Local Expertise, Lasting Impact
E.S. Boulos Turbo-Charges Portland’s Growing Tech Sector with Roux Institute Campus Project
A bold new vision is taking shape along Portland’s waterfront, and one of Maine’s most iconic and experienced electrical contractors is powering the transformation.
In 2020, Northeastern University opened the Roux Institute in the WEX Inc. headquarters at 100 Fore Street in downtown Portland. Tech entrepreneur David Roux and his spouse, Barbara, set things in motion with a $100 million gift to promote the state’s tech sector. The idea gained immediate traction, leading to partnerships with more than 200 businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and community organizations.
Now that vision is expanding, as the Institute prepares to vacate its temporary home for a permanent campus located at the former site of the iconic B&M Bean Factory, visible from Interstate 295. Construction on the 13.5-acre property is scheduled to be completed in 2027.
“This is a big staple project for the area, bringing Northeastern University to Portland,” said Nick Marchant, principal director of E.S. Boulos, a principal commercial and industrial electrical contractor serving clients throughout the Northeast. The Roux Institute is one of the largest and, potentially, most broadly impactful contracts in the company’s history, which dates back to 1920. This ambitious redevelopment represents both a new chapter for a historic Portland location and a major investment in the city’s emergence as a center for technology, data science and life sciences. The significance isn’t lost on Marchant: “The community is very excited about the project and for us to have our name attached to it is fantastic, in all aspects.”
But for E.S. Boulos, a company with deep roots in the state, the work represents something much more personal – an opportunity for local professionals to help build a campus designed to develop Maine talent, attract new investment, support growing industries, and create jobs throughout the region for decades to come. Fittingly, the Boulos team joined the project well before construction began.
“Consigli is the general contractor on the project, and they're a great partner of ours in the area,” Marchant explained. “They brought us in early on for help through design development and to help keep the owner's idea on budget and everything in line.”
The company’s contract—set at approximately $30 million—encompasses the primary electrical installation, as well as telecommunications, security cabling and security installation, the parking garage, and the campus medium-voltage loop. The project team currently includes 20 to 25 E.S. Boulos electricians, under the supervision of E.S. Boulos Area General Superintendent and Manager of Preconstruction Matt Lyons, who described Roux Institute as “a very challenging project, which is what we enjoy.”
For starters, the design calls for extensive exposed electrical infrastructure rather than concealing systems above drop ceilings, putting the quality and precision of the electrical installation on display throughout the building. Adding to the challenge, Lyons explained, the building curves approximately seven degrees every 30 feet, requiring conduit runs to follow the architecture.
“We can make one area look good, but we’re trying to make 260,000 square feet look good because it’s all exposed conduit,” Lyons said. “When you see all the exposed conduit and the lights and everything that goes with it, there’s a lot of craftsmanship that ties into the building.”
E.S. Boulos electricians are no strangers to the finely etched craftsmanship that the Roux job demands. Recently, the company completed a nine-story addition at Maine Medical Center in Portland, a large project with extensive electrical infrastructure and the demanding coordination requirements of a working hospital environment. Many of the electricians who worked on that project have moved on to the Roux Institute.
“Having guys that understand that type of construction be over here definitely helped set us up well for this one,” Lyons said.
That experience also reflects E.S. Boulos’ ability to develop talent from within. Both Marchant and Lyons built their careers with the company and now lead one of its most visible projects. Marchant joined E.S. Boulos in 2008 while attending the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center. “I started as an intern, went to an intern estimator, full-time estimator, project engineer, project manager, ops manager, and now director of the company,” he said. “So it’s been a great process for me.”
Lyons followed a similar path, joining E.S. Boulos as an apprentice in 2010, and progressing up the ranks to his current dual role of area general superintendent and manager of preconstruction. A lifelong Maine resident, Lyons has watched Portland change dramatically over the past 15 years and takes pride in how E.S. Boulos has become part of the community where its employees live and raise their families. He points to the company’s work at Maine Medical Center as a particularly personal example.
“Both of my kids were born at Maine Medical. When you get to work on that space for as long as we did, put so much work into it, and know what it means to the community, it’s been great to be a part of that,” Lyons said.
Building for What Comes Next
While E.S. Boulos brings more than a century of experience to projects like the Roux Institute, the company is also looking closely at how electrical construction itself is changing. New technology, increasingly sophisticated building systems and advances in planning and fabrication are reshaping how contractors approach large, complex projects.
“This is really a day-to-day conversation at this point,” Marchant said. “Technology changes rapidly, and that’s part of the reason why we’re going to this pre-con and prefab road.”
Marchant points to the rapid evolution of Building Information Modeling as one example. In a little more than a decade, contractors have progressed from 2D modeling to 3D and 4D capabilities that let project teams plan and coordinate work in far greater detail before materials ever reach the field.
“It’s hard to predict where the industry is going, but we can see where it’s been and how it’s changed just in the last 10 to 15 years with the BIM technology,” Marchant said. “We are constantly asking ourselves, where does the technology go next and how do we invest in that so we’re not left behind?”
The Roux Institute is providing an especially fitting opportunity to explore that question. E.S. Boulos has been working with two Northeastern University graduates developing Tube Bender, an automated conduit-bending technology. The entrepreneurs have brought their prototype to the E.S. Boulos shop, where it has been used to fabricate conduit destined for the new campus.
“It’s really kind of full circle for them that they’re helping bend some conduits for the college that they graduated from,” Marchant said.
E.S. Boulos’ longstanding connection to NECA is playing an important role as the company expands its pre-construction and prefabrication capabilities. For Marchant, that relationship extends beyond traditional training. NECA gives the company access to expertise and fellow contractors across the industry who are already implementing new technologies and construction approaches.
“The support they give us, the education they give us, is invaluable to our guys,” Marchant said, noting that after more than 100 years in the industry, E.S. Boulos stays competitive by learning from others.
“We are large and well established, but we still don’t know everything,” he said. As E.S. Boulos develops its preconstruction and prefab operations, “NECA is helping the company connect with contractors that have already traveled further down that road, setting us up with our counterparts in the industry to see how they’re doing it to help us improve our abilities.”
In many ways, the Roux Institute is a fitting project for where E.S. Boulos is today. The Institute was created to bring education, technology, and industry together to develop talent and expand opportunity in Maine. E.S. Boulos is helping build that future while preparing for its own — investing in its people, embracing new technology, and laying a foundation for the region’s growth and success.