Shucks Maine Lobster, based in Richmond, Maine, U.S.A., is proposing a new ‘trap-to-table’ seafood complex on the Portland, Maine waterfront.
The complex would consist of a processing plant, seafood restaurant, and marine education center in a two-story, 16,000-square-foot building. John Hathaway, the owner of Shucks Maine Lobster, said the facility is estimated to create 80 new jobs.
The proposal was brought before the Portland Fish Pier Authority, a board of directors that manage the property at the Maine Fish Pier in Portland. Hathaway is requesting a 30-year lease for the location, which has been an empty lot for years.
The center would be “a seafood processing and industry business designed to service Maine’s seafood economy and help the fishing community to connect with the visitors who come to Maine to eat seafood, but have no point of access to learn about the men and women who provide the catch,” Hathaway said in a written proposal to the board.
Shucks Maine Lobster isn’t the only company interested in the vacant lot. Nearby Bristol Seafood, which operates on the Portland Fish Pier, also expressed interest in the lot, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Bristol previously announced that the company’s processing facility will receive nearly USD 5 million (EUR 4.3 million) in enhancements over the next three years.
“We are in growth mode and looking at expansion at the pier,” Jennifer Cyr, vice president of finance for the company, told the board.
Hathaway has signed lease deals with the city in the past. In 2013, he signed a deal with the city for 19,000 square feet in the Portland Ocean Terminal on the Maine State Pier, which was later terminated in 2015 when he didn’t move forward with the project.
