Vice President Ward quoted in BDN article on bond to buy Old Town mill
Jake Ward, the University of Maine’s vice president for innovation and economic development, was quoted in the Bangor Daily News article, “Old Town leaders consider $3M bond to buy defunct mill land, warehouses.” City leaders are working toward purchasing the 40-acre defunct mill site along the Penobscot River, which is owned by a consortium of liquidators and still home to UMaine’s Technology Research Center, in the hope the property can be redeveloped, according to the article. On Monday, the City Council held a public hearing on a proposed $3 million bond for the parcel and warehouse space, and it voted to hold a second hearing, the article states. UMaine has agreed to pay $95,000 per year to lease the space from Old Town, if the city completes the purchase, Ward said. Researchers within UMaine’s Forest Bioproducts Research Institute are working on campus to create and commercialize new wood-based bioproducts that they test on a larger scale at the research center, the BDN reported. “Every hope is to have a long-term relationship,” Ward said. “We’re here, and we want to stay.”