International cold-storage company Americold has abandoned a plan to build a massive refrigerated warehouse on the Portland waterfront.
The decision dampens immediate hopes for waterfront cold storage, which has been touted as an economic game-changer for Maine’s growing food and beverage industries. Even so, state and city officials say a refrigerated warehouse will eventually be built on the state-owned land.
Atlanta-based Americold Realty Trust, the world’s largest temperature-controlled warehouse owner, was selected in 2015 to build and operate a facility on state-owned land next to the International Marine Terminal. Those plans never materialized, even after a lengthy public process to amend the zoning area around the construction site so Americold could build a nearly 70-foot-tall warehouse. The estimated cost of the project was $30 million, plus another $5 million to $6 million to stabilize the loose, muddy soil at the construction area to support the massive building.
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