Sun Life to grow presence in Portland with new downtown office

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Sep 26, 2019, 10:32 ET

PORTLAND, Maine, Sept. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Life U.S. plans to bring more opportunity to Portland after signing a lease with the developer of Portland Foreside to occupy a new building along the waterfront that will break ground in early 2020. The new state-of-the-art, high-tech space will become the hub for Sun Life in Northern New England and house its current Scarborough and South Portland-based workforce when complete in mid-2022, including Sun Life subsidiary FullscopeRMS and its Disability RMS business.

Sun Life and FullscopeRMS have more than 500 employees in Maine who are either office-based or working from home. Sun Life and FullscopeRMS will have capacity at the new facility for up to 700 staff, providing the opportunity to add up to 200 new jobs over the next several years.

"We are very excited to join the thriving downtown Portland business community," said Dan Fishbein, M.D., president of Sun Life U.S. "As a Maine resident, I'm especially pleased for us to be a part of this sustainably built development. Our new open, agile and collaborative space at Portland Foreside will support Sun Life as an employer of choice in the area, a recognition we've achieved in Massachusetts as a 2018 Boston Globe 'Top Place to Work.' Portland is an emerging innovation hub and the top location in the world for disability insurance talent. We plan to connect with the excellent local colleges and universities to attract emerging talent in the care management, data and analytics, and technology fields that are critical to serving our clients."

"Sun Life has been a superb addition to our state's business community, offering much-needed insurance products and helping those who are ill or injured return to the workforce," said Senators Susan Collins and Angus King in a joint statement. "Sun Life and FullscopeRMS have already created hundreds of jobs for Mainers, and we are delighted that this expansion will create even more employment opportunities and contribute to downtown Portland's growth in a new, state-of-the-art building."

Sun Life's area employees help clients across the country who are on disability return to gainful employment, support clients on permanent or long-term disability, and provide employee benefits coverage and risk-management services for employers across the nation. FullscopeRMS, built on more than 25 years of success in its cornerstone Disability RMS business, brings deep industry experience and risk management expertise to its insurance and health plan clients and delivers customized, turnkey insurance and risk-management capabilities.

"Portland is a city with a rich pool of talent and an emerging technology sector, and Sun Life will make a great addition to our growing business community," said Jon Jennings, Portland City Manager. "The City, in partnership with our business community, is dedicated to fostering a forward-thinking culture, and developing Portland into an innovation hub. We're proud that Sun Life has been in the Greater Portland area for a few years and Disability RMS for 25 years, and are excited to watch them grow in their new location here in downtown Portland."

The new building at 58 Fore Street will feature prominent Sun Life and FullscopeRMS branding in a burgeoning area set to become a premier destination for retail, dining, hospitality and entertainment. Sun Life and FullscopeRMS will lease a total of 77,000 square feet in the four-story building, which will have retail space on the ground floor, three floors of office space and parking.

"We are thrilled to have Sun Life on board as a major business presence in this new waterfront neighborhood," said Casey Prentice, Managing Partner at Portland Foreside. "Sun Life is a leader in its industry and a well-established brand that will complement the other businesses we are working with for this 100,000 square-foot office building. As part of the first phase of Portland Foreside's urban mixed-use development, Sun Life's employees will join a diverse mix of offerings -- including a new public market, world-class hospitality by Fore Points Marina and a boutique hotel plus an eclectic blend of residential apartments and townhomes in keeping with Portland's charm and character."

The new development will also feature a new public park at the waterfront. "We applaud the developers of Portland Foreside and The City of Portland for the work they did together with the State of Maine and other stakeholders to ensure that the space in front of our building will become a public promenade and park, opening up and guaranteeing access to the waterfront," said Fishbein. "We look forward to joining what will be a vibrant public space for all to enjoy."

Sun Life's Center for Healthy Work will be a highlight of the new office where clients and brokers can experience the company's "Work is Healthy," or WisH, philosophy – the belief that someone working is healthier for them, their family and society as a whole. Sun Life's vocational rehabilitation experts, nurses, social workers and case managers team up to help people who are out of work due to illness or injury regain their sense of selves by resuming employment either in their own professions or new ones.

About Sun Life
Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2019, Sun Life had total assets under management of C$1,025 billion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

In the United States, Sun Life is one of the largest group benefits providers, serving more than 60,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces across the country. Sun Life's broad portfolio of insurance products and services in the U.S. includes disability, absence management, life, dental, vision, voluntary and medical stop-loss. Sun Life and its affiliates in asset management businesses in the U.S. employ approximately 5,500 people. Group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, Mass.), except in New York, where policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.

Media contacts:
Devon Fernald, Sun Life U.S.
781-800-3609 or [email protected]

Portland Foreside
[email protected]

Connect with Sun Life U.S.
https://www.facebook.com/SLFCanada
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sun-life-financial
https://twitter.com/SunLifeCA

SOURCE Sun Life U.S.