PORTLAND — A gung-ho cleaning service, Green Clean Maine, has been skyrocketing since its founding in 2007.

That's why founder and CEO Joe Walsh decided to buy larger quarters to house the business.

Walsh purchased the 4,768-square-foot, three-level office building at 583 Warren Ave. in Portland, just west of the Maine Turnpike/I-95 overpass, from Casey & Paige LLC for $425,000. The deal closed Sept. 16.

Amenities include 25 onsite parking spaces plus a two-bay garage and deck. Walsh was represented by Matthew Cardente and Mark Sandler of Cardente Real Estate. Mark Malone of Malone Commercial Real Estate represented the seller.

"Joe and I had been searching for properties over the past year," said Sandler. "This property fit perfectly into our mix of an owner/user investment property. Joe has the option to use a portion of the property to grow other aspects of his business or lease it out for extra income."

Reached by phone after attending the Goldman Sachs "10,000 Small Businesses" program in Boston, Walsh said the new space is about six times larger than the current leased space.

"We're moving out of an 800-square-foot space. It's tiny," he said. "I can't even believe we've been there that long."

The new building and grounds will allow for continued growth. That includes space for equipment for the field staff, supplies like low-moisture mop systems, high-performance commercial backpack vacuums, all-natural handmade cleaning formulas, cleaning trays, microfiber cloths, cotton cloths for glass, terrycloth mops for floors and microfiber dusters to get up high and down low.

There's now also more space for the growing administrative and customer service office staff and a laundry plant with washers and dryers. The crew launders 1,500 to 2,000 cleaning cloths per day, a production line where the company produces cleaning supplies and will eventually package them for consumer sales. Outside is a fleet of environmentally friendly electric hybrid or fuel-efficient vehicles.

The building is about 40 years old and in good shape, requiring minimal renovations such as paint and carpeting.

"It was already laid out in a way that, when I walked in I knew it would be great for us," said Walsh.

The move was planned for Oct 22-23.

Non-toxic cleaners can't keep up with demand

Walsh's entrée into cleaning services was a surprising turn from his previous career as an advertising salesman for the Sunrise Guide, a Westbrook-based publication about healthy and sustainable resources. He was approaching environmentally friendly residential cleaning services about advertising.

"Everyone I talked with who was doing it in a nontoxic way said they couldn't advertise because they already couldn't keep up with demand," he recalled.

The popularity of the service and the promise of good money meshed with his personal predilection for a clean and tidy home. He received a $5,000 grant from the Libra Future Fund and got his first client, a friend with a condo, in October 2007. He hired his first employee in January 2008. Now he has 30 employees and, he said, the company is the largest residential cleaning service in Maine, with about 400 subscribers, from Saco to Freeport, who register for an average of 3.5 to 4 years, with the average client signing up for bi-weekly service.

Recently, he was a finalist in the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development's "Top Gun" program, developing a vision for the company's future. Plans include additional services such as helping homeowners with other aspects of their lives, such as dog-walking, carpet-washing and concierge services.

Walsh plans to expand the commercial cleaning side. And he plans to increase production of natural cleaning supplies, which use baking soda, vinegar, essential oils and other plant-based ingredients. Customers often ask to buy his supplies, so he's developed product labels and is finalizing packaging for sales.

"This building will make room to add divisions and service lines as we grow," he said.

Also, the property is over two acres, so there's enough land and buffer to add at least another 5,000 square feet of space.

"That's part of the property's appeal as well," he said.

So why does he like to clean?

"I'm a little bit of a perfectionist," he said. "It's the satisfaction you get from making something just right, starting off with something dirty or chaotic and making it clean and neat. But what I didn't like was the chemical part. I was interested in creating an environmental benefit and making money at the same time."

Editor's note: Green Clean Maine cleans the Mainebiz offices.

UMaine trustees launch initiative to create $150M graduate center

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The University of Maine System's trustees in a special meeting on Sunday unanimously approved the first phase of a $15 million fund-raising effort for an ambitious $150 million plan to create a new graduate center for business, law and public policy in Portland.

The resolution approved by the trustees doesn't fully commit the University of Maine System to the $150 million capital investment that would be required to fulfill the business plan for the proposed Maine Center, which calls for a new $93.6 million building and a $45 million endowment. At this point, it simply authorizes UMaine Chancellor James Page to seek additional funding from private foundations and other funding sources, including the Harold Alfond Foundation, which contributed more than $2 million to the planning process that led to the development of the business plan.

"The Maine Center plan is aspirational, exemplifying our 'One University' commitment to move our state forward with innovative programing and stronger engagement with Maine's business, legal and community leaders," Page said in a statement announcing the initiative.

Maine Center CEO Eliot Cutler, an unsuccessful Independent candidate in Maine's 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial races and a founding partner of the environmental law firm Cutler & Stanfield LLP, led the 18-month assessment of UMaine's graduate programs that culminated in the graduate center's business plan. That effort included the establishment of a 100-member advisory board, discussions with faculty and more than 400 meetings in town halls, board rooms, law offices, judicial buildings and college campuses.

"The willingness of so many people inside and outside the university to engage with us shows how necessary everyone recognizes these changes and reforms are for the rebirth and growth of Maine's economy," Cutler said in a statement. "By breaking down the walls and silos in graduate programs that already are vanishing from the real world of work, the Maine Center will breed the kinds of collaborative, relationship-building, analytic and communications skills that are increasingly valued by Maine and national employers."

Why now?

The proposed Maine Center will bring under one roof in Portland the UMaine system's single, merged MBA program, the Maine Law School and the Muskie School of Public Service with its graduate programs in public health and public policy and management. It also calls for a conference center and an incubator/accelerator and would house the Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy.

The business plan explicitly states that the initiative is in response to the needs of Maine businesses for workers with higher-level skills: "Increasing numbers of jobs in the new economy require a higher level of educational attainment, and the levels of bachelor, graduate and professional degree attainment in Maine are substantially below the national median."

"In this time of global connectivity and competition the professional education provided by our public universities must be irrevocably linked to the firms, businesses and organizations that are creating opportunity across our state and building our economy," Sam Collins, chairman of the UMaine System board of trustees, said in a statement.

The business plan also seeks to turn around recent trends of declining enrollments among all the graduate programs in the UMaine System, in part due to increased in-state competition: "The growth rates for MBA degrees conferred by Husson University, Thomas College and the UMaine System institutions for the period 2002 to 2014 illustrate a considerable loss of market share for the University of Maine and University of Southern Maine," the business plan states.

Next steps

Stage 1 of the plan will begin in January 2017 and will carry a timeline of two to three years to meet fund-raising milestones. It also calls for the UMaine and USM MBA programs to be integrated by the fall of 2017; the establishment of the Maine Center Ventures; and development of new programs designed to meet the business plan's objectives. The UMaine universities will also continue to support the business, public policy and legal professional graduate programs at current funding levels of approximately $3.2 million annually.

Once Stage 1 benchmarks have been met, Stage 2 envisions consulting with foundation partners, Maine's professional community, the universities and the UMaine board to make sure the financial support and essential programs are in place to proceed with building a new $93.6 million Maine Center facility in Portland.

If all goes according to the business plan's timetable, the Maine Center building would open in 2021. It is expected to achieve a 600-student enrollment in its graduate programs by 2024.

"The center will host a score of executive education and certificate programs and will be financially self-supporting," the business plan states. "By the middle of the following decade [i.e. 2035], the $150 million capital investment in the center will be returning billions of dollars in direct and indirect benefits to Maine communities."

BRUNSWICK

The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority held its annual open house and picnic Wednesday night, providing the public a chance to talk with MRRA officials and get to know a little more about the base redevelopment.

The event drew members of the public and tenants as well as town officials, offering them a chance to speak with MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque and take a guided tour via Maine Bus Rentals.

The event was catered by New Beet Market, with owner Nate Wildes touting the many Maine-made and in-house creations.

Maine-made red hot dogs, Maine-grown corn on the cob, black bean burgers and pulled pork sandwiches with Maine-grown pork were served along with an array of salad sides. Even the buns used were locally baked, according to Wildes.

“The exciting thing about (Brunswick) Landing is everybody’s growing together,” Wildes said. “The Landing is doing a good job of working together and grow.”

MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque talks with Town Council Chairwoman Sarah Brayman at the annual MRRA open house and picnic. DOUGLAS MCINTIRE / THE TIMES RECORD Wildes said Brunswick Landing has become a very “complementary community” where everyone is working in each other’s best interest by branding and marketing the area as “a cool place to come.”

“Every day we get people in the restaurant who say, ‘I haven’t been out here since it was an active Navy base — I can’t believe how much has changed,’” Wildes said.

Douglas Cardente is one of the developers at Brunswick Landing. He purchased the American Bureau of Shipping building on Leavitt Drive. The property was once part of the Navy Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape school program.

“It’s a new building and I think one of the best ones out here,” Cardente said.

Besides ABS, Cardente said Harpswell Coastal Academy is moving in from its former location in the same building as Seeds of Independence. Cardente said that since the building was formerly used for educational purposes, it’s a natural fit for HCA.

Cardente said that with his purchase, there came an additional 12 acres that he may develop down the road into office buildings.

“(Levesque) has been a great promoter of this area and even tonight, he just wants to make sure that every base is covered in terms of letting everyone know what’s here and what’s available,” Cardente said.

Levesque said the event has drawn in mostly members of the community, curious about MRRA and how the former base is being developed.

“It’s really just to open the place up to the community and let them know what’s going on — a lot of people don’t know,” Levesque said.

To get word out, Levesque said they sent out mass mailings and put notices in the newspapers.

Levesque said it gives MRRA a chance to dispel misinformation that people might hear. One story Levesque tries to set straight is the misconception that the town isn’t receiving property taxes from the former base. The home page of the MRRA website notes more than $2.5 million in taxes paid to the town.

Brunswick Downtown Association Director Deb King was also present at the event. King said that besides MRRA, there are many businesses at Brunswick Landing who are part of the association.

“We are really excited about the growth out here,” King said.

King said the BDA has a definite interest outside of the immediate downtown area and will continue reaching out to tenants as they arrive, such as Wayfair.

“I’m absolutely thrilled with the efforts of MRRA and the accomplishments — as everyone knows, they’ve far surpassed the expectations at an award winning pace,” King said — something that bodes well for the entire community.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Duffy's Tavern and Grill of Kennebunk paid $1.7 million for a site it had been leasing in Old Orchard Beach.

The deal gives Duffy's a second location and visibility on a road that is populated by numerous campgrounds and is also the road most visitors use as they exit Interstate 295 to go into Old Orchard Beach. Duffy's offers American comfort food and pub fare.

Located at 168 Saco Ave., the 5.2-acre property also includes a 1,904-square-foot, two-unit apartment building and a 2,552-square-foot, single-family home. The transaction, which closed July 20, was brokered by Mark Sandler of Cardente Real Estate, who represented the sellers, brothers Michael and Gregory Mezoian.

David "Duffy" Cluff, representing himself, paid $1.7 million for the property.

The Duffy's in Old Orchard Beach had operated under a lease arrangement since June 15, 2015. Cluff signed a purchase and sale agreement with the Mezoians in May 2015, then worked on nailing down a financing package.

"We did a lease with the owner so we could get it up and running while we were waiting for the financing package, working with our local bank and the Small Business Administration," Cluff said, speaking by phone.

He invested $200,000 in a complete modernization of the dining room, including adding a new bar.

"The restaurant was dated," he said. "It needed to be brought up-to-date with a little TLC."

Prior to Duffy's taking over a year ago, it was the Captain's Galley Restaurant.

The Old Orchard Beach site was attractive, he said, because of its high-traffic location and the fact that the second location — a restaurant and connected banquet center totaling 11,749 square feet — is larger than the original Duffy's and better suited to larger events. The function space in Duffy's Kennebunk seats 50; Duffy's in Old Orchard Beach seats up to 200.

"We're doing weddings, bridal showers, anniversary parties — and that's what I was looking for," he said.

He plans to rent out the two-unit apartment building and house.

Cluff came into the restaurant business as a second career. He was with the Kennebunk Fire Department for 25 years, retiring as assistant fire chief. He enjoys cooking, so in 2008, he and a partner, Shawn Spencer, started Duffy's in the Lafayette Center on Main Street in Kennebunk.

"Then I decided to open a second restaurant. And that's enough restaurants," he laughed.

In actuality, there's not much in the way of retirement in this second career. He cooks five or six nights per week, and both restaurants are year-round. Plus there's been the work of getting the second restaurant going.

"I often think back to my fire department days and think, 'Well, I thought I was busy then, but I'm really busy now,'" he said.

The OOB property was originally a motor lodge with cottages, said Sandler. The Mezoian brothers' grandfather bought in 1954, and the family built the cabins and motor lodge. The brothers started a small restaurant, the Captain's Galley, in 1987, and kept enlarging it. In 1995, they dismantled the cabins and filled in the pool.

Sandler, the broker, knew the Mezoian brothers from when he owned and operated a food distribution company, Biddeford-based Sandler Brothers. Three years ago, he got out of the business and went into commercial real estate. In January 2015, when the Mezoians decided to close the restaurant in order to focus on residential development, they turned to Sandler to market the property.