The longtime Gray-based civil engineering firm Gorrill Palmer will move its corporate headquarters to South Portland early next year.

After starting in Gray in 1998 and having remained there for 18 years, the 18-person firm is hoping to cater to Portland-area clients and attract younger workers from the Portland area, according to president Al Palmer, who co-founded the company with Tom Gorrill.

“The first priority is trying to be able to improve the service to our clients,” Palmer said. “The majority of our clients are in the Greater Portland area, and this improves our proximity to them. But we are also looking long term at growing the company. There’s definitely a significant population of young workers, young employees who want to live in the Portland area, and we need to be able to attract that quality talent.”

Gorrill, who is semi-retired, could not be reached for comment.

By the end of January, the firm plans to move into 4,300 square feet of office space on 707 Sable Oaks Drive, which is located in a commercial subdivision near Running Hill Road in South Portland, according to a press release.

“With its strategic location near the Maine Turnpike, Interstate 295, the Maine Mall and surrounding businesses and restaurants, our location will provide for easy and convenient access to our clients, customers and employees,” the release states.

After occupying several locations around Gray, Gorrill Palmer moved into its current location, an 8,200-square-foot farmhouse on 15 Shaker Road, in 2002, according to Gray Tax Assessor John Brushwein. The firm sold it to an entity named 15 Shaker Road LLC on April 7 for $372,500, Brushwein said. Palmer declined to identify the individual who now owns the building.

Matt Sturgis, the chairman of the Gray Town Council, said that the move is unfortunate.

“I’m sorry to see them move out of town, especially because a lot of their workforce lives in Gray and New Gloucester,” he said. “It’s a business decision that they needed to make – I wish them well.”

Dan Craffey, the owner of Gray Plaza, said he was sorry that Gray would be losing the firm, which he described as a “great company.”

“In Gray, it’s not good to lose businesses,” he said. “I wish they would stay but that’s a business decision that they have made. I know Gray is extremely business-friendly.”

According to Sturgis, Palmer told him the firm is looking to win new federal contracts, but is unable to do so if it owns its office space. Selling off the building and leasing the South Portland office space fixes the issue, he said.

“I understand it was a business decision that they needed to make related to their ability to obtain federal contracts,” Sturgis said. “One of their motivations was their office needed to be leased to have an ability to gain federal contracts.”

Palmer could not be reached to comment on Sturgis’ claims, nor could Gray officials.

Karen Quigley, an administrative manager at Gorrill Palmer who has lived in Gray for 34 years, said she understands the need to move the office.

“Of course it’s nice being convenient, but I understand the business move is to get better visibility and (be) more convenient to our clients,” she said.

Quigley said she will move to Virginia next spring in order to work at the firm’s two-year-old office in Spotsylvania and be closer to her brother, as well as an aging parent, and to live in a warmer climate.

Ultimately, Palmer said that the firm is in need of young engineers. It is too difficult to attract young people to work in Gray, he said.

“There are so many other opportunities in the Greater Portland area so we want to make sure that we can attract that quality employment base,” Palmer said. “When the economy is good we try and hire several young engineers every year and I think you’re seeing a lot of those young college graduates want to live in the Greater Portland area.”

Al Palmer, the co-founder, principal and president of Gorrill Palmer, stands in front of the civil engineering firm’s longtime corporate headquarters at 15 Shaker Road in Gray. The firm will move to South Portland early next year.Staff photo by Ezra SilkGorrill Palmer Administrative Manager Karen Quigley and president Al Palmer relax at a conference table at the firm’s Gray corporate headquarters. After 18 years in Gray, the civil engineering firm will move to South Portland early next year, citing the need to attract younger workers and be in closer proximity to its Portland-area clientele. Staff photo by Ezra Silk