A new career path leads to Saco industrial parcel purchase
Courtesy / Keith Lourdeau
Keith Lourdeau, a former FBI agent, purchased a 9,200-square-foot industrial building on 3.6 acres at 73 Industrial Park Road in Saco.
SACO — A retired FBI agent, whose career highlights included arresting a Chicago mob boss in the 1980s, is now enjoying a new career as the owner of Kevin’s Electric Inc.
Keith Lourdeau finalized his purchase of the Saco-based business on June 29. Shortly thereafter he paid $645,000 for 73 Industrial Park Road, a 9,200-square-foot industrial building on 3.6 acres in Saco. The deal, which closed July 21, was brokered on Lourdeau’s behalf by Cheri Bonawitz from KW Commercial, and on seller Progress Partners LLC’s behalf by Greg Hastings from NAI The Dunham Group.
Lourdeau spent 21 years with the FBI. He retired in 2007, having attained a senior executive position. Lourdeau then went to work for a software company outside Boston as its chief security officer. When his wife decided to take a job in Portland, they moved to the area three years ago.
“I was looking to do something different this time around,” he said. “I’ve always liked the trades. My dad was an electrician, and I used to help him out. People in the trades — plumbers, electricians, carpenters — they are who they are. There isn’t any pretense. They’re honest and real. So that was where I looked to buy.”
Lourdeau had spoken with Kevin’s Electric owner Kevin Beaulieu early in his search, and looked at other companies in other trades. But he found himself always coming back to Kevin’s.
“You always need electricians,” Lourdeau said. “Kevin ran a good company, had strong employees and had a solid reputation in the Saco, Biddeford and greater Portland area.”
Beaulieu, in the meantime, was looking to focus more on his land development projects. He was willing to stay on, and to continue to be the landlord if necessary, but Lourdeau decided he’d rather purchase his own location.
At 73 Industrial Park Road, Lourdeau has a newer, light-industrial facility with a 16-foot ceiling height, office space for an estimator and administration and warehouse space big enough for equipment and work trucks.
“That makes the crew happy because they can come in and get the trucks loaded up without being out in the rain and snow,” Lourdeau said. It’s close to I-95, making it easy for the crew to get around quickly. The building, which dates to the late 1990s, was move-in ready. And as the business grows, the property’s 3.6 acres will give the opportunity to add on, he said.
Lourdeau said he plans to gradually rebrand the business as All Phase Electric, but for now will continue to do business as Kevin’s Electric. Currently, Lourdeau has eight electricians and is looking for more. Beaulieu is also staying on.
“We’re very busy,” Lourdeau said. The business has a great reputation, he added, “so we have lot of work coming our way.”
Now in his third career, Lourdeau is not only in the office but, licensed as an electrician’s helper, out in the field with his crew. And he’s enjoying himself.
“I remember doing this with my dad,” he said. “It’s fun getting out there and running wire and not sitting in an office all day.” More importantly, he added, “It’s gratifying when you can give people a nice, safe place to work, a good working environment, and pay a good wage. We’re small enough that it feels like a family. And we want to keep it that way.”
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