Technology center seeks rehab funds

AUGUSTA - Business boosters from western Maine hope state lawmakers will back an effort to inject $1.2 million into a nonprofit program aimed at launching new businesses in the region.

The River Valley Technology Center, created four years ago by the Maine Legislature, needs about $2.7 million to renovate a 65,000-square-foot building in Rumford. A gift of MeadWestvaco paper company, the structure is only a shell and needs everything from structural repairs to plumbing and electricity.

Once completed, the center is expected to offer start-up businesses specializing in precision manufacturing use of its space, equipment and business connections, said Director Norman L. MacIntyre.

Interested businesses are already clamoring to get in the doors, he said. Precision manufacturing could include everything from production of semiconductors to machine tooling.

The River Valley Technology Center will be one of seven such centers located throughout the state. Each of the six others will focus on a different area of technology.

The Rumford center has raised $1.86 million of the total renovation cost through federal grants and what is left over from the $750,000 in seed money from the state, MacIntyre said. Program officials hope it will become self sufficient, operating on rent charged to the businesses using its facilities. If it were to borrow money to get up and running, it would have to charge more in rent, defeating the purpose of the center, MacIntyre said.

"The concept of an incubator is to provide start-up companies a nurturing environment," he said.

After about three years, the companies are expected to leave that space and relocate somewhere in the region, providing good-paying jobs.

The most prominent industry in western Maine is paper manufacturing, said state Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield. Recently, that industry has suffered mill closings and downsizings, including MeadWestvaco in Rumford.

"The bottom line is we're in an area where there's one big business," he said. "If we don't diversify before something happens, you're in tough shape."

Bryant submitted a bill to the Legislature that would give the center $800,000 to complete its renovations, plus $400,000 to buy needed machinery to equip the space.

The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee heard testimony Thursday on Bryant's bill. In all, legislators listened to requests for 10 state bonds totaling $205.2 million. On Friday, it will hear from proponents of seven more bond requests, totaling $84.2 million. The proposed projects range from building new civic centers to creation of affordable housing. Next week, the committee is expected to take up Gov. John Baldacci's proposed bond package, which totals more than $170 million.