Gin & Luck Hospitality group buys Little Giant in Portland

The owners of Little Giant on Danforth and Clark streets in Portland have announced the sale of their Portland restaurant to a nationally recognized hospitality group.

Gin & Luck, best known for their world-famous Death & Co cocktail bars in New York, Denver and Los Angeles, will make the West End the site of their latest project, with a new name and concept yet to be announced.

“This is the latest example of how Portland has developed a national reputation in the food and beverage world,” said Ian Malin, who started Little Giant with his wife Kate and partners in 2017.

The team’s attraction to Portland is a personal one. Gin & Luck partner and COO Alex Day has been a resident of Portland for over two years.

“Moving to Portland was transformative for me, both personally and professionally,” Day said. “I’ve found myself not only inspired by the beauty of Maine and all it has to offer, but also by a F&B community that has been incredibly welcoming every step of the way. They’ve blown me away by their deep love of hospitality, culinary creativity and enlightened business practices … “

Hires, promotions, appointments

Sustersic

The Portland Conservatory of Music is pleased to announce the addition of a new board member, John Sustersic, and a new associate director of development and marketing, David Cosgrove.

Sustersic is a senior research scientist at BBN Technologies, where he works to develop robust autonomous robots. He learned to play 12-string guitar in the second grade. During undergraduate school, he studied classical guitar and music theory on top of his engineering curriculum and played acoustic and bass guitars. He and his family moved to Falmouth in early 2020.

Cosgrove grew up in Casco and started lessons on violin with the Portland Conservatory of Music in the early 2000s, as well as studying viola with the Portland String Quartet as a teenager. He sat as principal violist for four years in the symphonic and chamber orchestras.

Smith

Maine Medical Partners announced several new hires: Terri Febbraro, MD, Maine Medical Partners – Women’s Health, Gynecologic Oncology in Scarborough; Geoffrey Cole, MD, Maine Medical Partners – MaineHealth Cardiology in Scarborough; Jillian K. Smith, MD, MPH, FACS, Maine Medical Partners – Surgical Care, Division of Surgical Oncology; and Lee Wolfrum, DO, Maine Medical Center in the Department of Psychiatry.

Ridge

University Credit Union is pleased to announce Lesley Ridge is one of two of the credit union’s new community engagement managers. Ridge grew up in Gardiner and now lives in Portland. She is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine and served as campus branch manager of the USM Brooks Student Center location. Ridge joined UCU in 2011.

OUT Maine is excited to announce that August Sender (they/them) is joining the OUT Maine team as the training coordinator. August comes to OUT from Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine, where they were the education co-coordinator.  OUT Maine creates more welcoming and affirming communities for Maine’s diverse queer youth.

Recognition

Sixty-five Verrill attorneys in the Westport, Connecticut, Boston and Portland officers were recognized as “Best Lawyers” by Best Lawyers 2022, including eight attorneys named Lawyer of the Year – seven of whom are from the Portland office – with distinguished recognition for only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area: David S. Abramson, family law; Eric D. Altholz, business organizations; Lisa S. Boehm, employee benefits; Juliet T. Browne, regulatory law; Martha C. Gaythwaite, personal injury litigation – defendants; Timothy R. Shannon, litigation – intellectual property; and Karen Frink Wolf, health care law.

Neagle

Chris Neagle of Neagle Law LLC, located in West Cumberland, has been named to the 28th edition of Best Lawyers in America for Real Estate Law. He was first named in 2003.