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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 01, 2012
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Turnpike Authority Sells Former Portland Office
Local Engineering Company Plans to Expand Operations
PORTLAND, Maine – The Maine Turnpike Authority’s one-time headquarters building on Riverside Street in Portland was sold Thursday for $575,000 to a Portland based engineering consulting business, which also manufactures microwave filters.
ComNav Engineering, Inc. plans to move into the 9,800 square foot office building at 430 Riverside Street by June once building renovations are finished. The former MTA building is approximately 3,000 square feet larger than ComNav’s current office also located on Riverside Street.
Moving into the new building will give ComNav much needed room to grow, according to CEO Martin J. Geesaman, who employs 37 locally. Geesaman, who started the company in 1996, said ComNav would vacate the building it currently leases by the end of May, with operations then moving to the newly purchased building. The company coincidentally makes microwave filters used in the toll booths for the EZ Pass system.
The Turnpike Authority vacated the site during the spring of 2009 when it moved to a new office building just off Exit 46 (Jetport, Congress St.) of the Turnpike. Roxane Cole Commercial Real Estate handled the sale for the Turnpike Authority. The structure, built by the MTA in 1984, originally listed at $925,000.
“The sale is good for ComNav, good for the Turnpike and good for the city,” said Peter Mills, Executive Director of the Maine Turnpike Authority. “They do amazingly high-level work at ComNav. In addition, the 2.6 acre property will now generate property tax revenue for the City of Portland.”