Central Aroostook Probus heard from speaker Craig Green of the Presque Isle City Council.
Employment and the number of businesses at the Industrial Park are growing. The number of employees is between 600 and 800 currently, Green said. Two businesses are waiting for the completion of a new building to open.
The airport until recently struggled to reach the necessary 10,000 boardings per year, the number necessary to keep the airline operational. In the first nine months of this year, there have been 20,000 boardings.
Main Street now has nearly all storefronts occupied with 10 new businesses. A major upgrade of Main Street will soon be under way with improvements to the sidewalks and flow of traffic.
The Aroostook Centre Mall is turning a corner with new local ownership, Green said. According to one method of measurement, it is more than twice as busy as the Bangor Mall. Restaurants will soon be back to pre-pandemic levels.
Recreation will continue to see improvement with the development of the Chapman Street walkway.
Upcoming events of interest will be the April eclipse and events connected with the two-day stopover of planes taking part in the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June.
The next Probus meeting will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16, at Northern Maine Community College’s Reed Commons. Visitors are welcome.
