PITTSFIELD, Maine — Pittsfield construction company Cianbro is one of three New England companies that are considering plans to turn a deteriorating Moscow radar site into a power plant and business complex.
Among the first sources of energy to be considered at the location is wind power, Cianbro CEO Peter Vigue said in a company announcement Monday, with the location of the site keeping any proposed equipment out of public view. But Vigue told the Bangor Daily News the three partner companies will explore all possibilities to maximize the potential for the site and are not yet married to any particular plans.
“To be specific about it would be premature at this point, but we’ve got some significant opportunities to attract investment in the property other than just through energy generation,” Vigue said. “It’s an isolated site and a very secure site that has access to energy, and at the same time, because of the space, would provide opportunities to develop other types of investment, including structures that could house a number of things from light manufacturing to other things that could significantly impact the tax base and create jobs.”
The former U.S. Air Force radar installation comprises about 1,300 acres and has 30,000 square feet of buildings, with a substation and power line servicing the location. The facility was mothballed in 2002 after being fully operational from 1990 until 1997.
Cianbro’s partners in the project are Massachusetts-based partners Conroy Development Corp. and Jay Cashman Inc. The trio of companies purchased the property from the General Service Administration through a federal bidding process for $730,000.
A Cianbro announcement Monday claimed the remote location and on-site power generation could attract business tenants in search of high security and low electricity bills, such as web-hosting or information-technology firms, which use large and numerous servers.
Conroy Development is a real estate firm with a high-profile list of clients that includes defense contractor General Dynamics Corp., which has a strong Maine presence with Bath Iron Works shipyard and Armament and Technical Products in Saco.
The renovation of the installation, the maintenance of the power plant and arrival of new business operations all have the potential to add jobs to the area, the Cianbro announcement said. Representatives from the three partner companies reportedly met with Moscow selectmen on April 5 to discuss the proposed development.
In a statement Monday, Moscow Selectman Mike Staples said townspeople are “very excited” about the project and its potential impact on the local economy.
“We are happy to have the property on the tax books, and happy to have someone up there that’s going to do something with the installation,” added Moscow Selectman Elvin Hawes in a statement released by Cianbro Monday. “We’ve been waiting for something good to happen up there ever since the installation was shut down, and now we’re very excited about the economic opportunities that are on the horizon. That’s in contrast to what we’ve seen in recent years — vandalism at the site, and a slow decline to the point where the property was becoming decrepit.”
Why don’t we just change the name of this State from Maine to Cianbro and get it over with.
I like this one better than the East-West Highway proposal. Here’s the big differene-This makes sense.
The Wind Turbines make no sense period we have enough now as it is and all it has done is make electric bills go up. If they bring in other jobs yeah it makes sense then but no more ugly wind turbines period.
The East-West Highway also makes sense we need better roads in Maine . We need new highways that not only cut down on travel time to ship goods, saving on fuel , but also getting more large trucks off rural roads which are taking a major pounding right now.
Cianbro=private $$
Maine=tax $$
Excellent! Very few people “get” this common sense equation.
Cianbro is an expert in feasting at the public trough.
TAXPAYERS: paying their own way and YOURS everyday.
At least Cianbro is an employee owned company in the State of Maine and is hiring people!
Now that they can get really cheap people to do electrical work do you think they will charge less???????????????????????????
I saw your post elsewhere. If electricians are a dime a dozen why can’t I find one?
Hey I am right here. Did you try the yellow pages? No we are not a dime a dozen . Electricians work cheaper than plumbers . Anyone who can not find an electrician did not look to hard. At least in this part of the state.
Took me 10 days recently to get an electrician to fix a switch in my panel.
Dear Totally,
I wish Maine’s economic development strategy had more emphasis on encouraging and incubating employee owned companies ( instead of allowing “white knights” of questionable valor in to rescue our failing factories and mills). They are the answer to employee/owner relationships because employees are the owners.They are the answer to growing businesses in Maine communities that are natural to the unique culture, resources and know how of those communities
I think it is very exciting that Mainers employed in Maine are the heart and strength of this company..that they are building components for refineries in Port Arthur right here in Maine. It’s brilliant that they can bring prosperity to Maine through the prosperity and opportunities in other states and soon, I am sure other countries.
Harvard Business School, Tuck, and Sloan are teaching what perpetuates the plutonomy.
Cianbro is doing what promotes local economy and seves national and global markets in a way that builds on and preserves community. Those business schools should be sending grad students to intern at Cianbro and the other equally impressive employee owned companies beginning to pop up in Fortunes top 100 company list.
You go Cianbro!!! and please state and federal legsilators and governor learn from the employee owned model and makeit the axis on which our economic strategy turns.
That is a great , great idea . Go for it PETE. The state of CIANBRO and we know it will be run the way it should be. With employee owned people.
hey if they are providing jobs call this place “purple-elephant-whirley cup” for all I care.
Please, no wind turbines!! Thank you!
in moscow maine…lol last time i was out there i swore i heard a tree fall i nthe forest…
I do a lot of snowmobiling in Moscow. I have been somewhat close to the radar site. It is almost impossible to even get a glimpse of the site let alone consider it an eyesore. The original Backscatter radar antenna arrays are still in place which would be an eyesore as it is, but most don’t even know what Backscatter is let alone have ever seen it. Good on Cianbro for championing something worthwhile. I’m sure some won’t see it this way. Non union labor. Big business.
I was pretty sure they took the old towers down
This must be tied into the East-West highway, somehow.
I’m sure that before this day is out that there will be just a little army of people crying to save the wood tick or that their view is going to be spoiled or some such drivel.
I agree with you forget the wood tick. Maybe a Nuclear Storage Facility for all the Nuclear waste produced in the North East and East of the Mississippi. It is apparent that Maine cant attract any sort of business except garbage dumps. Why not a Nuclear Waste Dump?
oh crap, I just saw a field mouse. How do I alert the media.
A power plant is a good idea. A business center is a very bad idea. With all the vacant office buildings and warehouses from the County to Kittery we have no need of another vacant building looking for a business that does not exist in Maine. Things must really be slow at Cianbro to think this crap up.
Eyesore?????? It’s time to wake up and save our state from people who would have it for their private playground. $100 a running foot tax for any water frontage would be a good place to start.
I hate to say it, but high tech is never going to locate that far out into the willywags. They surely aren’t going to be able to hire many locals that already have skills for the technology sector, and they aren’t going to get America’s best and brightest to locate so far from a major metropolitan area. Sorry.
Why more power plants, regardless of source? Seems to me that if we are exporting to Beacon Hill half the power generated here, that’s enough. Let’m use flashlights.
They are going after federal funding I bet
Now Cianbro can get really cheap electricians Do you think the bid for the work will go down or do you think they will make more profit? I will it will be harder for a licensed electrician to get a Job when the can use a lot more helpers for cheap money.
Jay Cashman inc. http://www.jaycashman.com/….. http://www.conroydev.cohttp:/
I remember hauling cement (from Cianbro) to the radar site when it was first started to be built, what a long haul.
Glad to see that it is going to be used again.
If it is wind it will make the electricity rates go up .