83 Middle St | CHOM Affordable Housing | Portland

J. Wrighten said:
Renderings and limited photographs I have seen make it appear that a tenant of Phoenix Flats, on the right floor, could reach out the window, if they opened, and do bank business. Is that your impression? As it is, I find the building design to be without soul
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Not that I believe this is a particularly beautiful building, but I'm baffled about this particular criticism. It sounds as though you're arguing that housing next door to a bank means that the architecture is "without soul."

This is a city – the proximity of housing to lots of different kinds of businesses is exactly why people want to live here so badly. If you prefer acres of parking lots between your banks and your homes, there's plenty of that in Falmouth and the Maine Mall and every other suburb in America.
 
cneal said:
Not that I believe this is a particularly beautiful building, but I'm baffled about this particular criticism. It sounds as though you're arguing that housing next door to a bank means that the architecture is "without soul."

This is a city – the proximity of housing to lots of different kinds of businesses is exactly why people want to live here so badly. If you prefer acres of parking lots between your banks and your homes, there's plenty of that in Falmouth and the Maine Mall and every other suburb in America.
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The idea that it has no soul has nothing to do with location. It has everything to do with architects who can't think outside the box and end up designing a utilitarian cliche'. No thanks to the city of Portland who does not hold them to a higher standard. Demanding that developers maintain certain design standards has proven successful in so many cities, yet others are afraid that doing so will drive the developers away to invest their money elsewhere. That rarely happens and we end up with a city that looks like one big industrial park.
 
Just wait 10 years then Portland will become Cambridge, Massachusetts on steroids. This is both a great urban/city concern and what many cities envy/want to become. Manchvegas where I reside is finally seeing some growth in the downtown area, but nothing compared to Portland. Manchester has more vacant lots too than Portland. Portland continues to rise/hip place to live on a national level , and the propery like this one will create housing in a walkable nighborhood. Yes this building should be atleast 2 stories more, but this is what the developer could afford.
 
Seanflynn78 said:
Just wait 10 years then Portland will become Cambridge, Massachusetts on steroids. This is both a great urban/city concern and what many cities envy/want to become. Manchvegas where I reside is finally seeing some growth in the downtown area, but nothing compared to Portland. Manchester has more vacant lots too than Portland. Portland continues to rise/hip place to live on a national level , and the propery like this one will create housing in a walkable nighborhood. Yes this building should be atleast 2 stories more, but this is what the developer could afford.
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Agree, it’s what the developer could afford AND it’s affordable housing, which is a very thin category these days, so while it is ugly AF 😂 it is providing housing for an underserved community. Unless the City can line up an award-winning design team to work pro-bono for low-income developers, all they can say is “Thank you for building as many affordable units as you can afford here.”
 
GIL said:
Agree, it’s what the developer could afford AND it’s affordable housing, which is a very thin category these days, so while it is ugly AF 😂 it is providing housing for an underserved community. Unless the City can line up an award-winning design team to work pro-bono for low-income developers, all they can say is “Thank you for building as many affordable units as you can afford here.”
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Exactly. Our snobby aesthetic opinions shouldn't be leaving anyone homeless by adding even more red tape to projects like this one.
 
cneal said:
Exactly. Our snobby aesthetic opinions shouldn't be leaving anyone homeless by adding even more red tape to projects like this one.
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Agree 100%. I think many in city Gov along with influential citizens who own a home are being disingenuous with the idea and need for affordable housing. What better way for their own property to rise in value than with limits on the housing supply? They want to keep it high with an upper middle and upper-class participation. De facto snobs.
 
As far as ugliness...it's the middle section of vertical siding (both material and color) that have some people in a tizzy.
 
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I look at it as residential fill and the design doesn't really bother me. An improvement over the dirt parking lot it replaced and as someone mentioned earlier you can't expect too much from an affordable housing project.
 
Yes, that is rather discordant with its colors. It could have been taller with twice the units, but most or many in Portland don't really want more housing, do they? The residents who own property don't, to keep their property values up. And who wants more people around? I don't think there is a workable solution when there is a lot of demand. The market works though. If you want to live in a better place, just make more money. Learn another trade. Work harder.
 
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