PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — With over 440 acres of land available to business and industrial facilities, the Skyway Industrial Park remains an area that the Presque Isle Industrial Council seeks to fill with employers and the skilled workforce that contributes to the region’s economic well-being.
This year Tom Powers, executive director for the Industrial Council, is already looking forward to the first major construction project set to begin at Skyway in spring 2018: the Army National Guard’s Northern Maine Readiness Center. The center is set to become a “first-class” training facility for guard members in northern and central Aroostook County and will encompass 40,000 square feet on the corner of Edgemont and Central Drive.
“The building is designed and ready to go. Now we’re just waiting for the final funding to be in place so that construction can begin this spring,” Powers said.
A depiction of the building that will house the Army National Guard’s Northern Maine Readiness Center is shown here. Presque Isle Industrial Council Executive Director Tom Powers said that construction for the center is expected to begin in spring 2018 and is one of many new employers that he hopes to bring to the Skyway Industrial Park in Presque Isle.
(Staff Photo/Melissa Lizotte)
The new facility comes off the heels of a successful 2017 in which the Industrial Council spearheaded the $3 million expansion of orthodontic appliance manufacturer ACME Monaco and the opening of Dead River Company’s propane distribution facility, both located in the Skyway Industrial Park. The first project was made possible by many grants that reduced the city of Presque Isle’s costs to $600,000. ACME Monaco now employs 75 people from their location in the Industrial Park.
Powers also recently learned that a downstate delivery firm has an interest in building a new docking station in the Industrial Park. He said he could not reveal details about the company or their possible business ventures at this time.
Powers added that the Industrial Council also has received inquiries from some small agricultural-related businesses that would have much to contribute to rural northern Maine.
In addition, “we’re exploring the possibilities of doing more with the aviation industry and also with farm equipment production and metal fabrication, which would take advantage of the skilled labor we have in this region,” Powers said.
There are currently three vacated buildings in Skyway Industrial Park that Powers will look to fill with new businesses in the coming year. One is the former Northern Maine Community College alternative energy building and the two buildings, including an office space, that ACME Monaco abandoned once the firm consolidated into one location.
