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Also, they’ve been allowed to abandon the walkable “street” / north-south axis in the original “sales pitch” deck. Without that this is just another jumble of access arteries and sprawling parking lots with randomly placed big boxes scattered around. The City should be holding them to the...

That said, with the right-scaled development between Cotton and Centre streets we might not even see the big bald side of that heinous parking structure (tho I still agree that 800+ spaces is an over-supply and could be chopped by at least a floor).

Yes, AND if a tower this size were to be residential it would likely require fewer parking spaces so then they’d have space for the required GND units — and rental feels appropriate given the uptick in interest rates for mortgages.

If the garage were just wrapped with more useable human space (apartments/offices/something) along Cotton Street, to hide a smaller behemoth of a garage it would help reduce the impact and the number of most-likely-wasted parking spaces. They’ve got that on the plan for the Fore Street side —...

Yes, and this suggestion aligns closely with the original design’s garage-access plan. Hoping that makes a return.

Maybe an easier task if the NB off-ramp keeps it’s left lane to the existing connection to Washington Street, but a new right lane could be added going straight NB to Sherwood Street. This could allow NB traffic to tg en make a right turn onto Sherwood Street, directly into the institute’s...

I feel like if the long-term site plan included direct-to-site access via the northbound off-ramp of 295 (just a Y-spit running up to Sherwood Street) it would go a long way toward assuaging traffic concerns.

I would think anyone going into a negotiation for any thing should have a first offer / preferred solution, but also a solid second offer to demonstrate commitment to the process — at some point there is a minimum-viable solution and ideally by then both sides have conceded enough to earn the...

Comparing the two illustrations, it looks like there’s a parking deck over the back of the lot, behind the residential and hotel buildings in the first phase, then the second-phase residential and lab buildings are built atop the deck — so the added buildings aren’t reducing green space...

Speaking of buildings that would be great to redevelop: WCSH Building.

The The first designs shared had five or six floors of parking wrapped within/under the Cumberland tower, plus a floor or two of parking under the Congress-side towers. That approach effectively provided a good solution without the street-deadening podium, so I hope they will revert to that...

I think this is a great, well-positioned and we-scaled project. My only concern is that the latest designs appear to have eliminated the mid-block “street” connecting Myrtle and Pearl streets, opposite Merrill Auditorium. This offered several advantages. Now it appears the main vehicle...

Thank you for asking. Over my 32-year career, I’ve been a designer, creative director, leading creative teams in media, advertising amd product development for brands like Fidelity Investments, Mercedes-Benz, and WSJ, and in any creative review or design-thinking sessions I’ve always asked...

“An armchair critic is a person who knows or pretends to know a lot about something in theory rather than practice.”

i think it’s a well conceived design and executed with quality and agree that it stands out so much now because it lacks the context of the full-block build-out. it is 10X better than half the crap people don’t even criticize on this blog. For some reason this one gets folks talking — and...

I thought that Bayside was a development district, no?

Especially if, as in the previous proposal, the parking was mostly masked within the block and behind the residential and hotel buildings.

I actually think the real height should be in Bayside—Congress Street is remarkably in-tact with historic buildings, but Bayside could easily accommodate 250’ to 300’ towers with high visibility from the interstate and Baxter Boulevard and not overwhelm the context (there’s almost none down...

Agree. I see in the article one neighbor categorizing the area as a “quiet part of Portland,” which is at best disputable given that the neighborhood is bisected by an interstate highway, a pair of elevated on & off ramps, a commercial boat yard and a former food-processing plant. The Roux...

i actually admire the way this building contrasts the warm, horizontal earth-tones of the historic brick buildings the developers are preserving by cladding a long, horizontal form with a vertically patterned, earth-toned form with gray-and-glass cladding. There’s a dynamic tension there that is...