Bayside Federated Companies

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Patrick

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Federated Companies was awarded the contract to buy the much publicized central Bayside land along Somerset Street, and has a limited time in which to commence construction or else the contract lapses. On their website's portfolio section is listed this project "Maritime Landing" in Portland, Maine, along with the following rendering:

657222_Maritime%20Landing%20rendering.jpg

Note, this is NOT the same rendering that was featured in the news article from 2007 "An Urban Vision Rises in Bayside" but is in fact much more aggressive from an urbanity standpoint in terms of height and lack of parking garage (at least an obvious parking garage is lacking in this rendering, but perhaps one is in the interior of the structures). All of these buildings are currently permissible under applicable height and bulk regulations, and I am pleased to see the company posting the artist's aggressive "potential" sketch as an indication of their plans. I think this looks like a C. Michael Lewis rendering, but I don't know. At any rate, its a good plan, and it would do wonders for extending downtown.
 
That certainly is more 'aggressively urban' than I expected. It makes those parkings lots between Marginal and the Bayside Trail really stick out. It will be interesting to see how the plans adjust over time. Kudos to them for thinking big.
 
Damn, I make a post about how slow the news is with all these new projects and Patrick starts digging up stuff like this. Nice work.
 
At first I thought this was just the same rendering we had all already seen from the news, but I looked closer, and compared it, and it is totally different, although some of the buildings are similar. I think probably what happened is the artist did a bunch of scenarios for this property, and the press herald chose one to publish, while this developer selected another one for their property. It is great that the one the developer chose is the more urban one. With buildings like this, Bayside really could become something! A new downtown altogether? Kind of like downtown L.A. and Century City? London and Cnary Wharf?
 
Looks very cool--and makes that puny building in the bottom, left corner look especially silly. As much as I love the Old Port and Congress Street, something like this would be a great urban counterpoint.
 
Looks very cool--and makes that puny building in the bottom, left corner look especially silly. As much as I love the Old Port and Congress Street, something like this would be a great urban counterpoint.

Yeah, totally agree. That building is the Ms. Portland Diner, a local "landmark" (I put it in quotes because it has been moved, which defeats the purpose of a landmark). It is really a cool thing to have in a neighborhood, but it was done very suburban...surface parking and a grassy front. And it is right next to a high rise (5 stories, but still high) student housing project. Good for the residents, but from an urban form standpoint very odd. It does, however, add to the vibrancy of the place, which is coming together in a haphazard way--but it is coming together. When I was a kid, not that long ago, this neighborhood had NOTHING in it but sand piles and a used sports store. Now there is a 10 story medical office building, several multi-level apartment buildings, a few restaurants, a gym, offices and a couple grocery stores. The problem isn't growth, its channeling it into a consistently urban form. This project, which looks like it would have to be built in several phases, would certainly solidify the urban gains and cement this neighborhood as a gateway indeed (which has been the whole point all along). The project description only lists 79,000 sf of office space, which is approximately an average sized5-8 story building, so this is probably a master plan rendering, including all phases. But it is good to see what they are envisioning.
 
This is great news! I hope their vision pans out and can be turned into reality! Bayside could use developments like these....it seems like federated companies is usingcity's plan for Bayside as a guide....
 
This is great news! I hope their vision pans out and can be turned into reality! Bayside could use developments like these....it seems like federated companies is usingcity's plan for Bayside as a guide....

As it should be, imo. I am somewhat confused at this proposal, though, because the amount of office space is so little (79,000 sf) that it couldn't occupy the buildings shown, and the number of housing units so great (500+) that I am not sure where they would go if not in one of the corporate buildings. Also, the amount of retail (1/10 of the Maine Mall) is staggering compared to what most people would say is able to be absorbed right now. However, sometimes the saying "go big or go home" has its importance. Perhaps a major development like this really could be viable, if it is "major." Anything mediocre is going to be more difficult given the economy.
 
Maybe they kept the parking garage out of the picture cause that's going to be built by the city, not the developers. Can't really show a picture of something that isn't there yet or confirmed if it's not in your development can you?

You would have to get a commitment from a few major companies I would think to make that work. I think a Barnes and Noble would be a great anchor for that area.

We still run into the problem of being able connect all this new Bayside development to downtown due to the ghetto ass area lodged between them. That stretch is one continous border from past Kennedy park all the way to Hadlock Field basically. I mean what path from Intermed to exchange street would you want your girlfriend to take by herself at midnight by herself? None really. Maybe super light up Franklin but that's all the way to one side where you'd like to have a straight connection up the middle. Maybe a trolley system at some point if they really get a project this big off the ground.
 
Maybe they kept the parking garage out of the picture cause that's going to be built by the city, not the developers. Can't really show a picture of something that isn't there yet or confirmed if it's not in your development can you?

You would have to get a commitment from a few major companies I would think to make that work. I think a Barnes and Noble would be a great anchor for that area.

We still run into the problem of being able connect all this new Bayside development to downtown due to the ghetto ass area lodged between them. That stretch is one continous border from past Kennedy park all the way to Hadlock Field basically. I mean what path from Intermed to exchange street would you want your girlfriend to take by herself at midnight by herself? None really. Maybe super light up Franklin but that's all the way to one side where you'd like to have a straight connection up the middle. Maybe a trolley system at some point if they really get a project this big off the ground.

Well, I think you have a very valid point, but one of the good things about new development is that it spruces up the surrounding area as well. With all the new tenants in this project as proposed, there will likely be people on the streets all the time, and the surrounding apartments will begin to be rented by workers, in theory. I know its an incremental process of change, but this will help the area in general, not just the property in question.
 
Portland Daily Sun has done some follow-up research...


Casey Conley has left a new comment on your post "Maritime Landing" reaches for the sky (by standin...":

I just spoke with someone at Federated Cos. That image was apparently drafted by the city several years ago. The official, Jonathan Cox, also said the figures for the development have since changed from that initial sell sheet. Not sure if that's true beyond his word but it seems consistent with other projects.

Casey Conley/Portland Daily Sun
 
Portland Daily Sun has done some follow-up research...


Casey Conley has left a new comment on your post "Maritime Landing" reaches for the sky (by standin...":

I just spoke with someone at Federated Cos. That image was apparently drafted by the city several years ago. The official, Jonathan Cox, also said the figures for the development have since changed from that initial sell sheet. Not sure if that's true beyond his word but it seems consistent with other projects.

Casey Conley/Portland Daily Sun

I don't know if I ever wrote this anywhere, but I figured as much with the rendering. In fact, I was talking about precisely this with an architect in Bayside today. The rendering is very similar to that released in the "An Urban Vision Rises in Bayside" article from 2007, to the point where the axonometric angle is the exact same, as are the trees and surrounding structures. The only thing that changed was the layout of some of the buildings. But, even then, some are the exact same, so I began to wonder if that was a city-commissioned rendering, and I asked Alex Jaegerman, who was on vacation and didn't respond to my email.

Also, although less office space than Intermed was listed on that sell sheet, the rendering seemed to consist of several large corporate office structures. I have spoken with Jonathan as well, and he is very accessible. I did, however, promise that the details of our conversation would remain confidential. I can say, however, that nothing too out of the ordinary was discussed. Casey also contacted me about the Federated Co.s...seems the Portland Daily Sun is up on the local commercial development issue, which is great.
 
I mean what path from Intermed to exchange street would you want your girlfriend to take by herself at midnight by herself? None really.

I agree. This is certainly a larger issue but I hope that whatever the Federated Companies puts together for Bayside takes these sorts of issues into consideration. Through good design there is the possibility of really improving the surrounding area. Having more people on the streets (and people of all different backgrounds and economic classes) in Bayside is a good step.

Now that we know that rendering is not new, I again look forward to seeing the actual proposals.


Patrick said:
...seems the Portland Daily Sun is up on the local commercial development issue, which is great.

To name a few, The Daily Sun, The Forecaster, and Munjoy Hill News (for Munjoy Hill related developments) all do great work. The Press Herald is generally not as much "in the business" of local news.
 
Did the lawsuit ever get resolved? I have not heard a peep out of this lawsuit, plus the city is still paying interest on the HUD loan for the garage that was supposed to be built 10 years ago....anybody have any insight?
 
Did the lawsuit ever get resolved? I have not heard a peep out of this lawsuit, plus the city is still paying interest on the HUD loan for the garage that was supposed to be built 10 years ago....anybody have any insight?

To my knowledge, the lawsuit is still ongoing. Federated has pawned the fallout from this project onto a local commercial real estate attorney named Patrick Venne. He's representing Federated in the lawsuit, and I believe he is the one solely responsible for....whatever this project is now.

As for the garage (and the rest of the project )....it will break ground on the same day that the Titanic arrives in New York.
 
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To my knowledge, the lawsuit is still ongoing. Federated has pawned the fallout from this project onto a local commercial real estate attorney named Patrick Venne. He's representing Federated in the lawsuit, and I believe he is the one solely responsible for....whatever this project is now.

As for the garage (and the rest of the project )....it will break ground on the same day that the Titanic arrives in New York.

Patrick was probably the most active person on any of the Portland posts on this board, until he got a job with Federated and had to stop posting.

And actually, if you scroll up on this thread, he started the thread and posted several times within it.
 
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Wasn't there a longer thread about Midtown? I swear there was more discussion here than this. (and we're just months away from the thread's 10th anniversary! This was one of those that led to my superstitious belief that, if we started a thread about a specific project, nothing would ever get built. See also: Thompson's Point.)
 
Wasn't there a longer thread about Midtown? I swear there was more discussion here than this. (and we're just months away from the thread's 10th anniversary! This was one of those that led to my superstitious belief that, if we started a thread about a specific project, nothing would ever get built. See also: Thompson's Point.)


There was also a lot of discussion on it in the general Portland construction thread.
 
The project was killed by the city, on purpose. I know why and can't say in public. You senior bloggers should plan a little Portland arch blog gathering at a local watering hole. Only those with at least three months on the blog, and can verify by logging in at the gathering, can attend. We can wear masks to hide identities (that's an easy one) and so reveal truths unknown. I've got mine to share. I'll buy one round too. (And I might be able to bring a surprise guest. He knows EVERYTHING from the city side.)
 
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