LIMESTONE, Maine — Loring Development Authority President Carl Flora said that while 2018 was a “tough year” for the former Air Force base, there are plenty of great opportunities in store for the coming year.
Flora said two large projects are currently in the works, but added that as of Dec. 26, he could not yet reveal details. He said they are not related to any projects that have been covered by the media in the past, but that they involve foreign investment and are related to aviation and manufacturing.
One development he could discuss involves a project funded by the Maine Technology Institute and Maine Space Grant Consortium (a NASA supported organization) in which the former base would be used as a launch site for CubeSat satellites. These satellites also are referred to as nanosatellites and are about the size of a toaster.
Flora said there is still a “long way to go” with this project, adding that “we only just started the feasibility analysis.”
“It’s really a statewide project,” Flora said, “with Loring being the launch site and mission control located in Brunswick. We’ll see where that goes as the feasibility analysis progresses in the coming months. We’re thinking a decision will be in order probably mid to late summer of 2019.”
2018 also marked the completion of a lengthy bus renovation project by the Maine Military Authority and Loring Industries for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. When the project began in 2014, MMA signed a $19 million contract to overhaul 32 buses, but unanticipated costs resulted in Gov. Paul LePage and state lawmakers approving a $7 million rescue package.
The project was finished this summer and, as a result, over 50 MMA employees were laid off.
Flora said on Wednesday that MMA “is, for all intents and purposes, defunct.”
“They may have one individual out of Augusta tying up loose ends,” he said, “but they don’t have any employees. The hope is that Loring Industries will be able to pick up what’s left of MMA and push forward with similar work.”
Loring Industries, a branch of the New England Kenworth company, was established on the base in 2017 and has assisted MMA with large projects since then. Flora said the company is in the process of lining up future projects related to the transit industry, renovating buses, trucks, and military equipment, as well as some manufacturing projects, at which point they would ideally be able to re-hire some of the former MMA employees.
MMA also owes LDA roughly $800,000 in back rent, which at this point Flora said the LDA “does not expect to receive.”
“It’s unfortunate that we lost MMA,” Flora said, “but by the same token we have a way forward with Loring Industries and hopefully all of those cards will fall into place.”
