FARMINGTON – A former print shop in downtown Farmington will become the new home of a one-stop location for economic development services, a heritage discovery center and a new technology cluster, officials announced Wednesday.
Greater Franklin Development Corp. and Mountain Counties Heritage, Inc. plan to establish Church Street Commons, a new multifaceted community development center, Alison Hagerstrom, executive director of GFDC, said Wednesday.
The purpose is to create a common place for business people to access economic development programs and services in Greater Farmington, she said.
Hagerstrom moved into the former Knowlton-McLeary building on Church Street, across from the Franklin County courthouse, on May 1.
Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and Coastal Enterprises Inc. will move into offices in the same section to form an economic development complex.
Hagerstrom said she will be working with Sarah Doscinski, a business development specialist for AVCOG and the state, and Janet Roderick, a business counselor for the Women’s Business Center of Coastal Enterprises.
The one-stop center will make it easier for the groups’ clients, Hagerstrom said.
Bruce Hazard, director of Mountain Counties Heritage, said his group plans to rent the first floor of the main building and will have a heritage discovery center that will include exhibition space and an area for workshops and presentations.
“Our idea is to make information about our region’s history and natural history more readily available to local residents and to visitors to the area and we look forward to active collaboration with others in the new commons,” Hazard said in a statement Wednesday.
At one point Hazard hopes to offer Maine-made products at the center, Hagerstrom said.
Other participants in the project are Quebec-Labrador Foundation/Atlantic Center for the Environment, Insyt New Media, and Fortune Personnel Consultants of Bangor. The latter two are private companies.
The technology cluster aspect is still in the planning stages, Hagerstrom said, and is expected to be on the second floor of the building owned by Stephen J. Braconi and Joseph P. Carlson, both of Massachusetts. The two men are investors and believe that Farmington has a promising future, according to the release.
The Web site of Quebec-Labrador Foundation, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization, states it builds leadership and technical skills in people. The organization plans to establish a field office at the commons that will house the Center for Community Geographic Information Systems, a mapping technologies support center for public service organizations, Hagerstrom said.
Insyt New Media, a business based in New Sharon, has proposed establishing a video and photography laboratory and offering support for a range of graphic design and Web-based communication activities.
The two entities are discussing plans for a section of the building that will make new information technologies more readily available to community groups and commercial clients.
Fortune Personnel Consultants is an executive recruiting firm now specializing in the pulp and paper industry and allied suppliers. Future plans are to expand into recruiting for the health care and biotech industries, as well as providing other human resource consulting and support services, according to the release.
The whole project brings resources into one place and will “really bring some synergy and energy downtown,” Hagerstrom said.
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