Options being considered for former MPG facility
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Options are being considered for the former Maine Potato Growers (MPG) facility on outer Parsons Street, but owner Tom McKenney, of Mapleton, said he has no definite plans at this time.
“I have a couple ideas for it but it’s too soon to say definitely” what the former hardware store will become, said McKenney, in a phone interview Sept. 4. “I’ve been busy lately working to clean the place up. For now, there are no specific plans.”
McKenney has spent many years in the trucking business, including several years with Mitchell Trucking of Presque Isle and La Porte, Ind., then as president of Tamco Transportation — a local long-haul trucking service, with an office located at Sargent-Tweedie in Mars Hill. He indicated that a truck brokerage or other truck-related business “might be an option.”
With work on the proposed U.S. Route 1 bypass expected to begin in the next year or so, more truck traffic is expected on Parsons Street, as vehicles travel east and west around the city — making the facility a prime location for such a business.
“That’s one possible use for the building,” said McKenney.
According to tax records, the MPG property was purchased by McKenney and recorded with the Registry of Deeds in Houlton in December 2013.
Maine Potato Growers, Inc. announced in April 2013 the closing of its two retail store operations in Presque Isle and Houlton. The Ace™ Hardware store and the MPG Houlton store officially closed their doors in July 2013.
MPG had operated a retail hardware/farm store in Presque Isle since 1964. The new Ace™ branded store opened in 2007. MPG’s Houlton store opened its doors in the early 1980s. The closures were expected to help the cooperative’s bottom line.
