AUGUSTA – The Loring Development Authority of Maine on Tuesday presented its annual update to members of the Legislature on the operations of the Loring Commerce Centre at Limestone.

Once a year, the LDA holds one of its monthly meetings in Augusta to let state officials know what is happening.

“We recapped the progress made at Loring, especially that made in the past 12 months,” said Carl Flora, vice president and LDA general counsel. “It’s a time when we let them know what is happening, and remind them that we are in northern Maine doing the job they gave us to do almost 10 years ago.

“The only new piece of business we had on the table was an expansion of operations by the Telford Group,” Flora said. “They needed more room, again. The LDA approved the company to occupy another 40,000 square feet of space.”

The extra space is in a building in which Telford already uses almost 40,000 square feet. The building has three sections of nearly equal size.

One-third of the building will be used to house the Pattison Sign Group, which is expected to start moving in machinery in April. Pattison already has an option on the 40,000 square feet Telford will be using.

Flora said Telford, under the new agreement, would have 12 months to move out of the middle 40,000 square feet of building 7220, if and when the Pattison Sign Group needs it.

“It’s an expansion of Telford’s warehousing and parts distribution area,” Flora said. “The LDA approval allows them to utilize the section.

“We are running short of good, serviceable industrial space at Loring,” Flora said. “We need to look at additional space at Loring, and it may involve an addition to buildings.”

Flora said there was no specific number of jobs in the Telford proposal, but it is an enlargement of their operation.

He said the LDA may have to look at ways to expand or create industrial sites on the base. There are no more large areas available, he said.

The annual update included information on other efforts at the Loring Commerce Centre including the National Job Corps Center, Sitel, Loring Bioenergy, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Maine Military Authority Vehicle Refurbishing Center, the Maine Winter Sports Center and the Loring Applied Technology Center for new industry.