Bangor, Maine – On Monday, February 22, 2016, the Bangor City Council will take up consideration of a lease proposal with Wayfair, one of the world’s largest online destinations for home furnishings and décor. The lease proposal is for use of a 30,000 square foot office building at 690 Maine Avenue, presently used by L.L. Bean, Inc.
If the lease receives final approval from the City Council, Wayfair will begin operation in 2016 of a customer service call center that expects to employ 450 full time employees. Work on the space will begin May 1, 2016, with Wayfair expecting to occupy the space on August 1, 2016.
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Wayfair has grown dramatically since 2002 and the company is now publicly traded with over $1.3 billion in sales in 2014. The Bangor facility is one of two Wayfair projects slated for Maine in 2016.
If approved, the base rent for the lease will be $16,250.00 per month, increasing to $17,725.00 in month 61. The term of the lease is for seven (7) years, with two (2) five-year options for extensions, and a 3% increase in base rent during each extension term.
L.L. Bean, Inc. notified the City in 2014 of their intent to leave the space in 2016. Since that time, the City’s economic development team has worked tirelessly to secure a new tenant that would create jobs in our region.
A statement from Wayfair follows:
Wayfair Statement from Jane Carpenter, Head of Public Relations (Phone: (978) 828-3568, jcarpenter@wayfair.com)
Wayfair is delighted to expand its operations in the great State of Maine. We plan to bring nearly 1,000 full-time jobs to the state by opening customer service and sales operations in the City of Bangor and the Town of Brunswick. As one of the world’s largest e-commerce retailers of home furnishings and décor, Wayfair’s business is founded on an exceptional shopping experience for the home. Our new Bangor and Brunswick locations will enable us to scale customer service and sales operations to keep pace with our rapidly growing customer base. The State of Maine has been a great partner in making this all possible and we are very excited to expand the Wayfair team in Maine.
In Bangor, we plan to bring 450 full-time jobs to the area. We have worked closely with the City of Bangor, L.L. Bean and Maine & Co. over the past several weeks to finalize our agreement to move into the building currently occupied by L.L. Bean. L.L. Bean has been a great partner in the transition. We look forward to building our team in the City of Bangor and know that the community offers a strong talent pool for expanding our world-class customer service operations.
In the Town of Brunswick, we will offer more than 500 full-time positions in inside sales and service. We are delighted to be a part of the redevelopment at Brunswick Landing and have worked closely with the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, the Town of Brunswick and Maine & Co. to finalize plans to join the Brunswick community. We are excited to work with the top notch talent in the Brunswick area to expand our operations.
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The City of Bangor, Maine is a service center community of 33,039 residents and is the county seat of Penobscot County. Bangor is the major commercial and cultural center for much of northern and eastern Maine. The City is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. For information on City projects and news, see www.bangormaine.gov.