11.01.2008 – Cianbro president Andi Vigue says the company is under contract to buy the San Antonio Shoe building in Pittsfield in the next two months.

“We want to utilize the space to be the home of our Cianbro Institute, which is where we do all our training and development of people,” said Vigue.

He hopes the building can be a centralized location for training of both “hard” and “soft” skills in both the management and construction fields.

In addition, Vigue says the company is looking to hire between fifty and a hundred people at their site in Brewer. More than six hundred people already work at the Brewer site, and Cianbro has invested more than $6 million in training these workers.

Brewer city officials say the additional Cianbro jobs have stimulated the local economy during a rough time.

“The fact that they are employing 600 people down there is tremendous for the local economy. That means all those folks coming into Brewer everyday, whether they live here or are coming from away, are having a paycheck at the end of the week and spending that money in the local economy. It really means a lot to our community,” said Tanya Pereira, an economic development specialist for the city of Brewer.

For many workers, Cianbro gave them an opportunity to learn and come home.

“I got into welding and fitting trade, I was working out of state and I wanted to come home and work in Maine, and it was kind of the only opportunity I had,” said Michael Astle.

Cianbro officials are expected to present their plan to the Pittsfield planning board Monday night.

A copyright story from WCSH6,