One of Presque Isle’s largest manufacturing companies may be able to expand its production of medical and orthodontics devices thanks to a federal grant awarded the city for building improvements.
Presque Isle has been awarded $250,000 from the Northern Border Regional Commission to improve a city-owned building at 1450 Central Drive in the Skyway Industrial Park for Acme Monaco.
The grant to Presque Isle is one of six being awarded in Maine totaling more than $1.3 million by the Northern Border Regional Commission, according to members of Maine’s congressional delegation who announced the awards in press releases issued Tuesday.
Acme Monaco, which is based in New Britain, Connecticut, has operated in Presque Isle since 1989, making medical products such as surgical staples and guidewires.
The grant is expected to help the company lease and move into the new building with more than 70 existing jobs and create as many as 23 new ones, according to Larry Clark, executive director of the Presque Isle Industrial Council.
Acme Monaco leases two manufacturing plants in Presque Isle. The new 16,000-square-foot building will allow them to consolidate into a single facility and provide space for future growth, Clark has said previously.
With locations in Presque Isle, New Britain, Connecticut, and Singapore, Acme Monaco manufacturers guidewires for a variety of catheters used in surgeries and internal diagnostics, such as cardiovascular catheterization, along with archwires, medical grade springs, stampings, fourslide parts and wire forms.
The $250,000 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission is part of a series of grants that Presque Isle and the Industrial Council are pursuing to aid Acme Monaco’s long-term presence. Applications also are pending for a Community Development Block Grant through the state of Maine and a federal Economic Development Administration grant, Clark said. They could total more than $2.5 million.
Other recipients of grants awarded by the Northern Border Regional Commission, according to press releases issued Tuesday by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and by U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, are:
— the town of Jay, which will receive $250,000 to upgrade a portion of a municipal roadway and encourage private investment in an adjacent quarrying operation and granite curbing plant.
— the Old Town-Orono Fiber Corporation, which will receive $250,000 to help create a high speed fiber optic network in which numerous Internet service providers can competitively offer services to support the region’s established and growing research and development sectors.
— the Lincolnville Sewer District, which will receive $250,000 to assist a substantial upgrade of the district’s shoreline wastewater system. The resulting improvement aims to eliminate any overboard discharging of waste and help improve the water quality for Penobscot Bay’s tourism recreation and clamming industries.
— the town of Kingfield, which will receive $247,000 to partially fund upgrades to the municipality’s aging wastewater pump stations that will support the town’s expanding downtown businesses.
— the town of Greenville, which will receive $109,000 for energy efficiency upgrades to a municipally-owned building that it leases to GlacierWear, a manufacturer of fur products. The lower energy costs are expected to help the company create an additional 10 jobs over the next two years.
“These grants will give our tight-knit communities the resources they need to upgrade and be open for business,” said Poliquin in his release.
“These grants are investments in the future of Maine communities,” said Collins and King said in a joint statement.
The Northern Border Regional Commission is a federal-state partnership that was created by the Congress in 2008 in order to help alleviate economic distress and encourage private sector job creation throughout the northern counties of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.