Pliny Reynolds, Jed T. Harris and Jordan Milne, Owner of Hardshore Distilling Co at J.J. Nissen Building in October of 2016.

Creighton & Sons Building to be Sold to Jed Harris the end of 2016.

By Carol McCracken

Jed Harris has confirmed that he will be purchasing the Creighton & Sons Building, 123 Washington Avenue on Munjoy Hill within the next several weeks. There has been speculation for months that the owner of the J. J. Nissen Building also on Washington Avenue intends to purchase the building in which the flower wholesaler is located.

Todd Bernard, operations manager at Maine Craft Distilling Co., Fox Street, confirmed that the company expects to relocate to that facility next year – probably in the early summer.  The Distilling Co. currently has 3,500 sq. ft. of space and this relocation will allow it to expand to 11,000 sq. ft.  Bernard who recently came on board to assist with expansion plans said yesterday that “food would be a good complement to what we already offer.  We are currently looking into that possibility.”  Bernard is a co-founder of SPACE Gallery and Empire in downtown Portland.  Cori Breingan, a Hill resident, is a member of the tasting room staff.

Meanwhile, Rising Tide Brewery will  be expanding its facility into the Maine Craft Distilling Co, space at 101 Anderson Street, when it is vacated.  It will be a stand alone event space said the tasting room manager. The company will also be expanding its production into a nearby cleaning business that closed recently.

Also, if you have not heard, the HIlltop Superette on Munjoy Hill is for sale for a mere $1.9 m.  Formerly it was Colucci’s Hilltop Store.  In March of 2013, the upper apartments in the building caught on fire – a fire set in a hallway of the building by a resident of Munjoy Hill who was arrested on the spot. The building. then owned by Bridgette and Tony Jacobsky, was sold to Bill Simpson’s backer Tommy Toye after several others expressed interest in it. The upper floors have since been converted into condominiums and sold. The former Colucci’s was dramatically renovated and modernized – something desperately needed and eventually reopened.