Courtesy / KW Commercial|Magnusson Balfour
Plans are in the works to build a business incubator facility on lots 8 and 9, labeled “Posillico.”
Updated: October 5, 2020
NY developer envisions business incubator at Gardiner business park
Courtesy / KW Commercial|Magnusson Balfour
This aerial shows the 95/295 Business Park at Libby Hill, in Gardiner, where a New York develeoper recently bought two lots.
After a first visit to Maine a year ago, a real estate developer on New York’s Long Island views the Gardiner 95/295 Business Park as a great place to build a business incubator.
“In this project, we’re focusing on helping new and upcoming businesses to establish themselves in smaller industrial and warehouse spaces they can afford,” said James Posillico, president of Posillico Real Estate and Construction in Hampton Bays, N.Y.
Posillico bought the park’s lots 8 and 9 from the city of Gardiner for $149,400.
Dennis Wheelock of KW Commercial|Magnusson Balfour brokered the deal, which closed July 14.
The lots total 8.8 acres.
Posillico’s firm handles real estate brokerage and appraisal as well as construction management.
“My mom and dad started the company about 60 years ago,” he said. “I took over my parents’ business about 25 years ago and decided to expand and diversify.”
But along the way, he had a personal goal to keep the business grounded in projects that help build community and create jobs, he said.
“No matter what you do and where you do it, don’t just do things based on your own objectives,” he explained. “Focus on projects that are good for everyone. That was my concern from a very early age.”
As an example, he cited a start-up solar company he’s been working with on Long Island.
“We’re helping them get established and get their patent in place and work out the kinks,” he said.
He’s also been working with a startup that’s developing a “smart” sports helmet designed to detect concussion.
A year ago, on a friend’s suggestion, he visited Maine to explore the area.
“I was completely mesmerized, between the beauty of the landscape and, really, the quality of the people I met and the open-arms experience I had,” he said.
In that pre-pandemic time, he was thinking about expanding and relocating some of this business activity, with the idea of finding a friendlier business environment where it would be relatively inexpensive to get reestablished.
“Our principal offices are on Long Island, New York,” he said. “The costs have gone through the roof, between property taxes, business taxes, licensing requirements, on and on and on. It’s endless, the amount of hurdles you have to jump over to get things going and get things done.”
He contacted Wheelock, who identified the park as a prospect.
The idea for a business incubator is to offer affordable spaces to smaller business and centralized business development services. The idea stems from a similar project he was involved in on Long Island in the late 1990s. At the time, the goal was to develop a technical training center that would contribute to the revitalization of an area that had been plagued by drugs and crime. Despite a $6 million commitment by corporate sponsors, the project was scuttled by local officials, he said.
Still, he said, “We were very close and it was always my thought that, eventually, I would come back to that.”
Posillico said Gardiner and state officials have been receptive to the incubator concept.
“So we’re in the process of evaluating the lots and the capability of what we can do there,” he said.
The sale of the lots signals continued interest in the park’s advantages, which include proximity to Interstate 95 and Interstate 295 combined with development incentives offered by the city.
The lots are shovel-ready with public infrastructure already in place.
Park construction began in 2000 with Phase I’s 120 acres and 12 lots; several lots were since combined. Phase II was 107 acres with 16 additional lots. Wheelock’s company took over the park’s marketing in 2017.
The park sits just off I-295 exit 49 and Route 201, which makes it a key location for distribution across the state. It’s home to one of the city’s tax increment financing districts, utilizing credit enhancement agreements to encourage development.
Other businesses in the park include EJP Inc., Common Wealth Poultry, Pine State Beverage, Scientific Games, Troiano Waste, Dennison Lubricants, Oak Hill Crematorium, and Black Diamond Consultants, according to the city’s website.
Wheelock said he receives inquiries every month from prospective buyers due to low purchase prices and businesses looking for expansion opportunities.
He was expecting two other lots to close soon, leaving six lots available. Listings on his website range from seven to 35 acres and $59,950 to $267,050.
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