Houlton to build, sell spec building

9 years ago
HOULTON, Maine — The board of directors of the Shiretown Development Corp. voted on Monday evening to build a 6,000 square foot speculative building on a lot at the Houlton International Airport.

The $270,000 to construct the building will come from the town, and the building will be put up for sale.

The Shiretown Development Corp. functions as an economic development arm for the town and consists of the town councilors.

During Monday’s council meeting, which preceded the SDC meeting, councilors voted to transfer $270,000 from the airport tax increment finance district account to the SDC for the purposes of constructing the speculative building. Town Manager Butch Asselin said that there was more than $670,000 in the account.

Asselin said that the shell of a building would be built on one acre of land that had already been cleared by the Federal Aviation Administration and for which the town had been approved by the Department of Environmental Protection for sewer and water permit by rule. He said that the building would have connections for water and sewer, a concrete foundation and two doors with a loading dock.

“I’d like to start construction in the first part of June and have it finished no later than September,” said Asselin.

During the public hearing, no one from the community came forward to ask questions or comment on the project. There were also few questions from SDC members. Asselin said that he expected to have a request for proposal ready for contractors this week.