Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

The Aloft Hotel project will start next week, Opechee construction has a trailer on site. With two separate projects going on at the same time, it was in the best interest to have the Hobson condo project fly the steel first then move the crane to the other side to construct the other condo building. Other waterfront news is the remnants of the Scotia Prince building is coming down and the hole in the wharf will be filled in the have a bigger area to offload containers. The building where Auto Europe is under contract to be sold. Auto Europe is moving to a new location in 2020. Where?? What will happen about the TIF the city provided to Auto Europe? Other news is 511 Congress has been sold to an out of state developer and will be renovated to class A. No update on 477 Congress, I have heard either Hotel or residential but no office is in the works.
 
Wow, thanks for the updates! Interesting stuff happening all over town.
 
PWMFlyer said:
Other news is 511 Congress has been sold to an out of state developer and will be renovated to class A.
Click to expand...

511 isn't class A already? that's surprising.

hope the renovations are external as well. That dark brown cladding really hasn't aged well.
 
I think PWMFlyer meant the Peoples United Bank (Fidelity) building. The owner has already completed interior upgrades to 511 and I agree with your exterior assessment of the structure. I've tried to convince him to change the exterior to a more limestone color to match the Time & Temperature and Fidelity buildings.
 
^ I disagree about 511 Congress; it's generally a well-regarded example of modernism, which is admittedly something we don't have much of here, so it does stand out.

When it was built in 1972, the bank that commissioned it hired one of the star architects of the day, Pietro Belluschi, who also designed NYC's Pan-Am building and 1 Financial Center in Boston:
http://www.portlandlandmarks.org/events/2017/5/9/green-drinks
 
Looks like one for and two against and most people I've discussed 511 with consider it an eyesore. I don't hate it but I think it has a dark and depressing feel visually and have never cared for the plaza and the set back from Congress Street. I do think the building's best profile (along with Back Bay Tower) is when viewed from it's rear elevation especially from 295.
 
Make it 2 in favor; I've always loved that building and the plaza (spent a lot of time in Bookland and Deering Ice Cream as a tween), largely because it's so unlike anything else on town.
 
My grandfather was the security officer in that building around 1980. I miss the ONE...my passbook savings account was there. I closed my account before the bank went under. 70's architecture...it was hip back then and is still now...another note is the dogman always hanged around the building, I think he had his million dollar account there, he loved the area and that's why the small park is named after him.
 
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