Old Port district visionary Akers dies at 72

PORTLAND – Frank Guthrie Akers Jr., a Boston-born real estate broker who helped revitalize Portland’s Old Port district and transform it into a retail and tourist mecca, died Sunday. He was 72.

Akers, who lived in Camden, died at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport after a long struggle with cancer.

Akers recognized the potential value of the 18th century and 19th century buildings that dotted what had been a rundown area near the Portland waterfront, but he had trouble finding banks to invest in his ventures.

He became a licensed real estate broker in 1970 and bought buildings for as little as a few thousand dollars, renting to artists and craftspeople for modest payments. With the help of his tenants, he renovated his buildings to their original Victorian form.

The office for his real estate agency, Akers Associates, overlooked the foot of Exchange Street.

During the 1970s, he bought and remodeled 14 Old Port buildings. Before that, in 1969, he bought a five-story building at Fore and Moulton streets for $10,000. In 1985, he sold it for nearly $1 million, a reflection of the burgeoning demand for Old Port property.

“He was a bit of a mover and a shaker,” said Nancy Brewster Akers, his wife of 46 years. “He was called the mayor of the Old Port … It’s just not going to be the same without Frank on Exchange Street.”

Akers and his wife lived in the Boston area before moving here in 1962, when Akers got a job with O.P. Peterson and Co. He became president in 1965. In 1968, he was elected president of the Maine Marine Trade Association.

In 1970, Akers helped organize the Old Port Exchange Association to help strengthen the area visually and economically.

“Frank was a very brave man to buy property when nobody else had confidence,” said Nancy Lawrence, owner of Portmanteau, a Middle Street shop that has sold handmade bags and clothing since 1977. “It really was the beginning of the whole neighborhood.”

Akers’ survivors include his wife and three daughters: Nancy Page Akers of Portland, Susan Thayer Akers of South Thomaston and Jennifer Brewster White of Falmouth.