Northland Enterprises custom-built a 49,000-square-foot warehouse in Saco, Maine, for local packaging company Pack Edge. The project earned a 2025 CoStar Impact Award for commercial development of the year for the Portland/South Portland market, as selected by an independent panel of local industry professionals.
Northland had purchased the land at 955 Portland Road years ago with the intention of building a mixed-use development on the 23-acre site. The land was previously a golf driving range.
The developer worked with the Dunham Group to list the property as a build-to-suit opportunity for industrial and/or retail uses. In early 2024, another broker with the Dunham Group was working with Pack Edge to find a new headquarters as it was growing out of its current buildings, including its home on Presumpscot Street in Portland.
The Dunham Group brokered a sale-leaseback deal for Pack Edge’s building on Presumpscot Street, with Northland becoming the new owner. Northland began to build a new 49,000-square-foot headquarters for Pack Edge, allowing it to consolidate from three buildings into one.
The new construction allowed Pack Edge to move into a building with enough space to meet its growth needs and large commercial cooler requirements. The building incorporates design concepts for efficiency, highlights corporate branding and takes into consideration the multiple growth and expansion opportunities on-site. The building also offers Pack Edge the latest technology and the most energy-efficient construction materials.
About the project: Northland Enterprises built out a custom 49,000-square-foot industrial warehouse space for Pack Edge, a local packing manufacturer, to meet its current needs, give it space to grow and consolidate its operations. The Dunham Group brokered the arrangement between Northland and Pack Edge, including a sale-leaseback deal in which Northland took ownership of Pack Edge’s former headquarters.
What the judges said: Industrial inventory is “badly needed” in the market, said Justin Lamontagne, partner and designated broker, The Dunham Group.
They made it happen: T.C. Haffenreffer, broker and partner at Dunham Group; Jim Freeman, president at Pack Edge; Josh Benthien, CEO and partner at Northland; Brad Fries, development director at Northland; and Ellen Thompson, chief financial officer at Northland.