LEWISTON – The Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council announced the winners of this year’s Economic Achievement Awards at its annual meeting Thursday night.

The recipients from Auburn are George Schott, Maine Family Federal Credit Union and Zampell Refractories. Lewiston recipients are Stanley Sclar, Hardy, Wolf & Downing and Andover College. Two special joint awards from both cities are being bestowed to Oxford Networks and the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute.

• Along with operating a successful motorcycle dealership, Schott has bought and sold properties, including his first major purchase, the Auburn Plaza on Center Street. Schott purchased the property in 1999 at a time when the major anchors had left and the Plaza was struggling. Auburn Plaza reached full occupancy at a rapid pace. Having successfully turned Auburn Plaza into a thriving retail center, George sold it in 2003. Since that time, he has purchased a number of properties, including the original Wal-Mart, and land on Mt. Auburn Avenue, where new developments are planned and will be breaking ground soon.

• In October 2001, Maine Family Federal Credit Union purchased the Stevens Mills School building and made plans to convert the historic structure into a credit union branch office. Maine Family renovated the 4,100-square-foot building while maintaining the rich tradition and history of the facility. Today, Maine Family has grown to a full service credit union with over 16,000 members and $70 million in assets.

• Zampell Companies are made up of five distinct entities totaling more then $50 million in annual revenue. Zampell Refractories, once associated with large kiln and boiler projects for paper mills, successfully diversified into the power and waste-to-energy markets following the decline of the paper industry in Maine. With facilities in Auburn, the Massachusetts-based company, soon to celebrate its 20th anniversary, is now well known along the East Coast for its refractory work.

• Stanley Sclar, co-owner of Franklin Property and Trust, worked closely with the city of Lewiston to create a redevelopment strategy for its southern gateway. Sclar agreed to build two Class A office buildings in the gateway. Within a few months of the original concept drawings, Oxford Networks and Northeast Bank announced plans to take tenancy in the buildings. Much of the other new development in the gateway area was largely sparked by Sclar’s initial commitment.

• The law offices of Hardy, Wolf & Downing invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations to their building, including first- and second-floor interior renovations and restorations to the exterior faade. Over the past 10 years, Hardy, Wolf & Downing has generated more than $50 million in settlements for their clients.

• With the demise of Mid-State College, Andover College saw the need for a career college in Lewiston and decided to locate a campus in the southern gateway. Seventy-five students enrolled for the first eight-week block of classes at the Lewiston campus. It is the school’s first campus outside of Portland.

• Over the last year, Oxford Networks installed a fiber optic network that serves the downtowns of both cities. More than 5,400 homes and businesses have access to the network. Over the next five years, Oxford will invest a total of $20 million extending the network to serve the majority of both cities. Oxford will provide residents with cable television and music channels, local phone service, long-distance phone service, and very high speed Internet access.

• Since opening in May 2003, Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute has handled nearly 400 cardiac angioplasty and cardiac surgery cases and offers emergency cardiac angioplasty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with on-site cardiac surgery back-up immediately available. CMHVI has scored in the top one percent of all cardiac programs nationally in terms of customer satisfaction. CMHVI offers a comprehensive program of services from prevention and screening, diagnostics, cardiac angioplasty, cardiac surgery, rehabilitation and research.