Maine’s Growing Food Economy & Its Impact on Real Estate – MEREDA’s Annual Spring Conference is May 12!

MerEATa The Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) will Host its Annual Real Estate Spring Conference on May 12 in Portland.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015
7:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Holiday Inn By the Bay
88 Spring Street, Portland

Food and real estate are inextricably connected in many more ways than just seed and soil, and the Maine Real Estate and Development Association’s 2015 Spring Conference will feature leaders in food/beverage industries. Coffee, beer, organic produce, sea and freshwater products and an exploding foodie culture here and outside of Maine mean there is growing need for production facilities, enhanced supply chains, specialty storage and many other real property infrastructure assets, old and new. Maine’s organic and specialty foods industry is growing and a supply line of food products leads from Maine to the rest of the world, while a steady supply of customers come here to eat and drink, and underneath it all is real estate.

Attendees at MEREDA’s Spring Conference will learn what’s new, what’s old and now new again, what opportunities exist and what challenges and hurdles that stand in the way of making Maine even more of a food and beverage resource and thus create more development and redevelopment opportunities.

MEREDA’s panel of experts will dig into the growing opportunities that exist for Maine and its closely related industries of food and real estate. And as always risks and rewards follow opportunity, so please accept this invitation to MEREDA’s Spring Conference and come harvest some knowledge and plant some seeds of your own with your colleagues and friends.

Panelists Include:
• Moderator, Betsy Biemann, Maine Food Cluster Project, Harvard Kennedy School
• John Piotti, Executive Director, Maine Farmland Trust
• Jen Faigel, Interim Executive Director, Crop Circle Kitchen
• Chris Hallweaver, General Manager, Northern Girl
• Dan Kleban, Founder, Maine Beer Company
• Sam Hayward, Chef/Partner, Fore Street
• Mary Allen Lindemann, Owner, Coffee by Design
• Erik Hayward, Vice President, Libra Foundation

MEREDA will also recognize the Top Notable Projects for 2014 and will unveil the newest “MEREDA Index” number. This metric measures the pulse of the state’s commercial real estate industry, including sale and lease activity, construction starts and other data, aggregated into one figure as an indicator of this important sector of Maine’s economy.

For more information about the Agenda & Scheduled Speakers and to register, visit www.mereda.org.

Application has been made for 3.00 Broker, Legal, Appraiser, and Architect Continuing Education Credits. Approvals are Pending.

Many thanks to our sponsors for their generous support:  NBT Bank, Blais Civil Engineers, Pierce Atwood, Consigli Construction, AAA Energy Service, Co., Verrill Dana, Commercial Properties, PDT Architects, and Mainebiz

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