Portland’s B&M Baked Beans factory to be replaced by the Roux Institute campus

There are plans for a technology and education campus to replace the B&M Beans factory in Portland, reflecting the city’s changing culture and economy.

A nonprofit that represents the Roux Institute at Northeastern University is buying the iconic waterfront factory and plans to build a public-private complex that will include classrooms, research space, offices, residences, shops, restaurants, a hotel and a public park on the plot of 13.5 hectares.

The B&M factory, which has been making traditional New England beans for more than a century, is set to close by the end of the year, according to its owner. Production of baked beans and other canned foods now made primarily at the Portland plant will be moved to plants in the Midwest, said B&G Foods, B&M’s parent company.

“The decision to move B&M from its old home on Portland’s Casco Bay was not taken lightly,” but the aging factory was built for a different era, the company said in a statement.

During B&G Foods’ discussions with the developers, “it became clear that the Roux campus will become a defining part of Portland for the next century and that our beloved factory and property could deliver a whole new legacy and provide even more service.” can provide for the Portland community,” it said.

YEAR IN THE MAKE

A purchase and sale agreement for the property in East Deering was finalized Monday. Representatives from the Roux Institute said it could take more than a year to get the permits and zoning to begin construction. The full extension could take 10 years or more and would be completed in several phases.

Selecting a location for the institute in the Portland area took more than three years, said Charles Hewett, executive director of the Institute for Digital Engineering and Life Sciences, or IDEALS, a Falmouth nonprofit founded to protect the campus. to develop.

The symbolism of the transition from an old production company to a high-tech campus is not lost on Hewett. He fondly remembers traveling past the B&M factory as a child in the 1950s.

“The site was an integral part of Portland’s economy in the late 1800s and 1900s,” he said. “What we really hope and believe is that the Roux Institute can turn that site into a driver of Portland’s economy, Maine’s economy, for the next century.”

The institute launched in early 2020 with a $100 million donation from David Roux, a technology entrepreneur born in Lewiston, and his wife, Barbara. The new campus is intended to house graduate education, business training, research, and business development, focused on building a local workforce in cutting-edge life and medical sciences, artificial intelligence, and digital engineering.

“(The campus) will accelerate the appeal of the Institute’s faculty, students and partners, helping to develop the talent pool that will be essential to the 21st century economy in Maines,” David Roux said in a statement. “In fact, this site is essential to achieving our vision and we look forward to seeing it develop.”

Initial plans include the construction of up to 350,000 square feet of office, classroom and laboratory space, parking facilities and a possible hotel. The B&M factory would be renovated and converted into an incubator space for start-up companies.

A public waterfront park with biking and hiking trails is planned for the perimeter of the property.

Future development could add faculty and student housing, restaurants, shops and other features. The non-profit organization IDEALS will own the property and provide long-term leases to private developers.

Hewett, the executive director of IDEALS, would not name a specific purchase price for the B&M property, but said the complete construction would likely cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

B&M LEAVES PORTLAND

The proposed campus site is located on a triangular lot bounded by Interstate 295 to the west, an abandoned railroad and working marina to the east, and Casco Bay to the south. A single road, Sherwood Street, passes under the highway, connecting the site to the East Deering neighborhood.

It takes some imagination to see the property’s potential, Hewett said, but it could at least accommodate the institute’s growth over the next two decades.

“Our goal is for the Roux Institute to be a fixture in Portland a century, two centuries from now,” he said. “It will benefit an area of ​​Portland, which will hopefully welcome the new activity and give it some kind of lift that this kind of effort can give any community.”

The new development may take some getting used to for generations of residents and visitors accustomed to the bright red B&M sign atop the five-storey factory.

Inside, bags of beans are transferred to 200-pound iron pots that are baked in industrial ovens. The brand’s traditional method of making baked beans is one of its main selling points.

Production, which started in the current factory in the 1920s, will be discontinued in the last four months of 2021. The sale of the property will be completed by the end of the year, B&G Foods said. About 90 workers, mostly union members at the factory, will receive severance pay and support in finding new jobs, it added. B&M products, made exclusively in Portland, will be relocated to a B&G Foods facility in Iowa and to third-party factories in Illinois and Minnesota.

“The Roux Institute has volunteered to help B&G Foods support our employees by introducing us to other manufacturing companies that may be hiring in the Portland area, connecting with other educational institutions and programs, and potentially providing educational support. offer to those interested and eligible to pursue further education at the Roux Institute,” the company said.

ROUX IS GROWING

The Roux Institute inaugurated its first class of students last fall, using offices in the Wex Inc. building on Fore Street in Portland.

In its first year, the school enrolled approximately 550 students in programs that include full-time graduate studies, part-time certification programs, and short-term employee training for the institute’s business partners.

Enrollment for the first year “has doubled initial expectations,” said Margaret Angell, head of partnerships and operations at the institute. The school will have a minimum of 300 graduate students this year. About 1,000 graduate students and the same number of employees from industrial partners are expected to pass through the institute by 2023, Angell said.

It is difficult to determine exactly how many students the institute will have on the fully expanded campus because of the structure. Unlike a traditional graduate school, the Roux Institute aims to provide a workforce acceleration, tailor-made programs for working professionals, those enrolled in corporate degrees, full-time students, and others, including an intensive program for entrepreneurs.

While the institute’s courses lend themselves to remote learning and collaboration, and despite the uncertain future of face-to-face interaction in the coronavirus era, a physical campus is key to the institute’s goals, Angell said.

“We have a 100-year vision for building an engine of opportunity,” she said. “We live in a hybrid and global world, and we expect our partners and students to be in that world, but we know that space is important and that being together matters. A physical location like this makes everything possible in the field of education, research and entrepreneurship. It’s essential.”

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