Old Town to buy defunct mill property, home of UMaine research center, BDN reports
The Bangor Daily News reported Old Town city leaders approved a proposed $3 million bond to purchase the 40-acre parcel of land and some warehouses along the Penobscot River where the Expera Old Town mill once operated. The property is owned by a consortium of liquidators and still home to the University of Maine’s Technology Research Center, according to the article. Jake Ward, UMaine’s vice president for innovation and economic development, said the university has agreed to pay to lease the space from Old Town if the city completes the purchase. UMaine currently pays nothing but utilities for the month-to-month lease for the research center, which opened five years ago and is located in the mill’s former finished product storage area on the southern portion of the site, the article states. 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. WABI (Channel 5) also reported on the sale.