Palom Aquaculture LLC is offering its 40.47-acre coastal property at 184 Corea Road, Gouldsboro, Maine for acquisition. The site — a former U.S. Navy communications station (NSGA Winter Harbor) subdivided into four lots — carries active, transferable permits from three regulatory bodies for recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) operations. For an operator ready to build, this acquisition converts years of permitting risk into a defined construction project on a site that is already approved.
Active, transferable permits from three agencies - Maine DEP discharge permitting, Maine DMR production approvals, and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit currently undergoing its third renewal review — all transferable to a qualified buyer. These permits allow the farming of non-native salmonid stock. Modifying or expanding existing permits is more straightforward than initiating a new application from scratch on a competing site.
40.47 acres across four subdivided lots - The site can be operated as a single campus or developed in phases. Single-ownership consolidation means no co-tenant dependencies, no shared infrastructure conflicts. The former antenna array footprint creates a large, flat, crushed-granite base well suited to industrial construction. Prospect Harbor provides cold, clean seawater with a 12-foot tidal range and minimal commercial traffic. The site is surrounded on three sides by U.S. Fish and Wildlife acreage, limiting adjacent development pressure.
65,000+ SF of existing structures - Building 85 (~20,000 SF), Lot 4 building (~45,000 SF per Gouldsboro town hall property card), and secondary Building 153.
Full disclosure: all buildings require extensive renovation, including roof replacement.
Three-phase
power at Corea Road - Served by Versant Power (BHD territory). Three-phase service at the road is
infrastructure that many comparable Maine coastal sites do not have. The Site is Solar Array favorable with a quoted 460 kw system. See the Power & Solar page for rate analysis and solar ROI
framing.
Deeded 30-foot right-of-way easements to Prospect Harbor - Seawater intake permitted at approximately 50-foot depth; discharge easement also in place.
Full disclosure: seawater inlet and outlet infrastructure has not yet been constructed. Preliminary construction estimate is approximately $1.5 million.
Second deeded right-of-way — Utility easement from Lot 4 to the ocean. In addition to the Prospect Harbor seawater easement above, a separate deeded utility easement runs from Lot 4 to the ocean.
Full disclosure: this second easement is not covered by the site's existing Maine DEP, Maine DMR, or U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits. Any use of it would require its own separate permitting process.
Obtaining RAS permits in Maine is a multi-year process involving public hearings, agency review, and legal exposure to adjacent-landowner challenges. Palom spent four years working through local, state, and federal approvals before receiving its first permits. The Army Corps permit alone has been through three renewal cycles.
An incoming operator acquiring Palom's permits inherits that regulatory history — and avoids repeating it. Permit amendments for an existing, operating facility follow a different and generally faster track than new applications. The permitting timeline you will not face is a material part of what you are acquiring.
Gouldsboro's land use ordinance currently caps finfish production at 500 tons annually. This is a community relations matter — not a permanent regulatory ceiling. The town has demonstrated support for development at this site (planning board approvals, community engagement history). An incoming operator with a phased ramp-up plan and strong local relationships is positioned to pursue ordinance modification. Bill Keleher of Kennebec River Biosciences, Palom's d aquaculture operations consultant, has established community relationships in Gouldsboro that transfer to an incoming operator.
The Property sits within the same coastal Maine cold-water aquaculture corridor as two federal and university research facilities in Franklin, Maine: the USDA Agricultural Research Service's National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center (NCWMAC) and the University of Maine's Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR). The two facilities are adjacent to one another on Taunton Bay and focus on Atlantic salmon genetics, breeding, and cold-water finfish production research. Their presence in the region reflects the broader institutional and scientific infrastructure supporting cold-water marine aquaculture in Downeast Maine.
A commercial seafood processing facility with deep-water pier access operates in Prospect Harbor, within the same harbor watershed as the Palom site. The facility includes large-scale processing and warehousing space, employee housing, and a pier capable of accommodating vessels at low tide.
This is a regional resource with characteristics — processing capability, cold storage, and deep-water dockage — that could support a mutually beneficial arrangement between a buyer and the dock's owners, such as a paid-use agreement for dock space, processing, or cold storage. Palom has no arrangement, understanding, or agreement of any kind is in place. This is presented as regional context and a possibility to explore.
Many aquaculture facilities are structured as multi-tenant complexes where operators share water systems, power infrastructure, or access easements. At 184 Corea Road, a buyer acquires the entire site. Water rights, power access, buildings, and land are under single ownership. No landlord relationship. No neighboring tenant whose operations affect yours. No shared infrastructure creating biosecurity risk or scheduling conflicts. For operators where production security and regulatory independence matters, this distinction is significant.
Bill Keleher, President of Kennebec River Biosciences, serves as Palom's aquaculture operations consultant for this project. Keleher brings operational aquaculture expertise and established relationships in the Gouldsboro community, both of which support a smoother transition for a buyer taking over the site.
Competitive Energy Services (CES), a Portland, Maine energy procurement and management firm, supports Palom on this project. CES covers energy commodity procurement strategy, budgeting, and utility negotiations. On this project, CES can negotiate bulk-rate discounts with Versant Power and guide a buyer through the utility interconnection and permitting, giving a buyer a direct line into that relationship rather than starting it from scratch. Larry Pignataro, Director of Strategic Partnerships at CES, would be your contact.
Securing the permits took four years and significant capital. When Palom's original investors withdrew, the partners chose to defend and maintain the asset rather than abandon it — including litigation with adjacent claimants and ultimately acquiring additional parcels to consolidate the site. What a buyer acquires today is the result of that period of attrition: clear title, consolidated acreage, and active transferable permits that few competing coastal sites can match. The site was not developed on our timeline. It is ready for the right operator on yours.
Detailed documentation — including full permit documents, engineering drawings, and transaction terms — is available to qualified parties following execution of a non-disclosure agreement. Visit the Acquire page to submit your inquiry, or contact Bryan Woods directly through the Contact page.
© 2026 Palom Aquaculture LLC. All buildings require major renovation including roof replacement. Seawater infrastructure not yet constructed (~$1.5M preliminary estimate). Gouldsboro land use ordinance currently caps finfish production at 500 tons annually. A formal appraisal from a Maine commercial/aquaculture specialist is recommended before finalizing transaction terms.