Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, was famous for her cryptic predictions but notoriously difficult to interview. These days, if you want to keep your ear to the ground, it’s much more fun to talk with our local oracle, Evan Livada.
What do you see?
“The Portland waterfront from Ocean Gateway past Phineas Sprague’s operation below the West End is just booming. Just look at the high-end hotels and high-rises going on near Ocean Gateway. The exclamation point is the new WEX headquarters. WEX is building a 100,000-square-foot office, with retail below. It’ll likely bring in 800 employees and 200 contract workers, which is what WEX has in South Portland at present. From the darling of Wall Street to the darling of Commercial Street. Their stock is up 37 percent this year, 76 percent on a one-year return.”
What’s behind what we see? Lift a veil for us.
“The Canadian company Premium Brands, of Vancouver, recently bought the Maine wholesale lobster-shipping firm Ready Seafood. By being acquired by Premium, Ready could circumvent the 25-percent tariff on U.S. lobsters sent to China [a total of 32-percent compared to the seven percent imposed on Canada]. The Ready brothers, from Cape Elizabeth, are brilliant. They launched in 2004. Ready purchases and sells 15 million pounds of live and processed lobster annually. They were looking to get some investors for a lobstering processing plant in Saco. But the Canadian company said, Not only do we find this interesting, we’ll buy you.”
Tell us a story that won’t wake us up in the middle of the night.
“You go up the Turnpike, and every tenth truck is an Eimskip container on wheels. Eimskip has 63 offices in 20 countries. Portland is their U.S. headquarters. They’re the biggest shipping firm in the North Atlantic. This Iceland company is stepping up its presence in Portland and roaring into prominence here. From what I see, I’m enthusiastic that Portland is going to continue to grow into a big, big, important town.”
We’re not overheated?
“The vacant lot that was Rufus Deering Lumber is right in the middle of Commercial Street, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. Between Phineas Sprague’s and Ocean Gateway, it’s a prime location. Whatever happens there is going to be spectacular.”
We aren’t too precious, are we?
“Think of Dock Fore in Boothby Square. The same guy has owned it for decades. He doesn’t serve food except for hot dogs. But for beer, you can get it for $1.95 pint. It’s like going back in time. For $3.95 you can make your own Bloody Mary, and you have the ambience of a friendly sports bar. In the middle of all this high-end foodie stuff, here’s a place that’s been around for 40 years, with an incredible sense of self. It’s terrific.”
Show us a dark horse on its way up.
“Dan Stevens started Capt. Mowatt’s sauces 21 years ago. He’s gone from a little factory on the East End to an exciting business that’s taking off with his son Nate and son-in-law Mike. He has consistent 18-percent growth. The Sunday New York Times front-page food edition featured them. Now he’s getting orders from all over the world. Tremendous stuff. I love the Canceaux sauce, named for the ship that set our city on fire.”
Tell us something we shouldn’t know yet.
“Americold proposed a $30M cold storage facility on the waterfront. But it fell through. I guess somebody got cold feet. But it was a great idea, to help receive shipping and expand its possibilities, so everyone thinks there will be a public/private partnership that will emerge. Talk around town is that the state and local forces will try to make this happen.”
Enjoy the Portland, ME info/content and vivid writing style of your article here–the 1st I’ve come across…by some typical meandering. Concise and interesting find.
Thank You.
a fellow writer & poet
Charles Eastland
entityenter@yahoo.com
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