The former Guilford mill building in Eastport has been sold to a company that is planning to use it for its wreath-making operations, including temporary housing for migrant workers and perhaps eventually a wreath-making operation that could employ up to 100 people. The 65,000-square-foot industrial building in Quoddy Village was recently purchased by Worcester Resources Inc. of Harrington, owned by the Worcester family, which is known for the Wreaths Across America project to annually decorate the graves at military cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery, and the proposed Flagpole of Freedom project in Columbia Falls that was abandoned earlier this year.
The immediate plans for use of the building during the wreath-making season this fall depend on whether a zoning issue can be resolved in time. The 8-acre parcel is currently zoned for industrial use and would need to be rezoned to highway business use in order to allow for the housing of workers, with both the Planning Board and City Council needing to approve the rezoning. Since the Planning Board has not yet received a rezoning application, it appears unlikely the property could be used this season for housing.
According to Rob Worcester, a co-owner of the family-owned Worcester Resources, if the zoning issues can be resolved in time, the company plans to house 40 to 45 migrant workers from Mexico there for six to eight weeks this year, from the middle of October to the first weeks of December. The workers would be housed in the former office space in the mill building. Migrant workers have been employed by the Worcesters for quite a few years, as a number of wreath-making companies have pointed to the lack of local workers for both tipping and making the wreaths.
Worcester explains that the company has purchased several hundred acres in Pembroke, Dennysville and Charlotte for tip production for its wreaths, and the workers would be tipping on those lands. The company is looking to possibly purchase more acreage in that area in the future. Instead of buying from local tippers, Worcester notes that, with fir tips grown and harvested on its own lands, the company can control the quality of the tips. Worcester Resources, which does business as Worcester Wreath, has been doing its own tip farming since the late 1990s, and he said, “We’ve ramped up enough to be self-sufficient.”
The tips harvested in this area are being used to make wreaths at Worcester’s Topsfield operation, and the migrant workers have in the past been housed there. If housing in the former Guilford mill does not work out for this year, the workers will again be housed in Topsfield. If rezoning approval is received in time, Worcester notes that “not a lot of renovation is needed,” with just the addition of showers, lavatories, cooking and refrigeration equipment. The company also would use the space for storage for its wreath-making operations this year.
In the future, the company might use the building for wreath production. If so, Worcester said, “We’d be looking at hiring a few dozen to be a local base for management of production. But that’s looking forward.” If wreath-making production does proceed in the former mill, the company could employ 100 workers to produce several hundred thousand wreaths each season. “There’d be an opportunity for wreath-making for locals,” Worcester said, noting that it would be an expansion of the company’s production capacity.
Worcester said the company decided to purchase the building in Eastport because of its proximity to where the tips are harvested. The building currently has five tenants in the back section who rent space, and Worcester said that will continue and that they will be looking for more tenants. The space is used for storing RVs, boats and other items. “We plan to heat the building year-round,” he noted. “It’s a very nice building, and we look forward to renovating it and making it a good space for us. We want to work with the town and the tenants,” Worcester said. “It’s a good fit for us and the area as well.”
The 65,000-square-foot industrial building had been slated for a foreclosure auction in August, which was postponed to September, but Worcester Resources ended up purchasing it instead. The city of Eastport had sold the former building in August 2020 to Michael Kearns of Milbridge, and it was later transferred to Lakeview Holdings LLC, owned by Kearns. He rented out some space in the former textile mill for storage and other uses. Property taxes to the city have been paid up through 2023.
After Guilford Industries closed the Eastport woolen mill in 1997, the city ended up acquiring the building and over the years a number of different businesses operated there, including Creative Apparel Associates, Tex-Shield and Group Home Foundation, which made protective clothing for the military, and Millennium Marine, which used the space for its boatbuilding operation.
