PHOTO / JAMES MCCARTHY
GO Logic co-founders Alan Gibson and Matt O’Malia are seen here in 2014.
May 21, 2021
GO Logic, builder of innovative houses, eyes new HQ in Belfast
Courtesy / GO Logic
GO Logic of Belfast plans to build a new headquarters at a local business park. Seen here is a home under construction by the passive-house firm.
GO Logic LLC, a Belfast-based business specializing in passive house architecture and construction, hopes to break ground on a new headquarters in the Belfast Airport Business Park on Little River Drive this summer.
The company detailed its proposal at a public hearing May 18 before Belfast City Council. Alan Gibson, a GO Logic co-founder and principal, is seeking approval for a $240,000 grant from through the federal Community Development Block Grant, a HUD economic development program. The town would need to apply for the grant.
Gibson said GO Logic purchased two lots in the park a year ago and proposes an 18,000-square-foot site that will combine office and manufacturing space. It would replace GO Logic's downtown headquarters, at 137 High St.
The new headquarters is in the design stage. The site has been cleared and Gibson said he’s in discussions with a lender.
“That’s going well,” he said.
The project also needs city permits, which Gibson said he hopes to obtain this summer, with the goal of breaking ground this July or August.
If awarded, GO Logic plans to block grant funds to pay for part or all of two “butterfly tables” — specialized tables used in manufacturing processes to aid in the construction of wall and roof panels — and a specialized forklift designed to efficiently and safely transport the fabricated panels around the production area.
Butterfly tables are used in manufacturing processes to more easily position and manipulate fabricated panels that may be otherwise unwieldy due to their size and/or weight.
“This grant is a great opportunity to support state-of-the-art manufacturing in the housing industry here in Belfast,” Gibson said in a news release. “The new facility will provide a number of skilled jobs in the design and production of high-efficiency homes. The specialized equipment is key to the success of the manufacturing system.”
According to GO Logic’s grant application, benefits of the new headquarters would be the creation of full-time jobs, at least a doubling of its current production capacity, a realization of economies of scale, and an increased ability to import innovative technologies.
The Community Development Block Grant program requires the business receiving the grant to supply matching funds in at least a 2:1 ratio and to create one full-time equivalent position per $30,000 of grant funding received, with at least 51% of those new positions being taken by individuals from low- to moderate-income households, which are households making less than 80% of the county median income.
The grants can be used by a business for capital and non-capital equipment, job training, and working capital.
As its match, GO Logic will be required to provide at least $120,000 and create eight full-time jobs, at least five of which will be taken by individuals from low- to moderate-income households. GO Logic LLC would make the hires in a six-month period starting in September, according to the application. The business said it has secured the $120,000 in the form of cash on hand.
Thomas Kittredge, the city’s economic development director, told the council the submission deadline for the application is today. The city and GO Logic would expect to learn whether or not they had been selected for a grant in June, and the funds would likely be made available in July.
The program is highly competitive, with only $1.2 million in available funding for the program during 2021, Kittredge added.
“We have been so very fortunate to have GO Logic as an integral part of the Belfast business community ever since their launch here in 2008,” said Belfast’s mayor, Eric Sanders.” Helping them to secure this very much-needed funding is an excellent way for the city to demonstrate both its appreciation for GO Logic and the close, supportive partnership that we currently enjoy.”
The council unanimously backed the application.
Councilor Neal Harkness said GO Logic is an example of the city’s diverse economy that’s allowed the business community to survive the pandemic largely intact.
“We have manufacturing, we have the agricultural sector, we have innovative entrepreneurship that a lot of communities don’t have,” Harkness said. “And GO Logic is a fantastic example of just that.”
Gibson and his former business partner, architect Matt O'Malia, are Mainebiz 2014 NEXT List honorees.
They founded GO Logic in 2008 as the first company in Maine — and 12th in the United States — to be certified by the Passive House Institute U.S. to design and build “passive homes” that meet the highest international standard for energy efficiency.
GO Logic’s sister company, GO Lab Inc., founded in 2017, is in the process of building out a former paper mill in Madison manufacture innovative, environmentally responsible, wood fiber insulation as a renewable alternative to polystyrene insulation and fiberglass insulation.
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