Bay House Portland construction started

T

tophat42

New member
Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Much to my surprise, the Bay House Portland has finally progressed from "parking lot" to the "hole in the ground" stage of development.

From the top of a nearby parking garage, I took some photos to make an HDR of the digging underway (It's not exactly construction yet). I'd gone up to get cruise ship photos from the other side of the garage.

​

Bay House will be in the waterfront area, behind the Eastern Cemetery.
 
Thanks for the photo update! It's nice to see the project going strong.
 
Hey Sam, glad to see you got my message and decided to join our community. We could use some more photographers to provide updates on the projects around town.
 
It's not a competition! But that might be a good topic for a future thread here.

xsp8n.jpg
 
Great Pics Tophat42 and Corey. I apprecate the update and glad to see ground broken with this project.
 
A view from a foggy day last weekend:

3fL46.jpg
 
My girlfriend and I were up visiting my family over the holidays and spent some time checking out the locations of condo and townhouse developments under construction or planned to start soon, as we seriously consider a move up there in the next couple years.

While we were checking out the Bayhouse site we realized that the units with south-facing windows are going to be looking smack-dab into a parking garage. Even the top floor of the Bayhouse (5 stories) won't be able to see over the 7-story parking garage. Perhaps the parking garage was a required part of the development of the Marriott Residence Inn, but it seems like a huge chunk of fairly prime real estate to dedicate to parking.

I noticed while we were walking around that the parcel of land opposite the parking garage on the south side -- bordered by India, Fore, Hancock and the recently extended part of Commercial Street -- is completely fenced off. Does anyone know if there is planned development there? I would imagine that is an even more valuable piece of real estate as any south-facing units would have unobstructed views of the water, at least as things stand now. I know the old Grand Trunk Railroad building sits at the corner of India and Commercial and has some sort of historic protections to it. But it also looks like it has been vacant for quite some time. Then there is that bizarre concrete structure at the corner of India and Fore, which I think belongs to the water district, right? Perhaps that is a hindrance to development, but I can't imagine that parcel will sit empty for too long.
 
Max, there was an ambitious development planned for that property around four years ago and it was originally going to be called Riverwalk. The first phase was the the large parking garage you mentioned and it was to be followed by a $100 million condo/retail project which included renovating the old Grand Trunk Building. In addition, the water district structure was going to be improved to blend in better with the overall site and was going to have a new facade with a clock to pay respect to the former GT train station that used to sit on that spot.

Patrick could explain the issues that delayed the development better than I can, but I think it involved the down economy and ownership disputes which eventually led to a revamped plan that became renamed The Watermark which still has a site on the web (www.thewatermarkportland.com) that you can look up and check out the renderings. There is still hope the project will get off the ground in the future and I agree that it is a great location!
 
Last edited:
Thanks Portlander, I wasn't aware of the Watermark project. That website looks pretty speculative, from the renderings on down. It also has sort of a tacky casino-like feel to it. I'm not suggesting affordable housing should (or could) be built there, but I hope something with architectural integrity goes in there and includes ground floor retail and all that good stuff. It has such a prominent place on the cityscape, especially for those coming in via the Harbor, it deserves a great development.
 
Thanks for the photos Corey.

That first photo; is that taken from the corner of Hancock and Newbury streets? If so, how high is that floor level from Newbury street? I'm assuming that's where the apartments will be built while the bottom part is the garage structure. Correct?
 
^You're welcome, glad to share my photos. Yes, the first photo is from the corner of Hancock and Newbury. I do believe the parking will be underground, entrance on Middle Street, and the floor level on Newbury Street will be at street level.

Here's some photos from the Bay House site from their model, assuming it's still what is being built:

Hancock and Newbury corner:
model_99.jpg


Middle Street:
model_98.jpg


Middle Street again, I think that the space above the garage entance is at level with Newbury Street:
model_991.jpg


Hancock Street:
model_996.jpg
 
Thanks again Corey! I had an interest on one of the units there, but was afraid it was going to be street level, which seems to be the case based on the model.
 
Who is going to want to live here? I parked in the Ocean Gateway Garage for a few years and the brewery smell in this immediate area is quite strong fairly often.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top