RETAIL: Auto sales headed for banner year of revenue

The value of auto sales in Maine is up significantly over last year, driven by consumers choosing more expensive vehicles like trucks and SUVs over passenger cars.

Although the number of sales is expected to be flat, the pricier models and people buying new rather than used are positioning Maine dealers for a banner year.

Automobile retail sales in Maine totaled roughly $3 billion through the first eight months of 2015, a 7 percent increase over sales of $2.8 billion during the same period last year, according to data from Maine Revenue Services. If that increase holds to the end of the year, retail sales will exceed $4.5 billion, compared with the $4.2 billion in sales in 2014. Read the story.

Pineland products headed to Sam’s Clubs

Pineland Farms Potato Co. products will soon be on the shelves of Sam’s Club stores in the Northeast.

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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she suggested to Pineland Farms that it explore doing business with Sam’s Club, which is the warehouse store operation of Wal-Mart. Collins said she put together a meeting between executives of the club stores and Rodney McCrum, who is president and chief operating officer of Pineland Farms Potato, based in Mars Hill, and that led to the deal.

Collins’ office said Pineland Farms potato and cheese products will go into 28 Sam’s Club stores in the Northeast. Read the story

Westbrook retail plaza plans feature pond, trails

Updated plans for a new retail development on the Portland-Westbrook line that now feature a pond and walking trails will go before the Westbrook Planning Board for an initial review this week.

The project has also acquired a name: Dirigo Plaza. The 500,000-square-foot development is planned for Main Street and Larrabee Road in Westbrook, across Main Street from another large shopping center, which is anchored by a Kohl’s department store.

The site is currently a gravel pit operated by Pike Industries. In revised plans, the pit’s former quarry would become a pond with landscaped pedestrian paths.

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Jeffrey Gove, the developer, declined Tuesday to say which retailers will be in the plaza, but plans call for three large warehouse-size stores – the biggest is expected to be about 167,000 square feet. Read the story

LEGAL: Unpaid bills now top $2.6 million for troubled ferry service

An international supplier of marine fuel has joined the growing list of vendors who say that Nova Star Cruises owes them money, bringing the total sum of claims to $2.6 million.

Cockett Marine Oil filed a notice Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland that the ferry service owes it more than $1 million for fuel delivered from Aug. 31 to Oct. 31.

The Dubai-based company is asking the court to order the ship be sold at auction so it can get paid.

Also on Thursday, McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. filed notice claiming it has $12,000 in unpaid invoices for tugboat services it provided the Nova Star.

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The two new claimants indicate the Nova Star ended its 2015 season with at least $2.6 million in unpaid bills. Read the story

Law center opens offering services on sliding scale

A new nonprofit hopes to fill gaps in the local legal system by providing lower-cost legal representation to clients and in-the-trenches training for new lawyers.

The Maine Community Law Center opened this fall in Portland with two lawyers who bill on a sliding fee scale.

The center is designed to help people who make too much money to qualify for free legal aid but not enough to hire a lawyer at standard fees. It will also be an “incubator” for new lawyers, part of a growing national movement that seeks to give recent law school grads a chance to cut their teeth on actual cases and gain experience outside the normal route of working as an associate at a large firm.

The center, located on Pearl Street, will offer services in several civil law practice areas. Read the story

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FINANCE: Maine native wins $1 million TED prize

Bangor native Sarah Parcak has won the prestigious 2016 TED Prize, an award that the organization known for its conferences and TED Talks hands out each year to an extraordinary individual with a big, bold idea.

The prize comes with $1 million to help make that idea a reality. Parcak, now an anthropology professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, has gained international recognition for using infrared technology and satellite imagery to identify undiscovered archaeological sites in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East, and to track changes at existing sites.

She is now using satellite data to locate looted archaeological sites in northern Iraq and Syria and track the destruction wrought by the Islamic State, which is destroying important historic sites and trading artifacts on the black market to fund terrorist activities. Read the story

REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT: Developer proposes office building for Saco Island

A Saco Island developer has cleared an area on the eastern end of the island in preparation for commercial development that could include an office building and extension of the Saco RiverWalk.

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Sam Zaitlin, director of development for property owner Saco Island Development-East, said the company expects to finish gathering information to give to prospective office tenants by the end of the month.

Zaitlin said the plan calls for a four-story, 50,000-square-foot office building that would overlook the Saco River.

The island is located in the middle of the river between Saco and Biddeford, and its eastern side faces downstream. The western side of the island was developed years ago with a mix of residential, retail and commercial buildings. Read the story

Board to hear appeal of Downeaster permit

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection will hear an appeal of a permit approval for a Brunswick train layover facility this week in what could be the final regulatory step for the controversial project connected to Amtrak’s Downeaster service.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection staff has recommended that the citizens board reject the attempt by the Brunswick West Neighborhood Coalition to stop construction of the 60,000-square-foot train holding and service facility.

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Work on the project has already begun.

In July, members of the neighborhood coalition appealed a DEP decision granting the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority the final permit it needed to proceed with the $12.4 million train shed. The coalition argued that the DEP violated department procedures, committed numerous errors when reaching its conclusions and granted a stormwater management permit that does not adequately protect the air, groundwater sources and local waterways. Read the story

LABOR: WEX losing 25 IT jobs

WEX Inc., a global corporate payments company based in South Portland, announced Wednesday that it will restructure its informational technology department to focus on technology development and design, a process that will result in the net loss of 25 positions next year.

WEX spokeswoman Trish O’Donnell explained that while 80 positions in South Portland are being eliminated, the company is adding 25 new IT jobs.

It also plans to expand its relationship with its IT partner, CSC of Falls Church, Virginia. The expanded relationship will bring 33 IT employees from CSC to Maine. They will be housed at the company’s South Portland headquarters.

The restructuring, which will take effect in April 2016, will result in the net loss of about 25 IT positions in South Portland, according to O’Donnell. Read the story

 


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