By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou has recently partnered with a Texas-based company named Buxton in an effort to drive economic development for the city, and Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess believes that Buxton is the best company to help the city reach its goals of expanding commercial opportunities while retaining current businesses.
Buxton brings a wealth of data to the city’s search for new businesses, and that can mean finding best-fit companies for Caribou.
“This will help us get in front of retailers, be able to speak their language and have data to back it up,” Bleess said, describing how important facts and figures are to attracting businesses. “[Information] is the biggest thing, and we can present the data Buxton has to retailers to show them why Caribou is a great place to locate.”
That crucial data includes information about population area, income, household profiles and retail site assessments (all the locations in Caribou that are open for business or prime for redevelopment). Partnering with Buxton, that local data can be accessed and put through a list of potential retailers to find businesses that match the city’s needs and development capabilities.
“Buxton will help introduce us with companies on our match list, and we’ve also pick out 15-20 businesses that are on our ‘wish list,’ companies that we’d like to see up here,” Bleess added.
Without leaking the ‘wish list’ companies, Bleess did describe that the city is interested in some well-known companies in the food and retail industries, “Large retailers that would provide some job opportunities,” he added.
At present, the new partnership has developed some trade-map areas and in 30-60 days, Bleess anticipates starting conversations with retailers about the benefits of doing business in Caribou.
One aspect of Caribou that Buxton found particularly interesting is the city’s proximity to the Canadian border and all the traffic that flows south.
“We’re really at a perfect location for people driving by, or close by, on their way down to Bangor,” the city manager said, adding that the right businesses can help keep those dollars in The County. As Buxton maintains data from Canada as well, finding businesses interested in capitalizing on Caribou’s proximity to the border was something that the development company expressed interest in.
“Our partnership with Buxton is part of Caribou’s ongoing community revitalization strategy,” said Bleess. “Our community has a lot to offer businesses, and we look forward to using Buxton’s insights to recruit new businesses and support existing local businesses.”
“We are delighted to begin working with the City of Caribou,” said Vice President of Buxton, Lisa Hill-McCay, in a press release. “Our analytics will help city leaders to better understand their community and the retailers that are the best match.”
By becoming a Buxton client, Caribou will have access to the SCOUT program — Buxton’s proprietary web-based real estate platform. SCOUT is designed to give city leaders data and information at their fingertips to analyze different areas of their city.
“SCOUT is a great tool; we started using it a little already, and the data in there is very useful and will certainly aid in our efforts to attract retail,” Bleess added.
The partnership between the city and Buxton will be paid for through the city’s TIF funds.
Additional information about Buxton can be found by visiting www.buxtonco.com.
