PORTLAND, Maine — Bangor’s top development official says existing companies and emerging small manufacturers hold a key to growing the local economy and will fuel demand for commercial real estate.
Tanya Emery, director of economic and community development for the city of Bangor, on Thursday will present a detailed forecast for the Bangor area’s economy and the demands on commercial real estate during the Maine Real Estate and Development Association conference in Portland.
Emery said the year ahead is a “thumbs up” for commercial real estate demand in Bangor, which she said is “a fairly mitigated thumbs up” for an area that doesn’t see major booms or busts in commercial real estate activity.
Her forecast comes as hits to manufacturing in the region have had ripple effects on suppliers and others.
Relatively low lease rates mean there’s little demand for new construction on the horizon, but she said smaller companies will likely drive demand for filling existing vacancies, citing projects such as the renovation of apartments at 28 Broad St. and other downtown locations as examples.
Emery said she keeps an eye out for national or international businesses it could attract to the area, but stiff competition nationally for business attraction keeps her office’s focus on helping businesses already in the area to grow.
“We feel the most sustainable and long-term manageable growth for the economy is if we could get every business in the area to add one or two jobs,” Emery said.
Emery said she thinks those smaller businesses and a growing migration back to downtown areas will drive continued renovation of existing buildings, continued growth of health care’s importance to the regional economy and a challenge for retailers and the hospitality industry from the falling value of the Canadian dollar.
“We’ve seen growth in the hospitality sector, and I think there will be some tempering of that,” Emery said.
Emery said she will present more details about specific developments in Bangor, during Thursday’s conference featuring commercial real estate forecasts throughout the state and remarks from Gov. Paul LePage.
The MEREDA conference runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland.