Southern Aroostook holding its own in tough economy

By Jon A. McLaughlin
Special to the Pioneer Times
    Given the old adage, “Is the glass half full or half empty?,” what do you think about our local and regional economy? Let’s see if we can find out.
    Large ticket items such as automobiles, while sales are lower than last year, appear to be outperforming national trends by quite a large factor. Other retail seems to be holding its own as evidenced in a July 25th Bangor Daily News article by Jennifer Lynds entitled, “Downtown Houlton Bucks Economic Trend.”
    Home sales are showing a surprising resilience this summer and home construction continues to be fairly brisk locally and within the surrounding towns. Contractors remain busy as evidenced by the very “scientific” survey method of people complaining that they can’t find a contractor to do a job for them. This is heard over and over again. Town building permits show that there has been five permits issued this year for new home construction. This compares to eight for 2008.
    According to one local real estate broker, there does appear to be a lot more homes on the market than there were two or three years ago. In reality, the broker stated that there really aren’t many more homes, it is just that they are not selling as fast as two years ago so the signs are up longer and gives the appearance of more homes. Many of the homes are on the market due to transfer of owners.
    Despite national media reports, this broker said that the local foreclosure rate is not that much higher than in the best of times. The lower rate is attributed in great part to the fact that local banks have slightly tighter financing requirements. A majority of what increased foreclosures there are, can be attributed to, in large part, loans made via the Internet and by other non-local, third-party lenders.
    Most of the real estate brokers said that they are busy. Phones are ringing and property is moving. Prices have flattened out a bit, interest rates are affordable and banks have money to lend. The Houlton Town Office told this writer that home prices the past three years have risen about 10 percent. This moderate increase means that prices haven’t, nor are they likely to drop drastically.
    Another agent said that the Multiple Listing Service for the southern Aroostook region for the period Jan. 1, 2009 to Aug. 17, 2009 showed 61 sales in comparison to 57 for the same period in 2008.
    Banks continue to see good loan activity within their local branches. While many are off from past years, the activity is still better than expected.
    A local firm that does business statewide says that their business interests in Houlton have been stable despite the recent difficult regional and national economies. The Houlton area does appear to have a special combination of growth-inducing factors as there is another firm that has multiple offices county-wide that says that their business within the southern Aroostook region is better than in the central and northern part of the county.
    Smith and Wesson continues to expand operations, adding several million dollars more in computerized machining centers during a recent two-week, scheduled maintenance shut down. They are presently working three shifts a day and cannot keep up with demand. In addition to handguns, they are the world’s largest manufacturer of restraints for the law enforcement community, all manufactured here in Houlton. In fact, they recently celebrated the fabrication of their six millionth pair of handcuffs.
    While home construction and home sales are down a bit, commercial construction gives you a sense of the health of the business community within a region and Houlton’s is chugging along just fine. To date 2009 shows that there are eight more commercial/industrial projects than in 2008. These projects total $7.4 million in new construction. It is anticipated that there could even be more before year’s end.
    Among these current commercial projects are:
• The completion of a large office and construction maintenance building including a facelift of a smaller existing garage on Bangor St. by Nelson Construction/Brown Development.
• Construction is under way on a $2.9-plus million expansion to the Houlton Regional Hospital.
• Ground breaking by Coastal Enterprises, Inc, of Wiscasset, in the former Key Bank parking lot in Market Square, of a $2.6 million multi-story, 28-unit, affordable elderly housing project.
• The Horn of Plenty relocated to Houlton in leased space, owned by Tony and Dan DeLucca on North Rd., and business has been excellent. Per a recent conversation with the manager and co-owner, she said that she and her husband were going to have to leave the area but now are able to stay in the area.
• Aroostook Milling is in the process of constructing an addition to their store.
• Michael Gough of Gough Farms is constructing an addition on his potato house on the Porter Settlement Road.
• Hogan Tire recently bought Leon Little and Sons’ heavy-duty truck parts business and moved the division into a newly constructed addition to their Bangor St. location.
• The Shamrock Café sandwich shop opened late this spring on the corner of Bangor St. and Alice Ave. By the looks of all the vehicles in the parking lot, they are doing very well.
• Katahdin Valley Health Center on Bangor St., recently renovated its basement area with the anticipation of expanding its health center business with additional doctors.
• The Houlton High School is undergoing major renovations this summer on the final leg of its HVAC and room remodeling. In addition, in collaboration with the Fine Arts Community Center organization, they have embarked on Phase I renovations on the auditorium upgrade. All is expected to be operational later this fall.
• The town of Houlton is progressing nicely on its recently approved $1 million bond for roads project. This is evidenced by the crews out raising manholes and water shutoffs and the many orange safety cones throughout town. Sidewalks are being upgraded as well. Engineering is about complete so that construction can begin on additional sidewalks as a result of the MDOT $136,000 Biennial Capital Work Plan funding. This is allocated for sidewalk construction on North St.
• Bangor Street (U.S. Route 2A) two-year reconstruction project is about completed.
• The Cary Mills Bridge is being replaced and traffic is being detoured. The new, widened bridge will be reopened later this fall and will make a great addition to the rest of the Bangor St. improvements.
    Getting back to the old adage of the half full glass, I would have to say that we are half full, but certainly we must all strive to take small incremental steps to bring the glass to its full and overflowing stage. Working together we will accomplish this and one of the best ways is to keep our chins up. We have been through down economies before and we have always come out the other side with our heads up. We will do so now.
    Jon McLaughlin is the executive director of the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation in Houlton and can be contacted at 521-0157 or via e-mail at sadc@aroostook21.com