Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

New 115,000 square foot office building to be constructed on commercial street. I saw it in the business real estate section of the paper today but I found the website for the company. Right next to where I used to live. Start filling in some of those huge gaps.

For a short building, I like it a lot.

http://www.jbbrown.com/detail.html?id=44
 
^Nice. Portland is pretty active right now. I want to take a trip up there this summer but these gas prices are holding me back at the moment. How is that building by the highway going?
 
n172700822_30358905_6281.jpg
 
Im not sure which side of commercial that picture is on. I'm thinking it borders baxter place, but is that "gap" your talking about one of those huge parking lots? I think more should be built there, something higher, but maybe it will look good with one short and one tall (in the other lot). those parking lots are so huge, so ugly.

I found that pic of intermed
 
I like it when you Portland thread guys post pictures. Thanks.
 
Surely a good sign for the local economy, since something like this probably wouldn't be built if there wasn't demand for it.




Looks like it will be on the current dirt parking lot, leaving the much larger paved lot open for now.

I've hoped that devleopment on Commercial St. would continue in this direction for a while now. It's definately prime real estate.

Right next this new development, however, will be a lumber yard and a large parking lot across the street. The lot across the street would be a good place for the new aquarium that I am always hoping for.
 
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There's a Peninsula Transit Study meeting tonight at 6:30 at the Merrill. Sounds like an interesting event to attend.

One of the stories in today's PPH..

Cars in the cross hairs
A panel wants to raise meter fees, charge residents for street parking, and alter roads and routes on the peninsula. By BETH QUIMBY, Staff Writer July 9, 2008
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=198485&ac=PHnws

An interesting graphic from Nelxon/Nygaard Consulting Associations, Boston. Looks like a video game from the 90's but is actually the portion of Commercial St. in front of the Hilton Garden Inn. Note the trolley on the left.
1584363ljt9.jpg
 
There's a Peninsula Transit Study meeting tonight at 6:30 at the Merrill. Sounds like an interesting event to attend.

One of the stories in today's PPH..

Cars in the cross hairs
A panel wants to raise meter fees, charge residents for street parking, and alter roads and routes on the peninsula. By BETH QUIMBY, Staff Writer July 9, 2008
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=198485&ac=PHnws

An interesting graphic from Nelxon/Nygaard Consulting Associations, Boston. Looks like a video game from the 90's but is actually the portion of Commercial St. in front of the Hilton Garden Inn. Note the trolley on the left.
1584363ljt9.jpg

They are raising meter fees here in Manch too. It sucks. Why make more of a burden on people when we are already hurting? Charging residents for parking is ridiculous imo.
 
^^The idea is too encourage people to walk, bike or take mass transit (such that it is).

The question is whether or not Portland really has the requisite density to pull it off.

In other words, do most of the people who drive and park in Portland live close enough that they could walk/bike/bus it?
 
One of the main objectives for charging for parking is so that the City needs less of it. When parking is "free" to its users, people have little incentive to drive less, walk, or park and ride, and home and business owners (and their customers) are stuck with the huge costs of building parking ($20k for a surface parking spot, upwards of $50K for a parking garage spot).

One of the upshots of these recommendations is that they aim to replace zoning-mandated parking requirements - and that will make redevelopment of parking lots much, much easier and economically feasible in Portland. I predict a massive influx of developer investment if these changes make it past peoples' knee-jerk reactions trying to preserve the status quo.

What's more important to Portland: more buildings and more reasonably-priced housing and workspace? Or continued subsidies for parking welfare, with all of the traffic and congestion that goes along with them?
 
Great points CNeal.

Obviously everyone on this forum would chose more buildings, and affordable housing and workspace, but we all know that it will be a tough fight with people that don't share out point of view.
 
^^The idea is too encourage people to walk, bike or take mass transit (such that it is).

The question is whether or not Portland really has the requisite density to pull it off.

In other words, do most of the people who drive and park in Portland live close enough that they could walk/bike/bus it?


There are about 40,000 people who live in portland but not in the immediate downtown. Many of them could easily bike in. But I don't think the majority of people who work in this city (from the surrounding towns) could. But maybe the idea is to make those who need it pay for it, and those who could bike or walk do so. Sounds like a good idea, but I don't think residents should have to pay for their parking. it could be an extra tax on the poor, given the demographics of those who live in places with primarily on street parking.

Maybe with a trolley or something it would be alright, but the bus is not something people like taking.
 
but the bus is not something people like taking.
That is exactly the attitude they are trying to fight. They want to make the public transit the more attractive choice through financial disincentives.
I agree that trolleys are a much better option, but they are also much more expensive.
 
That is exactly the attitude they are trying to fight. They want to make the public transit the more attractive choice through financial disincentives.
I agree that trolleys are a much better option, but they are also much more expensive.

some cities have free shuttle buses to and from the downtown. Portland should try this. The buses here are not attractive, they are stigmatized, and slow.
 
This is an interesting debate for Portland. I've always found parking to be VERY cheap and easy in Portland no matter the time of day. Part of that has to do with the size of Portland, more of it has to do with the fact that there are lots, garages, and street parking spots everywhere.

It looks like that rendering of Commercial St. has a trolley which, quite frankly, would seem to be pointless. commercial street stretches from the waterfront fringes of downtown to pretty much nowhere. It's actually a funny drive once you pass Becky's diner heading away from Downtown because there is so little there. Areas better served by a trolley would be Congress St. from the Eastern Promenade to Maine Med. (though I doubt they could make room for it). and potentially Forest Ave from Woodfords (or Morrils even) to Cumberland or Congress. A Commercial St. trolley would be more of a tourist attraction than a functional means of mass transit.

That being said, while many people use bikes, Portland doesn't have the size or density to encourage many more people to use bikes regardless of parking costs. I would bet that most of the people in Portland who would potentially use bicycles already do. An increase in parking prices will not encourage the workers (who commute from quite some ways sometimes) to bike or bus it.

Furthermore, the METRO routes don't extend far enough outside of town to be of much use for most of the commuters. Portland is at a disadvantage in terms of encouraging people to seek other methods of commuting because the lack of alternatives. Bus routes don't extend beyond Westbrook, Falmouth, and S. Portland, yet many people commute from outside those areas. There's no train for commuters (the DownEaster is little more than a fun ride for tourists plus unless major changes are made, it'll be out of service by January 2009), and few long distance bus alternatives.

While I don't think discouraging driving is a bad idea, I don't think Portland has the means to work with in doing so. Seriously, how many people from Scarborough are going to ride their bike to work in December because parking costs $15 a day instead of $10? It's too small of a city with too few alternative options for commuters. Besides, does Portland really have a congestion problem? I've been going to school in town for 4 years and never noticed anything that resembles a traffic problem.
 
I guess a price hike for public parking would be so bad if there was better public transportation. I don't know much about Portland's public transportation other than what I have read on here but I bet its better than it is here in Manch.
 
Too bad they got rid of our original trolley system back in the day. I don't know the exact routes (if someone found a map of this that would be dandy) but I know that it covered all of Congress St. and out to Riverton and Westbrook at the least.

I wish I was alive when cities looked like this (looking towards monument square in 1930 link):
7871cq2.jpg


I agree with the sentiments about the bus not being something that people want to take.

Since early 2008 I have been taking the bus from the Elm St. 'pulse' station (walking their from my apartment on Washington Ave) to my workplace at Unum on outer Congress almost everyday. I don't particulary enjoy it, but I've gotten used to it. I do get some time to read which is nice. If I had enough money to afford a nice vehicle and maintain my lifestyle I would certainly drive again. I currently leave my apartment at 6:50ish a.m., get to work at 7:40am and don't get home until about 5:45. So it turns a regular work day into a long day but I deal. I miss the 15 minute commute that now takes an hour to get home by bus.
 
There are tons of those old pictures on that website. I loved looking through them. My dad told me what all the stores were as we went through the pics. Well, not the ones from that far back but the 50's and on.

As great as those pics are to look at, it's just as depressing when you think about Congress street now and what roams up and down it. I'd love to go back in time.
 

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