Charlie Langston, (Second from Left)  and John Hathaway, (Second from Right) With Employees at HCDC Meeting.

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 1,440)

SHUCKS MAINE LOBSTER,  a lobster processing company, received unanimous approval this afternoon from a city committee to lease almost 19,000 sq. ft. at the Portland Ocean Terminal (POT), located on the Maine State Pier.  The recommendation will go to the Portland City Council for its approval on July 15th.  The plan will be subject to city Planning Board approval as well.

The business which is currently located in Richmond has outgrown its space and so this move to the Portland waterfront is warranted.  SHUCKS owns its facility in Richmond, but it will be leased or used for storage of equipment said Charlie Langston, COO, and a partner in the business with John Hathaway, its President.

“We are all about innvoation,” Hathaway told the Housing and Community Development Committee.   He showed the Committee two examples of their innovativeness with lobsters.  “We want to brand Portland as the lobster capital of the U.S.”, he said.  Hathaway said that his company will invest at least $1 M dollars in the building itself and much more than that in the business itself.  If all goes as expected, the earliest SHUCKS could open on the waterfront is next January.  Ready Seafood rents space in the same building.  Most of the building is used for city storage.

Chair of the HCDC Nick Mavadones was assured by Greg Mitchell, Director of Economic Development for the City, that he forsaw no other developments coming along for that location in the near future.  He said that while the proposal was a challenge at first, the city staff dug in and got it done.  “These terms are fair to both parties should the city decide to go in a different direction at some time in the future.  It’s good for the waterfront,” he said.

For more information, please visit wwwshucksmaine.com