Freeport Village Station - Ground Breaking Event

I was glad to be invited to the official ground breaking for Freeport Village Station at a historic brick building that borders the new 3.5 acre site. Once again, Rich DeGrandpre who was featured on my blog yesterday, told those gathered that this is an important historical event for the Freeport history books. I had to edge around the local TV filming crews to get this picture of Rich DeGrandpre and Governor Baldacci. This project involved the cooperation of the Town of Freeport, L.L. Bean and Berenson Associates of Boston. Opening in April 2009, this large downtown Freeport development includes several shops, restaurants and a brand new free 550 space parking garage. Signed leases for the new retail space include Nike, Calvin Klein, Van Heussen, and Geoffrey Beane. The plan presented includes architecturally designed builders that are in keeping with Freeport's zoning ordinance to preserve the historical look of the village.

When the official part of the event began, Rich spoke about the long term planning that Freeport needed to do to prepare for a future after the heyday of the town's shoe making industry. It was fun to hear Rich teased Governor Baldacci about the awful condition of Route 136 as he came into town today. Baldacci returned in kind to tell DeGrandpre that when he reaches DeGrandpre's age, the governor would like to have a neck strap to hold his eyeglasses just like the one Rich has.

Dressed in his Bean attire including his bean boots, Baldacci joked with Chris McCormick and other officials for being over dressed for digging in the dirt today. Baldacci is a bullish promoter of Maine businesses and workers both in the US and overseas. In fact, Baldacci said he just returned from a trip to Japan where he learned that there are 12 L.L. Bean stores in that country. In his brief remarks, Baldacci said tourism will always be "big business" in Maine. During our summer months, the state receives approximately 3.5 million tourists and summer people which is triple the size of our year round population. He went on to say that tourists typically think of Maine in the following order: Lobster, Lighthouses and L.L. Bean. Chris McCormick, CEO of Beans, spoke briefly of how this project will benefit Freeport by allowing more green space because existing parking near the flagship store will be converted to green space with the addition of the parking garage. (Note Rich DeGranpre and Chris McCormick are featured with their shovels in the picture above. For the Portland Press Herald's full report, go to their website at http://www.mainetoday.com/