Houlton seeks more tenants for HIC facility

HOULTON – The fire in the former Houlton International Corp. building has yet to be sparked by a Mattawamkeag logging firm, but officials say progress is being made to get two additional tenants to heat the place back up again.

Jon McLaughlin, executive director of the Southern Aroostook Development Corp., said Tuesday that officials are still negotiating to snag two more businesses to share the facility with Premium Log Yards Inc.

Although the town signed a lease with the logging firm last month, the two-man enterprise has not yet moved into the 73,000 square-foot-facility.

McLaughlin said that lawyers are still finishing points of the deal, which has the company paying $847.50 per month in rent to the town.

The vast space within the complex will allow several occupants to go about their jobs without disturbing one another. McLaughlin said Tuesday that the two other potential tenants are still going over details with their lawyers and representatives at their company headquarters.

There has been no one to breathe life into the HIC facility since employees left the complex for good in December 2002. Foreign competition was cited as the main reason that the specialty-woods product manufacturer closed, leaving 55 people out of work.

Since then, officials have tried to attract tenants to the facility, which is located at the Houlton International Airport.

A bid to get a New Jersey firm to take up residence failed in 2003, and members of the SADC board took a more aggressive stance toward economic development recently when they allocated $161,000 to buy the building.

The group secured a zero-interest, $200,000 loan two weeks ago to refurbish the complex in order to get it ready for potential tenants.

Though some SADC members felt that the town should hold on to the building until they could lure a company that would offer more jobs to local residents, others won out with the argument that the town shouldn’t pass up the revenue that they are garnering through rent.

Officials are optimistic that the resulting funds will be sufficient to quickly pay back both the purchase price and the renovation loan.