Portland, ME The Institute for Digital Engineering and Life Sciences (IDEALS) has purchased the former B&M Baked Beans factory at 1 Beanpot Circle from B&G Foods. Tony McDonald of The Boulos Company arranged the transaction.

David and Barbara Roux founded IDEALS in 2018 to create a graduate education institute and bring it to the city, where over time it could become a force for innovation and job creation. In 2020, they completed a $100 million donation to Northeastern University to establish the Roux Institute in the city.

?After a four-year search for a permanent home for the Roux Institute at Northeastern University, IDEALS signed an agreement to purchase the B&M site in August 2021, and will lead the zoning, permitting and development effort for the Roux Campus.

The B&M Baked Beans building will remain at the heart of the site and repurposed as an incubator for laboratory and light manufacturing start-up companies.