Portland - Civic Center

Nice catch Dr. S, that building was going to be constructed with a limestone type exterior and would have been a great addition to the skyline as viewed from the harbor. Sad it was never built and if I remember correctly Cumberland County backed out of leasing deal which made the project no longer feasible.
 
Portlander said:
Nice catch Dr. S, that building was going to be constructed with a limestone type exterior and would have been a great addition to the skyline as viewed from the harbor. Sad it was never built and if I remember correctly Cumberland County backed out of leasing deal which made the project no longer feasible.
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Oh right, how could I have forgotten that? It would have been 15 stories and the second tallest office building by height in the City. And, then Kerry Anderson proposed building a 12 story residential and a 7 story residential building next to Brian Boru too.
 
My comments are in bold.
Patrick said:
Regarding 04-07, you are right more actually happened in the 1980s but more was planned in the 04-07 period. It just didn't happen because of the economic meltdown.
  • Village at ocean gate was originally four buildings between 6, 7, 9 and 11 stories if I recall. - Bay House is finally being completed as 1 instead of 2 buildings; rest of the project in the old overflow parking lot has already had a preliminary visit to the PB.
  • The watermark was a 6 story condo proposal with 250 units. - Nothing yet.
  • Intermed at 10 stories. - Built largely as planned, I believe.
  • Mercy hospital's fore rover campus. - Phase 1 completed, remaining project in the hands of EMMC and its much deeper pockets.
    [8]The proposed 17 story office tower on the top of the old port. And 10 story hotel. And new civic center. - And new convention center. * Sigh. *
  • The Maine med addition and new parking garage. - MMC just goes from one expansion to the next so constantly that I don't think of them as being part of any particular building cycle.
  • 12 story water view condos. - Where were these going to be?
  • Two 9-story condos on the Falmouth line. - These were going to be up by the end of Ocean Ave., weren't they? Near Graves Hill and the cement plant? I believe nothing happened.
  • Maine health's proposal for a 9-story office building and garage along with two other 7-story structures in bayside. - Bayside. * Sigh *
  • Fox tower at the corner of Franklin and somerset. - I had forgotten or never heard about this one. But again, Bayside. * Sigh *
  • The 10-story Westin hotel and condominiums on fore street. - This turned into the Hampton Inn, right? With no condos?
  • The custom house wharf office building. - Another one that died before hitting the PB.
  • The ocean gateway terminal. - If Bob Ganley hadn't died, this never would have taken as long as it did to get built. See also: the Maine State Pier proposed renovation.
  • The ocean gateway garage. - Built as planned.
  • Hundreds of proposed units off of warren avenue. - Where were these? I remember the proposed Wal-Mart that got NIMBY'd to death.
  • The infill lofts on congress street.
  • Whole foods.
  • Dr. Strangehat: Boulos' office building next to the courthhouse - I had forgotten about this one too, but again, it never even made it to the PB. Are there any graphics around anywhere for this one?
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I think I still have the Boulos proposal package and renderings in storage and if not I gave them to Patrick. Joe is a Portland native, former Marine Corps pilot and a really decent individual who put his heart and soul into two major downtown projects and got so much grief for trying to do something positive. Owen Wells also had a rough period when he tried to develop a new arena in Bayside through the Libra Foundation and both gentlemen are done with attempting any future Portland projects which is very sad.
 
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markhb said:
My comments are in bold.
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Waterview at Bayside would have been on the corner of Forest and Cumberland next to Back Bay Tower -- where a new Avesta housing project is currently under construction.

Custom House office building DID get constructed -- its right next to the Custom House.

The Westin did turn into the Hampton, and there are condos, but only a dozen or so.
 
OK, thanks... I remember the Waterview project, but the name escaped me. And you had originally said the "Custom House Wharf office building," so I was thinking of an actual on-the-wharf proposal (upper floors only, of course ;), not the one where W.L. Blake's pipe shop used to be.

Thanks for the pointer to the courthouse tower project thread; I had largely forgotten it (the idea only lasted 3 months going by the thread dates). I never had any issue with Joe Boulos or his projects, although I did email him regarding the Top of the Old Port proposal politely suggesting that he try to stretch the tower to be the tallest in northern New England, higher than the two ugly boxes in ManchVegas. He replied to me, saying that he proposed what the banks were willing to finance.

Your comments about Owen Wells make me wonder if the rejection of the arena proposal was part of what led to him pulling the plug on the Public Market. Personally, I liked the concept of a new arena in that area; I was just concerned about the fact that the full brunt of the cost (and Well's donations would have just scratched the surface) would have been on the city of Portland rather than a larger entity like the county.

On-topic: per their Facebook page, the Civic Center is planning an Open House on Saturday, March 22. Of course, you can always go to the basketball playoffs before then and at least get to see the plebeian areas.
 
markhb said:
On-topic: per their Facebook page, the Civic Center is planning an Open House on Saturday, March 22. Of course, you can always go to the basketball playoffs before then and at least get to see the plebeian areas.
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There's also the home show next weekend. Living Social has a deal - two tickets for $8. https://www.livingsocial.com/events...-tickets-to-maine-home-remodeling-garden-show

We've gone to this in the past, but I'd be lying if I said we weren't going this year so I can check out the renovations.
 
Thanks for bringing the thread back on course, markhb, I was almost going to say something. I'm planning on checking out the open house, perhaps I'll see a few fellow forumers there.
 
you would think with all the money spent they would of put permanent seats on all the top rows instead of portable seats like before the renovation
 
Word on the street is that Prince will be performing at the Civic Center on July 10th. Billboard's list of tour dates confirms this. Whether you are a fan of the former "symbol" or not, it's a pretty big deal for our renovated arena and the Greater Portland area.

Side note: Prince's tour dates also include a concert at the New Haven Coliseum which has been demolished! Maybe it's meant to be Bridgeport's Webster Bank Arena?
 
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tazzman said:
you would think with all the money spent they would of put permanent seats on all the top rows instead of portable seats like before the renovation
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Those are the ADA wheelchair sections (newly extended to provide additional height over the rows in front); putting in permanent seats would limit their flexibility.
 
Portlander said:
Word on the street is that Prince will be performing at the Civic Center on July 10th. Billboard's list of tour dates confirms this. Whether you are a fan of the former "symbol" or not, it's a pretty big deal for our renovated arena and the Greater Portland area.

Side note: Prince's tour dates also include a concert at the New Haven Coliseum which has been demolished! Maybe it's meant to be Bridgeport's Webster Bank Arena?
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I remember seeing that rumor a few months ago on Facebook. A local music magazine had posted an undated article from Billboard with the Portland tour date on it. Apparently Price did play at the Civic Center at some point in the past but is not schedule to in the future.
 
markhb said:
Those are the ADA wheelchair sections (newly extended to provide additional height over the rows in front); putting in permanent seats would limit their flexibility.
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I saw those ones I'm talking about the very the top rows.there gonna use folding chairs up there again.with the amount of money spent permanent seats should of been placed there
 
tazzman said:
I saw those ones I'm talking about the very the top rows.there gonna use folding chairs up there again.with the amount of money spent permanent seats should of been placed there
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My guess would be that they're not adding permanent seats there in order to be able to add temporary press boxes for special events. It would probably be a pain to remove permanent seats every time, and the civic center has said that they're trying to woo college basketball and hockey tournaments.
 
Maybe this was already mentioned, but has anyone heard if the CCCC is adding court side seating for basketball games? I know during the state championship games before the renovation there were none, meaning you could only sit in the main seating bowl. By adding court side seats (behind the baskets and behind team benches) you increase the seating capacity and those tickets typically have a higher price. My guess this would increase the Cumberland County CC seating capacity for basketball between 7,500-7800 depending on the type of configuration and state fire code guidelines.
I think it would be great if Portland could get the Division II or Division III NCAA final 4 tournament. Really put Portland on the map in college sports. I think they are hosting a regional NCAA hockey tournament for the men's tourney.
 
I don't know of any physical reasons they couldn't have had courtside seats before, so I'm guessing that either the MSSPA doesn't want them or they don't really think there's a business case for them. I don't believe that Augusta ever sold courtside seats either; we'll have to see what the Cross Center does this year (but they have the room to do it).

I can't remember if they had courtside seats for the Mountain Cats the one season they were here.
 
Dr. StrangeHat said:
My guess would be that they're not adding permanent seats there in order to be able to add temporary press boxes for special events. It would probably be a pain to remove permanent seats every time, and the civic center has said that they're trying to woo college basketball and hockey tournaments.
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you wouldn't put temporary press boxes in all those sections especially the two ends of the civic center
 
Many years ago the Boston Celtics would play exhibition games at the Civic Center and attendance was close to 7800 for a couple of the better match ups. Basketball configuration will now be close to 8000 utilizing full floor seating and sky boxes. The state championship games normally only draw between 4000-6000 spectators at the various games which do not require floor seating due to almost 6800 permanent seats available pre-renovation.
 
The Civic Center floor plan for basketball on Ticketmaster does, in fact, show floor sections.
 
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