Rock Row (née The Ridge, née Dirigo Plaza) | Westbrook, ME

Damn... if you look at the water/sewer usage breakdown, the movie theater is called out as a Cinemark Gamescape... right now, there's only one, in El Paso. But it sounds like a combination movie theater and Ready1.

I also notice that the theater and hotel both grabbed spots to maximize Turnpike-facing signage ability.
 
NR2Portland said:
Load up that corridor along the rail tracks with as much density as possible. Hopefully in 10 years we activate that rail line again that stretches into downtown Westbrook to Thompsons Point and Union Station.
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It is still active, but AFAIK the only working customer is Dead RIver taking propane deliveries. The line is still blocked with Jersey barriers (and, I would think, an actual End of Track device) just east of the Main St. grade crossing.
 
The Joint Planning Board workshop that was supposed to be tonight has been postponed due to the storm; no makeup date yet.

Also, I spun through the Medical Campus this past weekend. The second building, which they originally said might house restaurants, is instead more medical facilities. I'm not begrudging cancer patients anything, just catching up on how the build out actually went.
 
markhb said:
The Joint Planning Board workshop that was supposed to be tonight has been postponed due to the storm; no makeup date yet.

Also, I spun through the Medical Campus this past weekend. The second building, which they originally said might house restaurants, is instead more medical facilities. I'm not begrudging cancer patients anything, just catching up on how the build out actually went.
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Makeup date set for 12/16
 
Phase 3 master plan going before the Planning Board on April 7th.

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I note that, as of right now, the April 7 meeting is NOT on the Portland Planning Board schedule, so probably it won't cover the land east of the line? I can't imagine Portland would give Westbrook approval authority without at least a presentation from the developers.
 
Rock Row workshop docs are posted. I notice that Cinemark's name is nowhere to be seen, and they state that "Building T" (the proposed entertainment center building) won't have a final configuration until they have a confirmed tenant. I worry that Cinemark dropped out once they discovered they would be on the Portland side of the line and have to pay Portland wages.

The plans also imply that the highly-touted CLT office building behind Market Basket has been replanned to be a parking garage (although that's part of the NEXT phase of the project).

That's just what I noticed off the top of my head; I haven't done any deep comparisons to the ones from December.
 
Huge improvement over what was there (nothing) and an interesting collection of options but I just can't find any enthusiasm for the development personally and same with my friends. Not once have I heard anyone utter the words "let's go to Rock Row" and if I had visitors from away it would not be on our list of destinations to explore. Not a bad project overall but it is a replica of numerous outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment areas that are popping up in suburban locations throughout the country.
 
I’d be a billionaire if I could bet on the over on all of these completion dates they put out year after year😂
 
Agreed Portlander. When this was originally proposed 10 or so years ago there was so much excitement around the area. Since then? A couple strip plazas, surface parking, and no access to the quarry in any way, along with hundreds of other undelivered ideas/promises. It’s the one development I am consistently disappointed with due to its potential and original plan.
 
Just out of curiosity, if the Portland Music Hall fails to move forward would Rock Row be a potential landing spot seeing that an outdoor music venue was there during the initial phase or are all of the parcels already taken? A state of the art indoor concert and entertainment facility (no noise issues) could put Rock Row on the map in southern Maine.
 
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To be fair, the current renderings are for the draft master plan and massing only, not final designs. I don't believe they're really going for White City. And the "in the quarry" ideas were before the fire department told them "absolutely the F not!"
Portlander said:
Just out of curiosity, if the Portland Music Hall fails to move forward would Rock Row be a potential landing spot seeing that an outdoor music venue was there during the initial phase or are all of the parcels already taken? A state of the art indoor concert and entertainment facility (no noise issues) could put Rock Row on the map in southern Maine.
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They originally had plans for a convention center and a partially-open air venue (something like Meadowbrook or XFinity Center except capable of being closed in), and in fact they list Live Nation as a participating partner on their site, but I don't know where that stands in relation to the downtown music hall.

Portlander said:
Not a bad project overall but it is a replica of numerous outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment areas that are popping up in suburban locations throughout the country.
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Perhaps, but we don't have any of them :) . Do I currently say "let's go to Rock Row"? No... but I go to Market Basket or Cowbell or Crumbl or Starbucks or Chik-Fil-A all the time.

Honestly, the two pieces I really want to see happen are the Cinemark and the Sfoglina Italian restaurant (buried in their sales brochures). Concert venue would be nice; I had a good time at the one show I went to at the old one except for the geriatric hippies smoking joints (I don't partake and I can't stand the smell of the stuff).
 
Cosakita18 said:
Convention Center plans have been released:

Preliminary plans show a 110,000 sq. ft event floor, as well as outdoor event space, with attached hotel and retail.

Construction could begin in 2023.

www.pressherald.com

Developer unveils plan to build $75 million convention center at Rock Row in Westbrook

The facility would satisfy a demand for event space that has existed in the Portland area for decades. The developer is seeking funds from a proposed bond issue.
www.pressherald.com www.pressherald.com

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I looked... the state bond issue referenced in those articles (that RR was hoping to get a piece of) was LD 969 in the 130th Legislature, and it got a unanimous ONTP vote in committee and unceremoniously died.
 
The ultimate irony is if Bangor could pull off a better.....albeit different version of Rock Row with the Bangor Marketplace and Residences plan at the Bangor Mall.
 
NR2Portland said:
I’d be a billionaire if I could bet on the over on all of these completion dates they put out year after year😂
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Guaranteed the retail strip mall aspects along Larrabee are the only things that are actually built. That's all Waterstone seems to be able to do, suburban strip malls. Sure, they pulled off the medical campus, but only after they needed to get emergency financing and Landry French pulled off the job.

I would be literally shocked if they pull this off.
 
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