NR2Portland
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- May 18, 2022
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This development gives me an opportunity to preach to the choir:
Mill Creek/Knightville - a neighborhood situated about a mile from one of Americas most walkable, dense, historic, vibrant, in-demand neighborhoods: The Old Port. Yet, the urbanization period in US History left a shell of what once was a similarly constructed Knightville in South Portland. Look at the traffic circle where the center of the neighborhood is, local shops in mixed-use parcels, walkable streets, and dense, historic buildings. You walk a couple blocks to Mill Creek and its car centric and feels like a chore to have to visit to get your shopping/errands done.
This is one of the worst land-use areas in the state and it’s a mile from the greatest land use in the state! That claim is solely based on the potential this area has for housing, growing economic impact, while geographically being placed so perfectly for success. Here is a map of 20 highlighted parcels surrounding the strip malls.
All of these parcels are single-use; commercial with tons of parking. SEVEN of them are banks. Banks love being on ground floors of mixed use developments. They also love owning that valuable land. Restaurants, cafes, convenient stores, shops all love being below a bunch of residential units as it’s eventually guaranteed money!
We know how Knightville got to this stage, but will we see a revitalization effort beginning with this 208 unit mixed-use development currently taken up by 1 of those 7 banks?
Ps. Not saying every single one of these parcels needs to be redeveloped. There is value to single use parcels with surface parking to some degree in a neighborhood. This just highlights most of those parcels in a small footprint which sits a mile from Portlands Old Port.
Mill Creek/Knightville - a neighborhood situated about a mile from one of Americas most walkable, dense, historic, vibrant, in-demand neighborhoods: The Old Port. Yet, the urbanization period in US History left a shell of what once was a similarly constructed Knightville in South Portland. Look at the traffic circle where the center of the neighborhood is, local shops in mixed-use parcels, walkable streets, and dense, historic buildings. You walk a couple blocks to Mill Creek and its car centric and feels like a chore to have to visit to get your shopping/errands done.
This is one of the worst land-use areas in the state and it’s a mile from the greatest land use in the state! That claim is solely based on the potential this area has for housing, growing economic impact, while geographically being placed so perfectly for success. Here is a map of 20 highlighted parcels surrounding the strip malls.
All of these parcels are single-use; commercial with tons of parking. SEVEN of them are banks. Banks love being on ground floors of mixed use developments. They also love owning that valuable land. Restaurants, cafes, convenient stores, shops all love being below a bunch of residential units as it’s eventually guaranteed money!
We know how Knightville got to this stage, but will we see a revitalization effort beginning with this 208 unit mixed-use development currently taken up by 1 of those 7 banks?
Ps. Not saying every single one of these parcels needs to be redeveloped. There is value to single use parcels with surface parking to some degree in a neighborhood. This just highlights most of those parcels in a small footprint which sits a mile from Portlands Old Port.
