By David Harry
Staff Writer

Bryon Tait said opening a new facility Monday for Casco Bay Steel Structures on Wallace Avenue in South Portland was like coming home.
Tait is bringing 30 jobs with him to the former Durastone plant as he expands from a Saco location, where 40 employees already shape, fabricate and weld steel for bridge construction projects throughout New England.
 “It feels great, but some of the days were a little nerve-wracking,” Tait said Monday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Gov. Paul LePage, South Portland City Manager James Gailey, Tait’s wife, Wendy, and officials from Bangor Savings Bank.
The expansion makes Casco Bay Steel Structures the largest steel fabrication company in Maine, said Bangor Savings Bank Spokesman Jillian Dougherty.
Bank officers helped finance the company expansion and urged Tait to publicize the opening, Dougherty said.
The move into the new location on Wallace Avenue returns Tait to his roots in the steel industry. It is the former site of the Bancroft and Martin plant where Tait got his start in the steel business.
The move to a 95,000-square-foot plant on 23 acres allows employees plenty of room to cut and form girders for regional construction projects, including a drawbridge over the Mystic River in Boston and a railroad bridge in Stonington, Conn. Tait said he also enjoys building steel frame bridges nearly identical to the aging structures they replace.
Jack Gibson, current owner of the South Portland plant, said he was glad to see the 45-year-old building return to its original use.
Gibson said he bought the property in 2005 after the defunct Durastone concrete fabrication company liquidated in bankruptcy proceedings. He was the only bidder, and city tax records show he paid $3.6 million for the property.
“Not everyone wants to buy a contaminated property,” Gibson said.
He estimated it took two years and $1 million to clean soil contaminated by the former owners.
As Gailey welcomed the company to the city, he noted city officials once considered buying the site to house the public works department.
The effort failed when city voters rejected the plan by a slim margin in 2005, Gailey said.
Gailey said, in retrospect, he was happy about the 506-472 no vote.
“We would have been in the way of progress,” Gailey said.
Tait said he hopes to buy the property from Gibson next year.
As he led a plant tour, Tait passed employees pre-heating steel for welding and joining steel sections with welded plates. He said the welds are X-rayed to make sure they are secure before the plates are used in construction.
Girders stretch as high as 8 1/2 feet, and a hole cut through a girder for the Boston drawbridge will eventually hold a steel pin that weighs 11 tons, Tait said.
“Six months ago, this was just a warehouse,” he added.
LePage said the expansion fits with his vision of creating a business-friendly environment in Maine, but said he cannot create the jobs himself.
“I hope they outgrow this real soon,” LePage said.
Tait said federal and state money remains available for the bridge projects.  
“Casco Bay Steel is here to stay,” Tait said.