Loring Commerce Centre
 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (August 2012) |
Loring Commerce Centre | |||||||||||
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 1970 aerial photograph of Loring Air Force Base | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Loring Development Authority | ||||||||||
| Location | Limestone, Maine | ||||||||||
| In use | 1990s-Present | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 745 ft / 227 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 46°57′00″N 67°53′00″W / 46.95000°N 67.88333°W | ||||||||||
| Website | http://loring.org/ | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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The Loring Commerce Centre was chartered by Maine State legislature in 1993 as the Loring Development Authority of Maine as a body corporate and politic and a public instrumentality of the state, and as a municipal corporation.
The Loring Commerce Centre is a industrial and aviation park that is home to over 20 employers with more than 1,300 employees. It was developed from the former Loring Air Force Base which was closed in 1994
It consists of over 3,800 acres (15 km2) of fully serviced commercial, industrial and aviation development sites in addition to numerous existing modern and practical buildings in a spacious, campus-like setting.
Loring Commerce Centre is located in Limestone, Aroostook County, Maine.
Overview
Users of the facility include:[1]
- DFAS Limestone, a major component of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service office (BRAC 2005 consolidated 26 offices into 5 and this was one of the consolidation points
- Maine Military Authority, refurbishes High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV’s) for the US Army and Marine Corps
Civilian users of the facility include:[1]
- US Dept. of Labor's Loring Job Corps Center
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge (administering 4,700 acres (19 km2) of the base property)
- Bigelow Aerospace
- HB Specialty Foods, Inc. - Hydroblend
- Kevric Farms
- Limestone Country Club
- Pines Loring Health Center
- MacDonald Enterprises
- RLW Property Management
- S.W. Collins Company
- SITEL Corporation
- SAIC: Science Applications International Corporation
- URS Corporation
- Graphic Utilities Inc.
- Loring Bio-Energy
- Maineexpo
- Maine Public Service Company
- Stantec
- Northern Maine Paving, Inc.
- Northern Girl, LLC
- Altaeros Energies
- Russetto's Restaurant
The airfield was used by the popular jam-band Phish, to hold its massive festival concerts, "The Great Went" in 1997, the Lemonwheel in 1998 and "It" in 2003. Estimated attendance was 65,000 concert-goers and Phish was the only band. Fans camped on-site in tents, creating a community of fans that became the second-largest city in Maine during all three events (This wasn't even the largest concert to occur in the Northeast during that time, as Woodstock 1999 happened at the former Griffiss Air Force Base, with approximately 200,000 people attending the event). [2]
In recent years Loring's runway have been home to speed venues such as: Loring Timing Association, Cumberland Motor Club and National Speed Shootout. In Summer of 2011 Bill Warner of Wimauma, Fla., driving a turbocharged Suzuki motorcycle set a new world record of reaching 311.945 miles per hour.
Full Time Fire Protection on site by Aroostook Fire Protection District 1, a regional fire district made up of Fort Fairfield & Limestone Fire Departments. Loring Fire Station, which is formerly known as the Structural Fire Station is manned 24-7 by Career Firefighters.
References
- ^ a b "Business Directory". Loring Commerce Centre. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- ^ Watson, Bruce (19). "A Maine Town's Long Recovery After Losing Loring AFB". AOL.com. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
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