kennebunk, an 88,000-square-foot retail complex off Route 1, has been sold for $6.925 million. The sale was announced Wednesday by the buyer’s representative at Cardente Real Estate. Property Partners LLC is the buyer. The complex, opened in 2007, is anchored by a Hannaford supermarket. According to the property’s listing, lease rates are approximately $14 per square foot. Read the story.

Rail-shop debate stalls Portland Co. development

Historic preservationists and the developer of the Portland Co. site are in a standoff regarding the structural integrity and historic significance of one of 16 buildings in the former locomotive factory complex on the city’s waterfront. The Portland Planning Board postponed a public hearing and vote Tuesday on the historic designation of the site at the request of the developer, CPB2, which wants to conduct an additional analysis of the feasibility of reusing the building. The former erecting shop, built in 1918 and known as Building 1, is one of eight buildings classified as contributing to a local historic district proposed by the city’s Historic Preservation Board. But it doesn’t fit with the developer’s vision for a plaza that extends from Fore Street to the Fore River. Developer Jim Brady said the Planning Board provided new information about Building 1 that led CPB2 to ask for additional time to conduct its own study. Historic preservation officials, however, said there was no new information, only further explanations given in response to earlier questions from the board. Read the story.

• MANUFACTURING: Tribe considers pot-growing facility in Washington County

The Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township has signed a letter of intent with a Denver-based medical marijuana management and consulting company to develop a cultivation facility on tribal land in Washington County. Monarch America Inc. announced last week that it intends to design and manage a “state of the art” marijuana cultivation facility in an existing 35,000-square-foot building on Passamaquoddy Tribal Trust Land in Princeton, Maine. Tribe officials say the facility will be used to grow industrial hemp. Monarch, however, is facing a cash crunch, declaring in its most recent quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it needs roughly $2.5 million over the next 12 months to continue operations, yet had less than $200,000 in cash on hand and total liabilities of nearly $4.3 million. ” If the company fails to raise adequate capital, its inability to raise funds … will have a severe negative impact on its ability to remain a viable company,” the filing stated. Read the story.

State permit to raze former Bucksport paper mill issued

The scrap metal company that bought the former paper mill in Bucksport has received a state permit to raze the structure. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection on Sept. 2 issued a permit to allow Bucksport Mill LLC to demolish the mill, which employed 500 people until its former owner, Verso Paper Corp., closed it in December 2014. Bucksport Mill LLC bought the mill and attached power plant from Verso in January 2015 for $60 million. Bucksport Mill LLC is a subsidiary of AIM Development USA LLC, which itself is a subsidiary of the Montreal-based purveyor of scrap metal, American Iron & Metal Co. Inc. The demolition project is estimated to cost $4.45 million, according to the DEP permit. The company still needs additional state permits, including a valid waste discharge permit, before it begins the demolition. Read the story.

• LABOR: Council maintains status quo on tipped-worker base wages

The Portland City Council voted 7-2 Wednesday night to reverse a previous decision to increase the base wage of tipped workers by nearly $3 an hour, deciding to keep it at $3.75. The council originally voted to increase the minimum wage in July. At the time, they had intended to keep the base wage of tipped workers – largely restaurant servers – at half of the state minimum wage of $7.50, but inadvertently increased it to $6.35. A majority of councilors voted to honor their original intent on Wednesday night, noting that employers would still be required to ensure their workers make at least $10.10 an hour, including tips, starting Jan. 1. Read the story.

• HEALTH CARE: Overnight inpatient care scrubbed at Sanford hospital

Almost two years after a merger created Southern Maine Health Care, officials announced a reorganization that will end overnight hospital care in Sanford and eliminate about 13 positions. The center undertook a yearlong analysis leading to the reorganization of its services, according to a statement issued Wednesday. Southern Maine Health Care will keep its 24-hour emergency center in the former Goodall Hospital in Sanford and add a walk-in care center. It will open a new cancer care practice and have more specialists so patients won’t have to travel to see a cardiologist, a pulmonologist or a neurologist. Because of low patient volume in Sanford, Southern Maine Health Care will no longer provide overnight inpatient care there, sending those patients to Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford starting Oct. 23. Read the story.

• GENERAL BUSINESS: Trustee of bankrupt jeweler extends deadline for claims

Customers who are worried about the fate of jewelry they had being repaired at now-bankrupt G.M. Pollack & Sons can rest easy, the bankruptcy trustee said Tuesday. Despite second-notice letters that went out to people warning that any jewelry not picked up by Sept. 10 could be considered abandoned and sold at auction – sparking a flurry of online posts from frantic customers – the trustee said every effort will be made to return each piece of jewelry to its owner. On Friday, the deadline was extended to Oct. 2. The only items in question are pieces that were at G.M. Pollack & Sons for repair, he said. At a later stage in the bankruptcy, after priority claims such as taxes and bankruptcy administration costs have been paid, Manhart will set up a claims process for customers who made deposits on jewelry that they never received. Read the story.

Two Maine businesses among 10 winning national honors

Two Maine small businesses will be among the 10 companies recognized nationally by SCORE, the national nonprofit mentoring service. The Washington, D.C., event recognizes successful small businesses that have worked with SCORE mentors. Flowfold, a company based on Peaks Island that makes wallets and tote bags from recycled sail material, will receive the Outstanding American Manufacturer Small Business Award. MaineWorks, a Portland-based staffing company that provides employment opportunities to recently released inmates and immigrants, will receive SCORE’s Outstanding Job-Creator Award. Read the story.

CORRECTION: This story was updated at 10:33 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 15 to correct the name of the Maine Turnpike Authority spokeswoman.

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