Auburn Industrial Park
Bisson Transportation's warehouse in the Auburn Industrial Park.
At the start of the new millennium, Auburn was a victim of its own success. As a result of robust economic development in the city’s industrial park area, land for large projects was growing scarce. That was the motivation behind the Auburn Business Development Corporation’s mutli-year effort to acquire land and build the community’s newest park, the Auburn Industrial Park.
The first project in the park was led by developer Gendron & Gendron, and consisted of constructing a distribution facility for Bisson Transportation, a large freight and warehousing company primarily servicing the paper and food industries, and a partner company, Lynxus. The new facility includes 100,000 square feet of new “food grade” warehouse space. The building has 32’ clear-height ceilings and is served by the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad. It is equipped with a state-of-the-art warehouse management software system utilizing RF, EDI and Web-based technology.
High-capacity paper winding and roll-sizing equipment provide paper converting services for paper buying and selling clients.
At least 300,000 square feet of the park is rail accessible, capitalizing on the rail service of St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad, along with value-added services including access to the Auburn Intermodal Transfer Facility, the Maine Turnpike, and the nearby Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport.
The site also sits within the footprint of the new General Purpose Foreign Trade Zone — a boon to companies who conduct a sizable amount of international trade — and a Pine Tree Zone.
The project required the Auburn City Council’s support in passing a $3 million bond to fund road and infrastructure improvements to benefit surrounding businesses and future tenants, along with the community at large. The project was considered by ABDC’s board to be the most important one in its history because of its basis for expanded economic and industrial growth in Lewiston-Auburn. It helped cement L-A as a transportation hub with access to the Pacific Rim and Europe via rail and containership, and the Northeastern United States by highway.
About a year after Bisson’s foray into the park, Kellogg’s Snacks began building a 60,000-square-foot distribution facility to service its Keebler products. The site allows for future expansion.
