The Greenville Business Incubator is a Town-owned manufacturing center which provides high-quality, low-cost space for lease to start-up and expanding manufacturing firms in the wood and composites fields. A satellite of the Composites Technology Center in Sanford, Maine, the Greenville Business Incubator (GBI) will work closely with the University of Maine's Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) Center in Orono (for more information, go to www.aewc.umit.edu). Firms may lease space at competitive rates at a lower risk than would be incurred through construction of their own facility. The desired outcome will be job growth and the clustering of successful business in manufacturing and technology-driven fields.

What are composites? Everything from the countertop in your kitchen to the steering wheel in your car is likely a form of a composite material: two or more materials blended together to create a new material with desired properties different (or enhanced) from those of the component materials. Wood composites is a field with great growth potential in Maine, home to the largest natural wood fiber productive forest east of the Mississippi River.

Why Greenville? As the gateway to the north Maine woods and its millions of acres of fir-spruce and mixed hardwood forests, Greenville has traditionally been a nexus for wood and wood products traveling from stump to mill to retailer to consumers nationwide. With Maine's only direct east-west rail-line passing through its borders, its close proximity (90 minute drive) to the University of Maine's AEWC Center, and a 15MW bio-mass power generation plant in the heart of its industrial park, it makes great sense to locate a wood-products manufacturer in Greenville, Maine.

Can high-tech manufacturing and research companies succeed in Greenville, Maine? Absolutely! Just ask John Pepin, President of Pepin Associates, a research and development company located in the Greenville Industrial Park. The several products patented by Pepin Associates – mostly composite materials for aircraft and aerospace applications - give this small company a technology portfolio with high growth potential. Companies such as John Pepin's can benefit from the GBI by leasing space at competitive rates, receiving business development assistance from a host of agencies, benefit from the many tax breaks and benefits allowed by the Penquis Pine Tree Zone, and therefore taking risks which would otherwise be prohibitive. We believe such risks can result in private sector investment and job creation which otherwise would not occur.

The 18,000 sq. ft. incubator building will be prime manufacturing space for new businesses. Support ranging from custodial and grounds keeping services to basic utilities and High-Speed Internet service will all be available to tenants within the center. Testing and consultation services will be available from the University of Maine's AEWC. Business plan development assistance will be available from the staff of the Composites Technology Centers, the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, Eastern Maine Development Corporation, and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

For more information about lease arrangements, contact Gordon Davis, Executive Director of the Composites Technology Centers, at 207-380-4077 or via email at egdavis@lincoln.midcoast.com or John Simko, Greenville Town Manager and CTC President at 207-695-2261 or via email at John@GreenvilleME.com.

The Greenville Business Incubator is a $1,000,000 project funded by two State of Maine Economic Development Bond Initiatives (1999 & 2003); a special appropriation from the VA-HUD budget in 2002; a 2003 Community Development Block Grant; a Rural Business Enterprise Grant from the USDA in 2002; and a general obligation bond approved by the voters of the Town of Greenville in 2003. The building was engineered by A.E. Hodsdon Consulting Engineers of Waterville, and constructed by C and N Custom Builders of Hudson. The grand opening ceremony for the facility is being held March 3, 2005 and the facility's first tenant will take occupancy April 1, 2005.