News & Events > FirstPark job growth saves $1M for towns
November 16, 2006
FirstPark's success has guaranteed that the Kennebec Regional Development Authority will not have to repay a $1 million state grant.
By JOEL ELLIOTT
Staff Writer
OAKLAND -- FirstPark's success has guaranteed that the Kennebec Regional Development Authority will not have to repay a $1 million state grant.
The authority made the announcement on Wednesday, and project participants expressed their satisfaction at FirstPark's progress.
The state in 1998 granted the money, but stipulated that FirstPark must eventually create at least 100 new jobs, or the money would have to be repaid. With more than 700 employees, the project has more than met its goals, Kennebec Regional Development Authority director Leonard Dow said.
"We're very pleased," he said. "The cloud is not hanging over our heads any more that we would have to pay back the money."
Dow said that the $1 million was part of a total of $5.5 million in grants and bonds used to start up the business development. So far, the development has sold eight lots, almost half of the park's capacity.
Employees commute from 90 different towns and from 12 of Maine's 16 counties to work at businesses in FirstPark, mainly at the T-Mobile site.
Dow said the park ran into a snag after the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. FirstPark's roads had been completed the previous month, and the later economic slump made for a shaky start at the business park.
The project is now back on track to hire between 2,000 and 3,000 workers within 20 years of opening, despite a that major economical setback, Dow said.
"We didn't know when boom and bust periods were going to happen," he said. "We didn't know when recession periods were going to happen."
