BRUNSWICK, Maine — Kestrel Aircraft Co. is negotiating with development officials in Superior, Wis., to create 300 to 600 jobs initially envisioned for Maine, a local redevelopment official confirmed Friday.
Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, said Friday that Kestrel founder Alan Klapmeier confirmed a story in the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune reporting on a Jan. 16 public hearing at which the city of Superior would consider a development agreement with Kestrel for the company to build parts for its new single-engine turboprop plane there.
Also on Friday, Gov. Paul LePage and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development touted another business at Brunswick Landing, the American Bureau of Shipping Maine Modeling Center, which saw strong growth in 2011 and has plans to add another 16 jobs, all of them local hires.
Neither Klapmeier nor his spokeswoman immediately returned phone calls Friday.
Superior Mayor Bruce Hagen told the paper that the city’s redevelopment authority would hold the Jan. 16 hearing to consider a development agreement with Kestrel, and that state housing and economic development officials would present Kestrel with their proposal on Thursday.
Levesque was taken by surprise this morning when told of the story, he said, and called Kestrel officials who confirmed it.
“They said no decisions have been made, but they confirmed they have been talking with [officials in Superior],” Levesque told The Times Record.
The public hearing is necessary before the city could present an incentive package to Kestrel, according to Levesque.
Calls to city and development officials in Superior were not immediately returned Friday.
The jobs in question initially were envisioned for Maine, and perhaps Brunswick, where Kestrel has signed a 10-year lease for part of Hangar 6, the newest and largest hangar at the former Navy base
But in October, Klapmeier told The Times Record that some of the jobs might be located elsewhere because funding expected from Wiscasset-based CEI Capital Management of Maine did not materialize.
In October, Klapmeier said he was negotiating with officials in Berlin, N.H., to open a Kestrel facility near a new biomass plant there.
Levesque said at the time that CEI Capital Management informed Kestrel in May that it could not allocate more than $20 million in New Market Tax Credits to the Kestrel project, leaving a gap of approximately $60 million.
Since then, MRRA has worked with Kestrel, Maine Economic Development Commissioner George Gervais, the governor’s office, Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, and others at the state and federal level to find additional funding.
“We’re still working on it,” Levesque said Friday. “We’re trying to be as helpful as we can to support the growth of the company [but] we only have so many tools. You get into a situation where it becomes a bidding war. Maine doesn’t always compete very well with other states, if that’s what it’s going to come to, but I’m not sure that’s what it’s going to come to.”
MRRA has applied to become eligible to allocate $70 million in federal tax credits, and Levesque said he will hear in January if the application was successful.
Gervais did not immediately return a phone call or email Friday.
“We’re all taking this seriously and negotiations are going on,” Gerzofsky said Friday. “I have been working with Alan Klapmeier for quite a while now and I believe they truly want to be in Maine. They have made a commitment to be in Maine. It’s just a short-term funding issue we have to find a way to overcome, in this very competitive economy … everybody’s trying to steal jobs. A lot of investors have been trying to woo every company to come into their state, just like we’re doing, and this is becoming competitive.”
Terms of Kestrel’s lease with MRRA require the company to attempt to secure up to $90 million to support its aircraft design, development and production operation, and that MRRA would work with CEI Capital Management and others to “facilitate project financing.”
As of October, Kestrel employed about 25 people in Brunswick, including 10 designers. Klapmeier said at the time that while he always assumed all the new jobs would be in Brunswick, other communities offered advantages that he had to consider.
“We have some assets here that are pretty significant,” Levesque said. “The state-of-the-art hangar, [Southern Maine] community college, the composites alliance and the University of Maine, the work force — a lot of elements that are intangible. It’s important to us that as we go forward that whatever we do, we can support it publicly and that it makes sense from a business perspective for MRRA and for the state.”
What could be a major blow to the state’s efforts to create new jobs was tempered Friday with an announcement from LePage and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner George Gervais that another business at Brunswick Landing, American Bureau of Shipping Maine Modeling Center, is poised for growth.
The nonprofit ABS Modeling Center, which creates computer-aided design models of seagoing vessels for clients with the intent of ensuring the accomplishment of safety and legal requirements, announced in April that it was moving part of its operation from India to the former air station, which is now known as Brunswick Landing. At the time, ABS promised 30 good jobs immediately followed by as many as 100 more.
In a Dec. 21 letter to LePage from ABS Chairman Robert Somerville, which was distributed by the administration Friday, Somerville said the company’s first five months of operations in Brunswick have been “outstanding.” There are 30 employees at the center and Somerville said he expects another 16 new employees in 2012.
“The early success of the Maine Modeling Center would not have been possible without support from you and other leaders in Maine,” wrote Somerville to LePage. “I sincerely appreciate all you have done to assist ABS further its mission of promoting safety throughout the maritime industry.”
BDN writer Christopher Cousins contributed to this report.
To see more from The Times Record, visit timesrecord.com.
Why is Jason Levesque’s picture on this story? The piece quotes Steve Levesque…
Very weird!!
freaky.
That photo was uploaded in error. It has been removed. Thank you.
This is where LePage should be paying attention to keep the jobs in Maine instead of his half-cocked ideas.
Oh he didnt call you and let you know what he’s doing.
Kind of hard to get excited about 16 jobs when we’re being told that we could have had 600.
True-but that’s our math-challenged administration at work.
So the administration is asked about what is going on about bringing 300-600 jobs to Brunswick in light of a report that Kestrel Aircraft is in negotiations to take them to Wisconsin and LePage and Gervais respond by telling us about a “possible” 16 jobs coming from ABS. Ask the LePage Adminstration about airplanes and they tell you about the maritime industry. About par for the course with this bunch.
Theres nothing in that article about comments from the Governors office on the 300-600 jobs. The reporter added a “also” comment the governors offices made about the 16 jobs.
My point exactly. “Gervais did not immediately return a phone call or email Friday.”
They couldn’t or probably didn’t want to comment on another example of their incompetence so they released the details of a letter from Dec. 21, 2011 about an entirely different company in hopes to do what we all know tea party people do so well. Deflect.
So Gervais didnt call the reporter immediately. This makes them incompetent? Then ” you “say they released a letter from dec. 21 instead and the reporter got that. WOW! Then the tea party did something then cat in the hat flew over the moon with cow that ate a flower that was in my garden next to the road. I’ve got to go back to school I got cheated and it’s the governors fault.
“I’ve got to go back to school”. Judging by some of your post that I have read I agree with you.
Its called sarcasm. I just dont agree with your comments. Nothing personal. Damn cow is in the garden again gotta go.
A garden in Maine at the end of Dec. Pretty Good
Hey, why not? My snow peas are withering on the vine due tolack of snow.
“Maine doesn’t always compete very well with other states—-” That’s the part we need to focus on. High energy costs, state government apathy about making conditions better while tooting the mythical horn- these are some of the issues that need to be addressed.
Bidding between States is a loosing situation.
I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Maine doesn’t need big business here screwing up this state like it has for the rest of the country. After all, we need to keep Maine clean and green so we will keep our tourist industry going. Maina’s know big business is evil. Move along evil big business, nothing for you here.
Best post ever, man!! (and yes, I get it lol)
The Penguin strikes again !!!!!!!!!! He gets 16 jobs for Maine while losing 600 jobs to NH or Wis. Guess his sign on 95 isn’t working too well.
Guess aren’t paying attention…Steve Levesque and the members of MRRA were all appointed by Baldacci and nearly all are Democrats. The KESTREL deal was negotiated by them and was ‘iffy’ to begin with. Even their engine supplier did a short range analysis recently showing that the market sector they targeted was stagnant and competition was extremely tough.
LePage is trying to put his stamp on a huge undertaking at a very difficult time….apparently the Embry Riddle aeronautics college fell through as well. Yet others are picking over the vast complex; and the opening of the Maine Technology Institute on Base brings even more ‘shoppers’ to look over potential sites. If Levesque can’t make it happen, I don’t think anyone can. There is an entire empty town house complex, an empty resort hotel—the second largest in the state, a fully equipped pre-school center, hangers, a motor home court, recreation fields, etc.
Your stupid comments aren’t helping fill up any of the space.
“Stupid comments” as in not tut-tutting and politely looking the other way when Penguin and Penguin’s spinmeister’s hit another towering pop-up, with the bases loaded, and two out in the ninth.
Sail on O ship of state,
The world stands breathless at Penguin’s fate,
Glug Glug Glug
But a nice tan.
Glug Glug Glug?
Half o’re, half o’re to Abbadour,
Its fifty fathoms deep,
And there lies good Sir Patrick Spens,
With the Scots lords at his feet.
That is a wonderful poem. My Grandfather used to read it out loud at parties. He was also fond of pointing out that the dangers of spending more than one has will sink you every time.
The Left, ingratiate
Worked itself
Into a Frenzied State
Name Calling
Dissing Bad
To divert attentionFrom the ultimate bad
That the DemocratsIn their usual cad
Spent more tax revenue
Than they had
Sending the ship
Of State, that is
Headed
for the rocks
And losing Biz
Yet pithy ad hominen attacks
And twisted facts
The Left doth deal
As they continue to spiel
A strange tale
Making no economic sense
That if we tax and spend more
We’ll correct that course, hence
Well said, well spake,
Who would suspect old English word,
From a minion of the witless wingless bird.
Literature and Economics
Indeed, My Fare
Yet I don’t dislike a Former Governor
Bereft of Hair
‘Tis the policies
Of illogic sense
That makes me suspect
the Left is Dense
I’ve worked with both
The Ds and Rs
And Economics 101
Will take one far
Will Governor Volatile Doth succeed?
Can he save Maine
In its Hour of Need?
Who knows–’tis early to tell
Tune back in a year
See if it turns out well
I’m confused by your comments. In the first paragraph you seem to imply that Levesque is a democrat and was behind the Kestral deal, going on to label it iffy from the start. Then you opine that if Levesque can’t make things happen at MTI no one can. Are you suggesting Levesque is competent or incompetent?
Also, LePage is indeed operating during difficult economic times which gives the lie to his comments that the unemployed are lazy. Further, he’s had a year to “own” the process. At this point I think it’s starting to be a little difficult to lay the blame on the democrats or previous administrations. While I don’t blame him for necessarily not being able to help close this deal, at the same time he does spend a lot of time patting himself on his back for his ability to improve the economic environment in Maine. I’d rather he wait to do that until he has more of a record under his belt. So far I don’t think he’s doing any better, or worse, than Baldacci, King, etc….
Let it be known that the ABS jobs began with the prior administration. Like any economic and business development deal, they don’t happen overnight. For Lepage and Gervais to claim this as “their” victory is wrong. They may have put the bow on the package, but it was not Lepage who initiated it.
That true just like Obama getting credit for killing Osama Bin Laden.
Wait for the chorus, wait for the chorus!
(See above comment lol)
Wisconsin isnt that the Walker guy the unions are trying to throw out?
No – it’s the place that the citizens have, so far, recalled two state senators. Walker is the next to go. Would that we could do that here among the rocks and potholes.
Makes sense. Superior is across from Duluth, MN where Klapmeier founded Cirrus Aircraft with his brother. Plenty of skilled labor there idled by the bad economy.
As an employer I am all to familiar with Maines oppressive tax laws.
As a compettive business man , it wouldnt take much to woe me away from here.
Wisconsin is truly, Open For Business.
Smarten up, Maine !!
Hope that you refrain from writing memos to all those “employees” of yours. There may be a reason Wisconsin isn’t “woeing” you away.
While northern Wisconsin is beautiful and I enjoy the waters there
I need the smell of the sweet saltair.
Thats one reason I’m staying.
No surprise!!! Who would do business in Maine with the high taxes and cost..
All together now, LePage haters: “That ABS guy didn’t say that about LePage!! It’s just a big lie!”
Sounds like all we need to do is offer them more corporate welfare than the jobs are worth and we can have them. I say go away no one should give them their welfare anywhere this is a capitolist society. We need real jobs not tax payer sunsidized jobs on any level for private companies especially it stifles competition.
As much of a critic of LePage as I am, this is one that is not his fault from what I’ve read. Both he and the MRRA are apparently working to get and keep Kestrel here. Kestrel itself wants to stay here (they do have a 10 year lease after all) and is showing that they are more than willing to work with the State to make it happen. That alone says a lot about Kestrel’s corporate intent and determination. That they are also exploring the NH and Wisconsin options is nothing more than responsible business option planning. What is more important is that apparently CEI want’s more guarantee’s from Maine. This is where LePage needs to go and haul CEI into a closet and have a serious ‘heart to heart’ regarding there operating in Maine. CEI’s shenanigan’s do nothing for any of the business community’s here in Maine. Capital is tough enough to find and get moving without this type whining and crying having to be dealt with. Given LePage’s background, Marden’s notwithstanding, the primary business responsibility of government is to provide a environment that promotes community business’s in starting, operating responsibly and in there expanding. But for that to happen the business community, ALL OF IT, needs to work together to make business’s work. CEI’s position is, from what is here, nothing more than them wanting another gov’t funded insurance policy, i.e., a ‘bail out’ policy. Given the current mood of the Maine taxpayer’s, and the up-coming elections, that is just not gonna’ happen. That the ABS Modeling Center is here, and is expanding, bringing jobs back from India no less, proves that the business capital environment is doing just fine. Makes me wonder just what’s behind CEI’s sudden ‘gap in funding’ statement ? It should also make LePage, the MDECD, the MRRA and Maine taxpayer’s wonder as well.
“working on it” and “getting ‘er done” are two different things.
Seems we can move heaven and earth to try and gut the DHHS budget, or change voting laws, so maybe we need the same enthusiasm to create up to 600 jobs?
Time is money and Maine seems to be wasting time by creeping and crawling on this opportunity?
Why doesn’t everyone that comments on this page about this issue plan an open meeting and sit down and try to nail down what needs to be done about jobs in Maine. We seem to be critical but offer no resolution. If we can’t be part of the solution then we are part of the problem.
I remember when LIEpage was first bragging about this and the hundreds of jobs it would bring. His goofy kool aid drinking cheerleaders practically proclaimed him a Messiah on the spot…Yet it seems as though this isn’t gong to happen at all…or that 300-600 employees MIGHT be 16.
Looks like Superior, WI and Kestrel just raised you LIEpage…you gonna re-raise them or FOLD??? My money is on you folding because all you’ve done since election is bluff, whine, and blame.
Superior, WI? That is an oxymoron for a name.
If Kestrel Air is such a hot commodity I can’t help but wonder why they can’t get bank financing for their facility. It appears that they are waving the promise of 300 to 600 jobs around to different communities to see which one is desperate enough to pony up $90 million to finance them. This certainly wouldn’t be the first BS show of this type that I have watched unfold. Big dreams…but no money.
Why does the BDN hardcopy version of this story’s headline read: “Kestrel Aircraft plans could create 600 Maine jobs”? I suppose it could but it sounds kinda like it ain’t gonna.
The “Brunswick Landing” history:
Oct 4th Times/Record Article excerps –
” Pingree announces $5 million retraining grant for jobs at former Navy base
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, on Tuesday announced a $5 million federal grant to help retrain 300 unemployed workers for high-tech jobs at companies located at Brunswick Landing.
The grant, to be administered by Coastal Counties Workforce, will allow companies already located at the former Navy base — including Kestrel Aircraft Co., Resilient Communications and Mölnlycke Health Care — to hire domestic workers and train them for high-skills positions, instead of hiring foreign workers, CCW executive director Michael Bourret told The Times Record on Tuesday.
The new funding will allow more customized training in such fields as advanced manufacturing, composite technology, medical equipment manufacturing, computer system design, and scientific research and development, according to Pingree. Participants will be unemployed individuals who have advanced degrees or experience suited for the targeted occupations.
“It’s so critical, particularly at this moment when we have opportunities being created, to make sure currently unemployed workers and people who live in the area” are able to take advantage of this opportunity to train for the specific, high-skills positions, Pingree told The Times Record on Tuesday. “We’ve had so many workers displaced in manufacturing. This (grant) will allow them to be retrained and make the transition from being unemployed.”
When the training will take place depends on the individual companies, Bourret said, and the jobs will come a few at a time.
“The original numbers we got represented about 600 jobs, but that was over a couple of years,” he said. “This is not, ‘There’s 300 jobs tomorrow.’ That’s not what this is. This is five (jobs) here, a couple there.”
Coastal Counties Workforce and Goodwill Industries of Maine have already developed on-the-job training for about six positions for companies at Brunswick Landing through other funding sources, Bourret said. ”
__________________
I slept better when Brunswick Naval Air Station & Navy P-3’s were protecting Maine and the East coast. And Fighter jet support was only minutes away.
” Brunswick Landing ” is a federally funded facility & probably the best airport on the East coast.
Now one wonders whether the planes passing overhead truly know how to fly in sleet, freezing rain and snow. Or just think Brunswick Landing is a nice place to pass by or visit. God help us it’s not Terrorists.
A Bath, Maine native.