Sea Hag Holdings, LLC, under the management of 21-year-old Tenants Harbor resident Kyle Murdock, has a contract to purchase the former Great Eastern Mussel Farm and renovate the facility for use as a lobster-processing plant. Taking advantage of the change in state law last summer that now allows the sale of lobster claws, knuckles and split tails, and following in the footsteps of L.L. Bean heiress Linda Bean, who now sells cooked, frozen lobster claws to such retail giants as Walmart, Sea Hag Seafood, Inc. plans to process and ship out of state raw frozen tails and cooked and then frozen claw, knuckle and leg meat.
Murdock, who has taken time out from his studies in differential mathematics and physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to pursue his new undertaking, has spent some time lobstering – sterning with his brother on Islesboro and helping his dad, John, out on Trap Day on Monhegan – and he'd told his family that what the area really needed was more processing for the local lobsters. In the spring, he did some research while at school on processing and told his dad that there was probably an abandoned plant somewhere on the coast that would be a good location. When he came home two weeks later, his father told him the mussel farm facility was still for sale. Local realtor Peggy Crockett, acting as buyer for Murdock, says they looked at a few possibilities in the area, but the St. George plant was, as Murdock said, "the exact location you'd look for." The property was listed at $599,000.
After seeing the mussel farm property, Murdock went to a friend on Monhegan who owns a company in California and told him what he was working on. The friend told him that if he firmed up his rough plan he'd steer him to businessmen who might be interested in financing the venture. Murdock skipped classes for the next five days to work on his plan and started taking it around to banks and to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, which set him up with the Small Business Development Center in Wiscasset, which has been very helpful. Murdock was originally hoping for a closing on the plant in late January, but the closing date has been set back. Meanwhile, Sea Hag Holdings has gone ahead with its applications to the St. George Planning Board.
Great Eastern Mussel Farm's facility, which closed three years ago, is located on seven acres of waterfront on Long Cove in Tenants Harbor. The planning board held an on-site preliminary public hearing on Saturday for public comments on the applications that have been submitted, and about 15 abuttors and interested parties attended.
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