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Lemforder to Add 106 Jobs in Brewer Deal
Brewer City officials unveiled plans Thursday for a multimillion-dollar deal expected
to result in at least 106 new manufacturing jobs.
According to Economic Development Director Drew Sachs, the city is working out an
arrangement with Lemforder Corp. aimed at helping the German-based auto parts manufacturer
resolve a space crunch, while creating new jobs for the region and boosting the city's tax
base.
The project, as well as a proposed amendment to the city's 1997 tax-increment financing
agreement with the company, are subject to approval by Brewer's five-member City Council.
The project will be the focus of a public hearing scheduled for the council's Sept. 14
meeting, according to a legal notice.
The amendment would add to the 1997 TIF agreement - which paved the way for a $24
million investment by Lemforder two years ago - at least $10 million in investments the
company plans to make in Brewer in the near future.
The TIF district also would be expanded to include addition areas, both within
Lemforder's existing plant and a new facility the city hopes to build.
The upshot, according to Sachs, is that the city plans to obtain a 20-year bond to
construct a 50,000-square-foot facility on city-owned land on Stevens Road, which is
located in Brewer's East-West Industrial Park.
Lemforder would then move its logistics functions, which include shipping and receiving
and inventory storage, into the new building. Sachs said that Lemforder currently has to
rent space for some of those activities.
The company would use the newly freed space at its 116,000-square-foot manufacturing
plant for $10 million in new precision manufacturing equipment, according to Sachs.
"In order for this deal to be accomplished, the city has to pull out all the
stops,'' said Mayor Donna Thornton Thursday.
"The time pressure here is huge,'' Sachs agreed.
The city and Lemforder are working on an aggressive schedule, Thornton and Sachs said.
If all goes as planned, construction on the logistics facility will begin this fall.
Though the project currently ranks among Brewer's highest priorities, it must still
clear all of the city's usual development hurdles, the site plan review process among
them.
If the proposal comes to pass, Lemforder would expand its work force by at least 106
employees, Sachs and Thornton said.
"This is really a wonderful project for the city of Brewer and for eastern
Maine,'' Thornton said, adding that the city and Lemforder have teamed up on a number of
similar projects in past years.
"These are jobs that everybody wants,'' Thornton said, noting that Lemforder's pay
starts at about $13 an hour and that jobs come with benefits.
Another plus for the city, according to Sachs and Thornton, would be the $45,000 to
$55,000 in new tax revenue the city stands to gain if the plans become a reality.
In addition to Sachs and Thornton, Eastern Maine Development Corp. chief David Cole and
economic development officials helped plan the Lemforder package.
"This is an economic development team,'' Thornton said, putting her emphasis on
the last word. Many other city staffers and elected officials will get involved as the
plan moves ahead in the approval process.
The project represents the first major development coup for Sachs, who assumed his post
as the city's economic development director on May 24.
This is a copyright article written by Dawn Gagnon of the NEWS Staff that
appeared in the Bangor Daily News, Friday, September 3, 1999.
Economic Development News
Brewer Economic Development Office
D'arcy Main-Boyington
(207)989-7500
Brewer City Hall
80 North Main Street
Brewer, Maine 04412
dmain-boyington@brewerme.org
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