sprintf can append space to the end of a string: 
use warnings;
use strict;

my $len = 30;
my $address = '123   Main St    NE';
$address =~ s/  +/ /g;
$address = sprintf "%-${len}s", $address;
print ">>>$address<<<\n";

__END__

>>>123 Main St NE                <<<

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In reply to Re: Remove whitespace in string and maintain overall length by toolic
in thread Remove whitespace in string and maintain overall length by silentbob343

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