LEWISTON-AUBURN LEADS THE STATE IN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Paul Badeau
Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council
784-0161
February 12, 2003
According to the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development’s list of major business activity in 2002, Lewiston was the state’s leader in number of new business expansions/investments greater than $500,000. The City of Auburn, which tied with Westbrook, followed closely in second place.
With an estimated 320 new jobs, Lewiston finished second statewide on DECD’s list of net new jobs created in 2002. According to DECD, Augusta was in first place with 800 new jobs. (The actual figures for both jobs created and project dollars spent in 2002 are higher, but are not captured here because they were recorded by DECD in previous years’ tallies. The list also excludes public projects like parks and municipal or government buildings.)
Lewiston also came in second statewide in the total number of dollars spent last year on new private sector expansions or investments. DECD’s compilation shows an estimated $22 million invested in the City of Lewiston in 2002. Lewiston finished second only to Westbrook. Auburn came in fourth, having spent about $7.8 million.
DECD’s list of projects in the Lewiston-Auburn area include a $3 million investment by Banknorth Group for the bank’s Lewiston operations center at the Bates Mill Complex; a $10 million investment by Central Maine Medical Center for its cardiac care center; a $4 million expansion at Gates Formed Fibre (manufacturer of molded trunk trim and automobile products from companies like Toyota and GM); and a $1.6 million relocation investment by Angostura Foods, Inc. (manufacturer of World Harbor specialty sauces and marinades), which moved into a recently constructed building in Auburn.
According to Paul Badeau, marketing director for the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council, there are plenty of other investments in the Lewiston-Auburn area that did not make the list, most notably the recent completion of the nearly $10 million Eighth District Court Building; a new $6 million home for the Maine Department of Human Services; the new performing arts and public gathering space, Auburn’s Festival Plaza; and the new Courthouse Plaza in Lewiston, which will have its grand opening next spring.
