Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

For a project this size, I really am surprised by how fast this did go through. Even though any growth is good, I'm getting board of seeing the new 3-5 story buildings going up everywhere. This should be a nice, modest addition to Portland's "spine" / skyline.

Redfern Properties and Ryan Senatore Architecture have been on a roll lately in Portland. It also seems like their projects are getting bigger too. If they continue on this trend, I'm looking forward to seeing what they propose next!
 
Nexis4jersey said:
Any recent redevelopment updates about Portland?
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Federated has decided not to pursue economic development tax breaks for midtown (tough political sell if you have to narrow the "community" definition down to one neighborhood), Allagash is building yet another new building on Industrial Way (boring low metal warehouse box, but it's someone actually building industrial space in Portland), and Thompson's Point is revising their plan yet again; it's going before the Planning Board in January but if you look in that specific thread I think I left a link to the Board documents from last month.

Other than that and the NIMBY Portland Company referendum failing, it's been quiet.
 
Something occurred to me about potential redevelopment opportunities. Recently near Morrill's Corner, both the Unitil building and the adjoining O'Hearn Nationwide Insurance agency properties became vacant; Unitil moved to Riverside Ind. Parkway and the insurance agency moved towards downtown. I created a map here showing that they form a triangular lot of c. 1.4 acres. Current zoning is B2 for both lots, but there's also a lot of IL (low-impact industrial) on that side of Forest. Both of those emptying in such a short time make me wonder if something's coming.
 
Interesting observation, Mark. I see that a new Otto Pizza is going in on Read Street somewhere. That triangular lot seems like a nice spot for a mixed-use multi-story development.

Elsewhere...

Marginal Way
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Future spot of 667 Congress Street:
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16 Middle Street:
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113 Newbury Street
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Residential? The Press Herald did a long series on that subject recently (the direct answer to your question, from that series, is c. $1500/month inc. utilities for a 2BR).

Commercial, I have no idea but others here may.
 
Some pretty exciting development going on in Portland actually. I'm really looking forward to 667 Congress Street for a bunch of reasons. It's big, I like the design and I think it's going to bring a lot of vitality to the neighborhood. We just bought a condo in the area so I'm particularly invested in the area now.

I was a little concerned to see that Mi Sen listed a bunch of furniture for sale, but I was told they are just renovating. I'm glad because this has become one of my favorite neighborhood places and I get take-out about once a week: http://maine.craigslist.org/fuo/5373199905.html

There are 3 or 4 storefronts on that same block of Congress that are all in some state of redevelopment. The only one that looks like it's a long way from being reborn is the old Anna's space, which is still full of junk. Progress on the Schwartz Building at the corner of Congress and High has been surprisingly slow, it's such an ideal location I would have thought it would have been redeveloped faster. Hopefully 2016 sees all these spaces come back to life.

I'm less impressed with the development on Marginal Way. I think the Bangor Savings Bank could be OK but the strip mall across the street is not the kind of development that I think should be on this key gateway to downtown. I wonder if Chipotle is still in the mix given their recent troubles.
 
For those of you who live out of town or who haven't read the PPH in a while - Joe's Smoke shop is torn down to make way for the 8 floor apartment building mentioned in earlier posts. The article is in the December 29th, 2015 edition of the Press Herald.
 
Corey said:
Interesting observation, Mark. I see that a new Otto Pizza is going in on Read Street somewhere. That triangular lot seems like a nice spot for a mixed-use multi-story development.
Click to expand...

I just saw on Portland Food Map that Otto will be going into 250 Read St., the former location of Steve Romanow's Furniture Factory, and for a short time an Asian nightclub.
 
The Planning Board meeting tonight will cover the latest updates to the Thompson's Point plan (details here). If anyone happens to go (I don't believe I'll be able to make it), there are three questions I'd love to know the answers to:

1. Is there a timeline for Suburban Propane moving to Riverside St.?
2. The original event center plan included a convention center with breakout spaces; is that still in the plan for the arena?
3. (I think we all want to know this one) When do they plan to start substantial new construction (not counting roads and rehabs)?
 
The annual Boulos market report is out:

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/01/21/as-offices-fill-up-pressure-to-build-in-downtown-portland/

http://www.cbre.us/o/portlandme/properties/maine-market-outlook/Pages/home.aspx

Vacancy rates are down, especially with Class A office space. They're predicting new development because of that. It's a fairly safe assumption in light of the vacancy rate, but the Class B office vacancy rate is still fairly high. I wonder if they know of something coming that the rest of us don't about yet (or at least those of us not "in the know")?
 
Some updates from East Bayside:
89 Anderson (with Avesta's new Washington Avenue housing and Munjoy Heights in the background)
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Bayside Anchor:
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Newbury Street:
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Elsewhere around town, I've noticed that demolition is underway on York Street and construction fencing is up around Schlotterbeck Foss.
 
Has anyone heard when they are breaking ground on the midtown project?
 
Sounds like there is a lot going on around town. I haven't read or heard about Midtown in a long time. Thanks for the update cneal!

How is 667 Congress Street progressing?
 
New proposal for 167/169 Newbury Street, same spot that Sussman had plans to develop a while back.

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The new York Street development:

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Bangor Savings Bank on Marginal Way
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667 Congress Street
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89 Anderson
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113 Newbury
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Fabulous update as always Corey - thanks for sharing. Bangor Savings Bank has really made their presence felt in southern Maine and I love all of it. I am also particularly excited about 667 Congress street as I lived at 645 Congress in 2004 as my first residence in Portland, ME. The stretch of Congress street from the State Theatre to MMC has really come a long way.
 
Here's a preliminary sketch for 62 India Street, which would replace Port City Glass and the surface parking lot next door. The application says it's 29 apartments and 3 new storefronts facing India Street, with a single-level parking garage taking up the rest of the ground level behind the retail space.

This could fill in a seriously ugly gap on India Street, and it looks like the same architect-developer team that's responsible for the "Seaport Lofts" under construction across the street:

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The developers would need to get a relatively minor zoning text amendment from the new India Street "form based code" in order to proceed, plus approval from the Historic Preservation Board (this image comes from the HP board's most recent agenda, here).
 
Wasn't there a 5 or 6 story building proposed for this site a few years ago? Funny how the height measurement is taken from the uphill side of the building (56 feet with parapet). I see this all the time when figuring out the highest part of the building when I'm uploading data to Emporis for approval. I liked checking out the other proposals too. Thanks for the heads up and link cneal!
 
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