Maine Vision #156

Justin Alfond:

To me, Portland is one of the best, if not the best small city in America. And so to be able to invest here, to be able to employ people, to be able to provide people homes is something that I'm going to continue doing.

Jim Brady:

If you want to make a difference here, you can do it. If you've got a passion about something, you can really put a lot of effort and energy into it and really make a difference here in Portland and in Maine. And I think that's one of the things that's unique here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 156, Main Vision, airing for the first time on Sunday, September 7, 2014. Having lived in the Portland area for many years, I'm excited to see the growth and new energy being invested in Maine's largest city. Today we speak with Maine Senate President Justin Alfond and real estate developer Jim Brady, two individuals who are bringing jobs, housing and visitors to our state and who are both involved in promoting the high quality standard of living for which Maine has become known. Jim and Justin have also been featured in recent issues of Old Port Magazine. We hope you enjoy our conversations and learn more about Maine Vision. Thank you for joining us. We were fortunate a few episodes ago to speak with Greg Powell about the work that he's doing with the Alphond Foundation. Today we speak with somebody who actually bears the name Alphon and is doing very different things within the state of Maine. This is Justin Alphon, who was elected the 115th Senate President of Maine in December 2012. Justin is a Mainer with roots in Dexter and Waterville. He serves on a number of boards in Portland and around New England, including Avesta Housing Opportunity Maine, Kennebec Valley Community College, the New England Board of Higher Education, and the New England Secondary School Consortium Justin lives with his wife Rachel, son Jacoby, daughter Esther, and their dog Tippy Tina in Portland. Justin, thanks so much for coming in today. I know you have a very busy schedule and especially with this new baby in the house. We're really grateful that you've taken the time to be with us.

Justin Alfond:

Well, thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Dr. Lisa, I want to talk to you a little bit about Dexter and Waterville. It's kind of a far cry from where you are now in Portland. It's a very different growing up sort of experience. I would think so.

Justin Alfond:

Growing up in Waterville and Dexter was just awesome. Both communities were small. Both communities, you knew your neighbors. And in particular, when we were in Waterville, there were Lebanese, Jewish, all kinds of different families and cultures coming together in a great melting pot. We were there until I was six, started school in Waterville, and then my family moved to Dexter because of my dad's work with Dexter Hoover moving to Dexter now, even a very, very, very small town. Back then it was probably around 4,500 people living in Dexter. It was an awesome community to grow up. I was there until I was 16. Again, everyone knew everyone. Sports was a big part of keeping the community together. Dexter Shoe was doing great. There were other manufacturing companies in Dexter and in the region at the time, and people and the region were doing very well, and everyone was very and very robust. And things were looking very good for Maine back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I like that Waterville is this interesting kind of sleeper hotbed of Maine leader creators. I mean, we've got George Mitchell, who came on our show, and obviously his family is Lebanese. And I believe that Greg Powell also has Waterville roots there. And then of course, we have your family. I mean, it's an. I've never thought about Waterville as being particularly ethnically diverse, but from what you're describing, not only is it ethnically diverse, but it also seems to be very supportive of Maine leaders.

Justin Alfond:

It's interesting that you bring that up. I never really put all of those people together. And you also have someone on Maine's law court, Judge Jabbar on the law court. You also have Bruce Poliquin, who grew up and has Waterville roots. So there's all kinds of us that I guess came from the Waterville area. I don't know what's in the water up there, but it's a great place. It's a great community. It still is. We still go back to the area quite often in the summertime just outside of Waterville. To Belgrade. And it's just a community that I think is very supportive educationally. So I think that's always one of the foundations of a strong community. And I think it's just always been a place where a lot of commerce and business has been done.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And Dexter also, I think having spent some time working as a family doctor in various rural parts of Maine, including the Dexter area, just as a temporary family doctor, what I notice is that people are very supportive of their children. You talked about sports, but even academically, I think people really understand that the next generation is going to be the generation that kind of continues to make Maine the state that it is.

Justin Alfond:

I think that's right. Growing up in Dexter, you had one big community. And as a child, you felt that whole community truly was watching after you and looking out for you and trying to elevate the bar for you. And whether it's your friends or your sisters or whatever it might be, it was just an amazing way to grow up. I mean, not only academically did they really make the bar high. Athletically was a town that always seemed to be winning sports titles, but then how we used the outdoors, I mean, it was just. I never remember sitting and watching tv. I don't remember a computer being a big part of my life. That was just not an option. We always were outdoors in the woods. Farming and agriculture being such an important part of our lives up in the Dexter region, always having fresh foods. It was just a really wonderful, almost kind of Rockefeller way of growing up. And it really worked for me and my family. And I'm thrilled to be a Mainer.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also spent some time temporarily not a Mainer. You got your degree from Tulane University in New Orleans. That must have been an interesting and perhaps startling experience at times.

Justin Alfond:

So I told you about Waterville and I told you about our next door neighbors. Well, our next door neighbors every year would give me a two lane sweatshirt from age three. And so every year I would have a two lane sweatshirt and it started branding on me about New Orleans. And so when I got to the age of looking at colleges and I was a good golfer, I of course wanted to go down and check out this Tulane University. And it was the perfect fit. And it was an awesome four years. I have a couple regrets. One that I only took four years and I should have taken five or six because it's such an amazing place, New Orleans and the school and the academics and just the culture and food and parades and festivals and everything else, but New Orleans was a great experience for me. It was the first time that I have ever felt being a minority. When you're in a city where it's 70% black and you're a white person, it's a really interesting experience to walk through, understand the differences of what it's like to be on the opposite side, especially growing up in Maine, one of the whitest states in the country. So that was incredibly interesting. My love affair for music began.

Jim Brady:

Food.

Justin Alfond:

It was just an awesome four years.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Golf, I know, has become more and more important for high schools around the state, but at the time that you were pursuing that sport, I'm not sure that it had quite the cachet that it does now.

Justin Alfond:

Well, yes and no. I mean, clearly it was pre Tiger Woods. So I think here in the United States, it kind of was in a little bit of a lull. We didn't have that big star that really could capture the imagination of this country and world. But coincidentally, Tiger woods and I were going through junior golf together, high school golf, college golf. I played out at Stanford my sophomore year when he was a freshman. And he was still winning back then. I mean, he was still the best golfer on every golf course usually back then. But growing up playing golf in Maine, it was pretty sleepy. We played in the fall because it was too wet in the spring. And you'd play on nine hole golf courses all through central Maine. They're not going to be on Golf Digest front cover anytime soon, but there are great golf courses to teach you the fundamentals of golf. And what golf in New England. The cache of that is that college coaches scour across the United States to find the best collegiate potential collegiate golfers. And they want golfers that can play in any condition. So golfers coming out of New England usually can fare well because we play in snow, we play in rain, we play on dirt, we play on pretty poor conditions in comparison to some of our neighbors, like in Arizona or Florida or California, where every day is like today, a beautiful sunny day with no clouds in the sky. So it was something that college coaches looked at me, looked at my resume, and I got quite a few offers to go play college golf and I chose Tulane.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you went beyond that, you pursued this passion for an additional couple of years?

Justin Alfond:

I did. After graduating from Tulane, I turned pro and made my way over to South Africa and played over in South Africa as a pro. Came back to the United States and tried to play up in Canada and then up and down the east coast of the United States playing on mini tours. And I would probably relate it people Know, here in Portland, we have the Sea Dogs and it's double A baseball. I probably was in between single A and double A. So I had a long way to go. I was a plus one, which means that every time I got into a golf course, I was usually beating par by one shot. So I was a very good golfer in my mind. But in comparison to the 20,000 other men out there that want to play on the PGA Tour or Asian PGA Tour or other professional tours, that you really can make a salary that can support you and your family, it was tough going. And so after two years, I said I did everything I could. I looked in the mirror, felt good about my journey, but said it was time to kind of put that chapter to bed.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've been back in Maine for quite a while. You're in Portland now, and you've really done some very interesting things, including becoming one of Maine's youngest Senate presidents. What caused you to go in the direction of public service? This isn't something that's for everyone, and it's definitely not something that many younger people are pursuing right now.

Justin Alfond:

Sure. So just a little bit of a background. Even though I came from Waterville, with all the political, political folks that came out of Waterville, Maine, including Senator Mitchell and so many others, my family, our public service looked very different. We were very involved in our schools. We were very involved in our sports teams, very involved in our community. But no one in my family has ever taken any sort of steps towards political office. So I didn't have any role models. It wasn't something that I grew up doing. High school politics, college politics. In fact, I probably shouldn't say this, but I say it all the time, that I didn't even really understand what a poli sci major was in college. I was like, what do you guys do? I'm not really. I really don't get it. So when I moved back to Maine, it was to do an economic development project in central Maine. And when that did not go through, I started networking. And previously, before I came back to Portland, I was living in New York City. And there was a. A guy that I had become friends with who was starting this national chapters around the country to get young people more involved in local and state politics. And Billy Wimstadt was someone that really captured my imagination. And through those conversations and reigniting with Billy, I started the League of Young Voters here in Portland, Maine in 2004. And I did that for four years. It was an amazing four years of learning more about my community, learning more about issues both local and state and really giving so many young people the confidence and that aha moment that I can do this. I can have a big impact in my local and state learning what it's like to go up to Augusta to the State House lobby. All of those experiences I and others took for four years. And then in 2008 it was time for me, I felt, to move aside and give someone else an opportunity to run the League of Young Voters. And I actually my wife and I were thinking to go thinking about going to graduate school on the west coast and as timing worked out, the state senator at the time decided to run for higher office. This seat in Portland became open the state Senate seat. And I after many mentors and many folks came up to me and said, you should run, I decided to run for public office. And that was in 2008.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Jim Brady:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

over time, you've come to really have an interest in housing and housing Maine people. It's not something that many of us think of, but it's so fundamental to people's ability to live a decent existence.

Justin Alfond:

So this is a fun story too. When I moved to the hill in 2003, I started renting and then eventually said, you Know what? I'm definitely going to be here. Maine feels right. Portland feels great, and I want to plant my roots. And so I still was on the hill and found a place on Sheridan street to buy. And right behind my property was an empty lot. And for those of you that know Munjoy Hill, there's not a lot of empty lots. Portland, especially on Munjoy Hill. This was actually a very big empty lot. And I started inquiring what's going on with this, because I felt probably a better and higher use was better than the dogs coming in and running around in these huge weeds. You couldn't even see your dog when your dog was running around in this empty lot. So I started calling the owner of the property. And about two months before I started calling, the land was sold to someone in Portland. And I started then getting notices that this empty lot was going to turn into a housing project. So I went to the meetings and met the developers, and they were nice people, and I was very supportive, and that's great. One of the developers decided to pull out after a decision by the city council and knock, knock, knock on my door. The guy that I knew best in the development asked if I wanted to become a partner in this housing project. And housing has been part of my family as far as developing apartments. And I said, sure. I think that would be a really good opportunity for me to get my feet wet. Using the other side of my brain, my entrepreneurial side, and my business side, we developed 20 condos on Munjoy Hill on Sheridan Street. They came out in the worst possible time that you could ever imagine. In October of 2008, we had 20 condos for sale right as the market was crashing and our economy was entering probably the second part of our great Recession, because the first part had clearly gone by in my mind. And so the sellout took a lot longer. But we sold all of our condos up on Munjell Hill. And then I've gotten involved in apartments here in Portland. I've gotten involved in commercial projects in Portland. And I think to me, Portland is one of the best, if not the best, small city in America. And so to be able to invest here, to be able to employ people, to be able to provide people homes, whether it's permanent homes or apartments, is something that I'm going to continue doing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you must feel pretty positive about the number of hotels that have come to this area and the commerce that that will potentially mean.

Justin Alfond:

I feel great about where Portland is and where it wants to go. And I think That's a reflection of a lot of decisions that have been made by our elected leaders, by our community leaders, and by having a great community dialogue. So we've got a great chunk of hotels being built. We have the first market rate apartment building being built in the West End that people can remember in probably two decades. Because most of the housing that we've built in Portland over the last decade or so has been affordable housing. But on the West End on Pine street, there's actually a new market rate apartment building being built, which shows the strength of our economy and it shows the strength and need of more market rate apartments. We have condos, multiple projects happening on Munjoy Hill. So the housing stock is growing. And that's important because I know as someone who owns apartments, we never have much vacancy. I mean, we might, out of our 56 units, we might have one apartment open. And that's just for a very little time. People want to come to Portland. People want to live here. People want to get rid of their cars and take out their bikes and walk everywhere, and people want to live on the Peninsula. And so I'm excited about Portland's future. I think we have to continue to balance our history with progress, and I think we have to continue looking at the trends as far as what's happening as far as rental rates to make sure that they're keeping up with salaries. Because we don't want to make Portland a place that people of all working types can't live and enjoy. So there's some challenges, but when you look at all the cranes around Portland right now, it's a very exciting time for the city.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also have kind of a streak of fun in you, which I can tell because you're involved in a. In a bowling alley.

Justin Alfond:

I am. So four years ago, actually this month, we, my business partner, Charlie Mitchell and I decided to open up a bowling alley. And this bowling alley has to kind of give its credit to a place in New Orleans, an incredible bowling alley called Rock and Bowl. And both Charlie and I lived in New Orleans at the same time and didn't know each other and both loved to go to Rock and Bowl. So Charlie started a league called Bayside bowl, and I joined in the second year. And Charlie and I quickly became friends and quickly realized that we both felt that we should open up a bowling alley in downtown Portland. And so we together found a great place in Bayside and built Bayside Bowl. And it's four years old, and we think it really has hit a great gap of bringing people together of all ages, all types to bowl and to eat good food and have a restaurant and listen to live music and have outdoor time. We have bocce down there and cornhole and a great outdoor patio and have movies once or twice a month during the summertime. So it's a great place. And there's not a lot of things that you can do. I mean, housing sometimes brings a smile, but when people walk into a bowling alley and they have a good throw or, you know, have a good meal, I mean, most people are smiling when they come into Bayside bowl or leaving Bayside bowl. And that's a really fun thing to be a part of.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You and your wife Rachel have two kids now. You have Jacoby and Esther and your dog Tippy. Tina, how has this shifted things for you and the way that you approach your life, the way that you approach things personally and professionally, and how you want Portland to look for your children growing up?

Justin Alfond:

So it's a pretty small question. Dr. Lisa let's see here. Well, but I think how I would start this is that, you know, for 10 years I've been in Portland, and I've seen Portland through a lot of eyes, first through a single person, then through someone in a relationship, and then we got married and then having a kid and, well, first having a dog and then having a kid and now another kid. So having all those experiences, I think is important because it gives me a sense of kind of how dynamic the city is and how it needs to continue being dynamic and fun and lively and robust. I think of all the work I've done in education for the last six years in the statehouse and especially early education, as we all know. And former the speaker of the House, Steve Rowe, is great at talking about how important the first five to eight years of a child's life is, but especially those first three years where the brain is just working so hard and absorbing so much and learning so much. And if we can create environments for those youngsters to be really, really successful and challenged and in the right environments, their lives and your lives as a parent are going to be a lot easier. So that has really become much more clear to me as I'm having my own young children. Watching my son Jacoby, who's almost three, he's a sponge. I mean, every day he's learning something. He's in a great child care center, and you just can see how much they are giving him and he's giving them. As far as the learning curve and learning experiences, I also think about housing we, as our second child, is about to come, we realized we were outgrowing our first house. So I had to look at the housing stock in Portland, and that really gives me a good sense of where are we in Portland for young families? And I think if I had to talk about one of our biggest challenges in Portland is trying to make sure that we have enough housing for young families, working families. Because right now, I talk to a lot of my peers and see a lot of my peers, and they're leaving Portland and they're moving to the suburbs of Portland, which are unbelievable spots with great schools. But I think we need to do everything we can to keep a lot of those young families here. So. So those two pieces in particular, I would say, as a family, as a young dad, I'm starting to see some of these things come to fruition.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The fact that you've now been in the state senate over a period of years is important because it's probably enabled you to, I guess, grow legs in some areas that you needed to before you could really effect permanent change. What are some of the projects you feel best about?

Justin Alfond:

So I'll go to education for a second. One of the things that I really felt very strongly about is how many students were dropping out of school or falling through the cracks throughout the state of Maine. And at one point, I think we're definitely much below this, but around somewhere between 2,000 to 2,500 students per year were dropping out of school or falling through the cracks and leaving school. So I and others said we need to look at all of our laws around truancy, and that just means, you know, coming to school every day, looking at our laws around suspensions, expulsions, zero tolerance. And, you know, there was a time during the 90s where we got very hard on our schools, and we had all these very, very strict kind of laws that kind of swept the nation. And, you know, I think they probably played a role, but it might have been an overreaction. And so I think what I and others did to kind of update how we try to create schools to be a productive and welcoming and nurturing environment for our students and giving them accountability, but also giving them the chance to make mistakes, because we all did and still be able to be in a supportive school environment. So that was something that I felt very strongly about, also creating some high bars. And we're coming up on one. By 2016, every school in the state of Maine should be reaching 90% of all their students graduating high school need to graduate. So it's not 100%, that's obviously the goal, but 90% of every school in the state needs to graduate 90% of their students. And so that's something that I felt in order to create the laws and ideas around this, you need to have a high bar. And 90% was something that at the time we were in the mid-70s, so it was a big jump. And I'm proud to say we're about at 84% here in 2014. So I think we're closing in on 90% throughout the state. And then the final issue is student hunger. Sadly, poverty connects our state, whether you're in Dexter, Maine or Portland, Maine. And it's something that is really, really troubling. We have around 170,000 K through 12 students in the state. And 46% of them, just around 83,000 students, are food insecure, hungry. And that is a troubling number. It's a troubling number because, you know, when a child's hungry, clearly they're going to have challenges in school, challenges at home, challenges in their community when they're hungry all the time. I mean, it creates all of these stresses in their lives, stresses in their family's lives. And so what I and others are trying to do are trying to look at how we increase the amount of food in our schools during the summertime, working with partners in the business community, working with partners in our religious communities, nonprofit communities, to figure out how we do a better job of feeding our students here in Maine. Because we're not going to be able to become the Maine we want to be. Whatever town you live in, it will never be able to achieve what it can when you have students hungry daily and in the summertime.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I was going to ask you a question about being a member of such a recognized family. I'm the oldest of 10 children, so even though my family is not nearly as well recognized as your family, there are a lot of people who will say, oh, I know so and so Belisle or Charlie Belisle, the doctor. You know, it's a main thing and what it's been like to sort of distinguish yourself from, from that family and simultaneously remain linked to that family. But I think you've kind of, over the course of this interview, you've actually already spoken to that, that you seem to have very similar ideals and family values, but you're doing it in a very different way.

Justin Alfond:

I would agree. I mean, one of the things that my grandparents, Bibby and Harold Alphond really instilled in me was this idea that Maine made our family very, very successful and we couldn't have done it alone. And they always encouraged me to get involved, be involved in my community. No one ever took the route of public service as an elected official, but I feel like that is my interpretation of how they felt. I and other Alphonse should give back. And being a public servant is something that I love. I'm passionate about it. I want the state to really be the best state it can be for all Mainers and those who come to have a piece of Maine during all of our four seasons. And so I love giving back to the state. I'm really proud to be an alfond. Wherever I go, someone always has a story about my grandmother and my grandfather. They have given back in so many ways and continue to do so through their foundation. And it's just an amazing thing to come back to a state, come back to a part of the state that I didn't grow up in, kind of chart my own course, but always have my last name to kind of connect me to others.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Justin, how can people find out about the work that you are doing with the State Senate or perhaps Bayside Bowl?

Justin Alfond:

So both, as you might imagine, have websites so you can go to baysidebowl.com and see what's happening down there. For myself, you can contact me@justinustinalphond.com or you can find me on my website@justinalphond.com and I try to keep that pretty regular so you'll find things that I'm doing and projects that I'm interested in and I'd love to hear from you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And we will also be featuring an article about you in the upcoming Old Port magazine for the fall so people can read about you there. Justin, thanks so much for all the work that you are doing for the city of Portland and really the state of Maine. And congratulations to you and Rachel on the birth of Esther and the fine work I'm sure you're doing raising your son. Also Jacoby and your dog Tippy. Tina, I appreciate your spending the time to have this conversation with me today.

Justin Alfond:

Thank you for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcie Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marcy. When was the last time you took a break from what you were doing? From the work that was piled up on your desk and just looked up? I know that during the course of my days I often forget to take a moment or two to just breathe, look up at the sky, and dream. Terrible that I have to remind myself to breathe. But when I do, I feel energized. Because in those moments, I'm able to let go of the daily grind and think more about what I want to accomplish, how I want my business to grow. Sometimes those are the aha moments. If we all took a few moments out each day to stop what we were doing and dream a little about our business futures, not only would we feel a great sense of calm, but we may come to realize that these dreams can, in fact, come true. I'm Marci Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need. Boothmaine.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

it's always a great pleasure to spend more time talking with people that I actually have known tangentially for other reasons. Today's guest is Jim Brady, who I've known as the father of girls in Yarmouth who play lacrosse and soccer and and along with my girls. But today we're going to interview him in a very different way. He is the owner of the Press Hotel, which will open in the spring of 2015. Located on Exchange street in the former Portland Press Herald building, the new boutique hotel will bring new life to the structure while also paying tribute to its history. Thanks so much for coming in and having a conversation with me about this.

Jim Brady:

Delighted to be here with you, Jim.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What you've done is really interesting because the Press Herald Building really was one thing for such a long time. And we all, all of us who grew up in this area knew it as just the place where the paper was created. And you've envisioned it as something completely different. When you walked in there. What was it about the Press Herald building that caused you to understand, you know, this is what's going to happen? And I can see it.

Jim Brady:

Well, the Press Herald built that building originally back in 1923, and then did an addition to it in 1948. And by the time that I first went in the building, when I returned back here to Maine in 2011, the building had already gone through some demolition on the interior. And so when I saw the building, it was wide open on the insides. Literally, almost all the walls had been taken out. It occupies an entire city block. So it has windows on all four Sides. And I just saw the great potential of all this natural light coming into the space as well as a building shape that worked very well for a hotel. Office buildings can be lots of different shapes, but hotels typically have a certain given width to them to allow you to have a corridor down the middle with two rooms and rooms on either side. And this building just so happened to lay out very efficiently as a hotel.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We have had a sort of a spate of hotels being built in the lower Old Port area and actually going off towards the East End. But your hotel is located in a very different place.

Jim Brady:

It is, you know, we're at the top of Exchange street, right across the street from City Hall. I think of Exchange street really as one of the key retail boutique sectors within the Old Port. And so I really like the idea that we are really connected to the center of the Old Port. And yet we're a couple of blocks away from the kind of rowdier bar scene. So I feel like we're, you know, steps away, miles apart. We're very different than a lot of the product that's going to be coming online or is now online here in the marketplace by being a much more design focused and oriented boutique hotel. But we don't really have the rowdy bar is kind of right outside, but we can walk right down the street and in 50 steps we're in front of some great restaurants and really all the boutique shops and activities that exist in the Old Port. So very satisfied with where we are

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

from a geographic location the way I'm envisioning your hotel. And the word boutique is something very similar to what can be found in Boston and New York and other big cities. You know, kind of on the smaller side with a lot of well thought out design features and proximity to things like restaurants. But we don't have a lot of that in Maine. And I'm not sure. I'm thinking maybe we have maybe one other boutique hotel perhaps on the West End. But this is something new. I think it is.

Jim Brady:

And the term boutique is really interesting because there's not a great definition for it in the hospitality industry. It can really mean a lot of different things. There are boutique hotels that have 400 rooms and their boutique hotels, like I think you were referencing the place in the West End, I think is only eight rooms. So really the full gamut. And what I like to think about when I think about a boutique hotel is something that the developers or the owners have spent a lot of time really focusing on the little design details. And so we engaged A designer out of New York who specializes in doing boutique hotels, and they're considered one of the top in the world right now and have been involved in a number of the top boutique hotels in New York and up and down the East Coast. Virtually all of the interior furnishings are all customized specifically for that space. We work together with a number of different main artists who are doing local artwork in a lot of the public areas and some in the guest rooms as well. And then there's also the whole service aspect of it as well. A lot of the hotels in town here in Portland might be considered limited service hotels, where they don't really provide a full service offering or concierge or some of the other things that you might look for. And so boutique hotels generally tend to be a little higher on the touch point with their guest.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We are seeing more and more of this type of attention to detail, whether it's service or whether it's design. Raymond Brynjanski obviously has the Camden Harbor Inn up in Camden and has also bought a property in the West End recently. Tim Harrington has been doing a lot with Kennebunk Resort Properties. This is new for Maine. I mean, we've always had a hospitality industry, but it's always seemed to be more campy, more casual, and we're getting people who really want this next level up. Why is that?

Jim Brady:

Well, I think the whole hospitality industry, not just in Maine, but across the country, has been changing as well. I think that the idea of really treating yourself to a unique experience when you travel is becoming more and more prevalent. I think Maine still has that feeling of being very casual. A lot of top business executives who wear a suit every day come to Maine and are very happy to trot around in their flip flops or the Tevas and wear shorts. So there is this more casual feeling up here, but they still want all the nice amenities and finishes that they might find at their home or some of the place that they visited in Cape Cod or in San Francisco. So I think that there is definitely a shift now towards a little higher quality of finish and a more unique experience that you're able to provide for your guests. In the hospitality side, in your prior

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

life, you spent quite a lot of time traveling for various reasons. You were a sailor, for one thing, also, I believe you worked in finance. You spent a couple of years in Italy. So has this colored your view of how you think cost should be offered?

Jim Brady:

Well, I think that your past experiences always provide some light towards what you're thinking about for the future. And as you mentioned in my past life I was a professional sailor and have traveled all over the world and raced in some fabulous places and of course, had the opportunity to stay in some beautiful hotels along the way. So I do think that that somewhat has shaped my perspective of what a hotel should be and what type of an experience that I think a guest might want to have at a hotel. And hopefully we're going to try to pull all that together here with the Press Hotel when we open next spring.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It also seems that these experiences, because you raced on the Olympic team in 1992 in Barcelona and also you raced in the Americas Cup. So these experiences have taught you things like flexibility and teamwork and the ability to overcome obstacles, which I believe would all be important if you're trying to launch a new business in the middle of the old port.

Jim Brady:

It really is. That's quite a unique comment because my past, by being a sailor, people think, well, what skills could potentially transfer from being a professional sailor into being a real estate developer. But in fact, to do well in sailboat racing, you do have a team of people. You oftentimes have a new design or boat that's being constructed and the, the shape of sales and all these aspects of kind of almost project management and pulling together a very complex group of people and getting them to reach to a goal. And real estate development in a lot of ways is very similar. Hire architects and designers and general contractors and a lot of different consultants, and somebody needs to be the leader that pulls that group together and helps set the goal for them that they're going to try to reach. And I do really push my team very hard to reach beyond where the comfort zone is. And that's something I did in sailing and something that's transferred very well into real estate as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm curious as to why you might choose Maine. You obviously have had the chance to be wherever you wanted, and now both of my girls have played sports with your two girls. So we've enjoyed having your family in Yarmouth. But what drew you back? Why here?

Jim Brady:

Well, I first moved here in 2000 and I moved here because of a real estate opportunity. I was working with the Olympia Companies, who I had co founded Olympia with my past sailing partner, Kevin Mahaney, who's a Mainer, and he and I were both living down in Connecticut at the time. And I went off to go do one more America's cup down in Auckland, New Zealand in 1999 and early 2000. And Kevin Mahaney came down and stayed with us in Auckland and said, you Know, Portland seems to be doing great. And I've just acquired this property in Portland. Won't you come back to Portland, Maine, and work with me developing these properties? And so that's what really brought me here from Connecticut, via Auckland, New Zealand, to Portland. And we loved it here. We bought a house in Yarmouth and settled in and had a great time in 2008 when things were starting to get a little bit slow. We hadn't had the crash yet of the fall of 2008, but that spring, Kevin Mahaney said, you know, I think we've always talked about you taking a year off. Why don't you go take a year off? This might not be a bad time to do that. So we packed up the whole family, moved to Torino, Italy, in the summer of 2008, and really enjoyed the fantastic time there in Italy. Ended up staying for three years and working on a Four Seasons hotel and branded residence. So ended up staying longer than anticipated. And we thought to ourselves, you know, after this stint in Italy, where are we going to go? We could move to London, we could move to San Francisco, lots of great places. And at the end of the day, we said, you know, we really have a great life back in Portland, Maine. Let's go back there. And so we came back in 2011, and so we've been back now almost exactly three years.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How do you think that this time in Italy? And I guess, obviously I misspoke when I said you were in finance, and it sounds like you were doing real estate development in Italy as well.

Jim Brady:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How do you think that this time in Italy and in other parts of the world that you visited has shaped your daughters and their view of the world?

Jim Brady:

Well, I think that's a great question, and it's really one of the unique experiences that I think we've been able to offer our children is to be able to see the world and live in different cultures. I look at my two daughters, Lila and Claire, and think that they're so worldly, they're cultured, they're very respectful of different people and different ways of life. I think it's been an amazing experience, something you wouldn't get in any school, but lessons of life. And they're both very, very mature, very thoughtful, and I think that that's been a great experience, one of the best things we've been able to provide for them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I've not spent as much time with Lila, but Claire certainly seems to have settled into, you know, the soccer playing and the camaraderie with the kids and I wonder if another thing that you're able to offer your kids is the ability to just kind of be good with where they are. Because if you're always traveling or if you're in different places living, then you have to kind of find some comfort with whatever the new circumstance is.

Jim Brady:

Right. And I think one of the things that we found is that in this move to Italy, the first two weeks when we moved there, of course the kids are homesick, they're missing their friends, and everything else was. Everything was new. And within about two weeks, all of a sudden, boom, a switch went off and they found new friends at the International School in Torino, joined different sports clubs and teams, and really just kind of fit in very, very quickly. A year later, we moved from Torino, Italy, to Bologna. When I started working, and the development company was based in Bologna, so we moved several hours away. The kids moved schools from the International School of Torino to the International School of Bologna. Had to make all new friends again. And we thought at this stage, boy, we can move anywhere. The kids are just very, very adaptable. They. They fit in, make it work, make new friends, and just really made it easy for us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There seems to be something about that adaptability that shows up a lot in Maine. You know, people are able to have different roles. They're able to have different jobs, they're able to. You know, I've seen people who are lobstermen and also artists and, you know, singer songwriters and physicians. You know, it doesn't. In Maine, it seems like we're able to not really have to define ourselves by a specific role. We can be many things. Have you found this to be true?

Jim Brady:

I have, and I find that with a lot of people that I work with on the various different projects and find out that they're an artist on the side or a musician on the side. In fact, I went to an event the other night where somebody playing in the band was one of the kids school teachers from the Armuth. Wow. I had no idea that he played the guitar. So, no, I think Maine does have that. I find that the kind of people who live in Maine probably had a choice. They didn't have to be in Maine, but they typically chose Maine as a place that they wanted to be. They likely weren't moved here for a job like Atlanta or New York or Los Angeles. They moved to Maine because they wanted the way of life that they could have in Maine to allow them to do the things that they wanted to do. And then wanted to figure out, how am I actually going to survive and have a career here. So I think maybe that's part of why you have this kind of dual purpose type person up here. They're fairly unique and very talented and very skilled.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

i also think that Maine allows people to have a voice. And you know, I was thinking about Kevin Mahaney and the times that I've met him at in by the Sea and the fact that he brought into the Inn by the Sea this who vegan aspect of eating because he became interested in eating that way. So I think it's interesting that you can explore something in Maine. You can connect with people in Maine and it's small enough so that you can I guess, grow something that works well for you and might connect with other people as well.

Jim Brady:

Yeah, no, I agree. I think that Portland, we all think in Maine is such this big city, but it's really, it's a fairly small city, it's a big town and it does give you a chance to really make a difference. If you want to make a difference here, you can do it. If you decided to do that in New York City, that might be a pretty tough road to hoe. But if you've got a passion about something, you can really put a lot of effort and energy into it and really make a difference here in Portland and in Maine. And I think that's one of the things that's unique here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when the hotel, when the Press Hotel opens in, I believe It's April of 2015.

Jim Brady:

Is that your targeting on target for April 2015? Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You're hoping to attract what sort of

Jim Brady:

person, anybody that wants to stay there, quite honestly. But you know, we think it's attracting a type of traveler who's looking for unique experience. If you're looking to just kind of pop in for, you know, going at midnight before you get your 6 o' clock flight out the next morning, that's probably not the type of person who's going to want to come and experience the press hotel that might stay out at the airport, for example, but somebody who really wants to come and experience the food scene that Portland has to offer. All the wonderful galleries and art that exist here and the Portland Museum of Art, walking around to the boutiques and the waterfront and getting lobster rolls. That's the kind of person that I think we are going to attract, is somebody who really wants to experience Port Portland for what Portland has to offer.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is this some part of a grander scheme for you? Do you have bigger, bigger dreams, higher hopes? I've heard some rumors, but I'm not really certain and I'm wondering what you might say about that.

Jim Brady:

Well, you know, when I moved back from Italy, I had the opportunity to look at a number of different things and I really decided that I wanted to really stay in Maine and not be jumping on a plane on a Monday morning and back on a Friday night. So I really wanted to focus on doing things here in Portland. And the hotel has been kind of the first part of that project. But I am involved in some other real estate developments and opportunities here in the city and so I'm very bullish on Portland. I think things are going to continue to go well for the city here. I think Portland's really becoming discovered more and more. The fact that all these new hotels coming to town and the fact that they're full this summer as they should be in the summer, is just, you know, proof that people want to come and visit Maine and they really haven't had that opportunity before. So I'd like to see lots of things happen here. I just see lots of opportunity for Portland. I'm involved with another project here down in the Eastern waterfront with a group of other partners and investors that we acquired the Portland Company complex or as some people think of it as Portland Yacht Services site about a year ago. And so we're working through an approval process with that site so that we ultimately could develop a world class development in that location.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you'll be heading back to your roots with regard to the yachting aspect of things.

Jim Brady:

Exactly, yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Going back down to the water.

Jim Brady:

Back to the water, right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You know, this is so exciting for me. I mean, this is. I moved to Maine in 1977 with my family. My family's from Maine. And, you know, to have seen the moving and the shifting and the people coming in and the new energy and, you know, inviting. I mean, I worked in the tourism industry when I was in high school and it's really great to see that we're capitalizing on what already exists around us. So I give you a lot of credit for the work that you're doing.

Jim Brady:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Bringing the Press Hotel to Portland and I can't wait to see what happens down on the waterfront. This is good stuff.

Jim Brady:

It really is. I mean, that's an amazing site down there and it actually abuts a number of other amazing sites. And, you know, even though the Ocean Gateway Garage was developed as part of a plan that never was finished with that site, just across the street from the Ocean Gateway Garage, there are a number of other sites between India street and the Portland Company complex that all have a lot of development opportunity available to them. Of course, the big infrastructure improvement there was the Ocean Gateway Cruise ship terminal. That was done a number of years ago and that really started to set the tone for what could become part of a great working waterfront area and on land developments to support that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, Jim, I appreciate your coming in and talking to us today. People who want to learn more about the Press Hotel can read Oldport magazine and also go online and read the article that was written about you and the Press Hotel. We look forward to the hotel being open in April of 2015. We've been speaking with Jim Brady, who is a longtime hotel developer and Olympic silver medal winner in yachting who specializes in recycling historic commercial buildings and many, many other things. Thanks so much for coming in.

Jim Brady:

Thank you. It was my pleasure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 156, Main Vision. Our guests have included Senate President Justin Alphond and Jim Brady. For more information on our guests, read Oldport magazine and for extended interviews, visit Dr. Lisa.org the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our e newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page, follow me on Twitter as Document T O r Lisa and catch my daily run photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestion for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them. Here we are privileged that they enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you've enjoyed our main Vision Show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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