Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108perspective 48 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine I think they’re going to pull it off, and it will be a tremendous success. It would have been a total shame if they’d just let the business rot. It’s a great location. Chris is a terrific manager. AnddarkhorseNo.threeis… S outh Portland. Mill Creek is just on the beginnings of what could be as nice as the Old Port or better, be- cause they’re starting from Scratch. Scratch Bakeries is creating a huge following. They’re the best in the world. It’s like the soup Nazi, except with bagels. The small- business culture of Ocean Avenue and the attractive commercial rents and streetfront retail set all of this up. It’s the next big area. South Portland has so much potential. The Armory is fully leased. Look at the tank farms. The pipeline has virtually shut down piping to Montreal. Who knows? When Clean Harbors clears out all the tanks, maybe they’ll they turn the tank farms in- to pot farms starting this November. Few people know how big the pot business is in Maine. If they legalize it, it’s big, big mon- ey. Wall Street’s investing in it, in publicly traded stocks. There’samarijuanamutualfund? Not yet, but there are publicly traded stocks. You’regiftedatcallingshots.Youpredictedtheeconomy wouldtankyearsago–beforeithappened–becauseyou wereworriedabout“sub-primeslime.”Soyou’rereally highonthisareathissecond? I think we have the physical beauty, the is- lands. It’s enchanting. Go out on a little ferry boat to Long Island. New York has eight million people and it has islands, too, but… We have the panache and the quaint- ness and the salt here. You throw in all these tapas restaurants, DiMillos, the craft breweries, it’s wonderful. It would cost you a fortune to start a craft brewery in Bos- ton now. We have two of the top 50 brew- eries in the country, in volume sold, Ship- yard and Allagash. The new hotels near the waterfront are blending into a really nice area. The tourism and service industry in Portland invigorate each other. When you see not one but two huge cruise ships com- ing in, it’s really something. The prosper- ity is already here. Otherwise, who’s paying $800,000 to buy a condo overlooking the fire station on Munjoy Hill? n