Canal Plaza Renovations & New Mixed-Use Tower | Portland

Hi all!

This is Jacob from East Brown Cow. I've admittedly been a long-time lurker on this forum and have always appreciated the thoughtful and varied dialogue that you guys have about many of the major projects going on around Portland.

With that in mind, I want to invite all of you to the launch of Old Port Square, our comprehensive vision for a 4-acre district within the Old Port, on May 6. This event will kick off our public process. I look forward to being able to share and discuss many more details with you on this forum in the coming months.

Details for the event are available at this link and at OldPortSquare.com. I hope to see you there!
 
We have Redfern -and- East Brown Cow as forum members!?! We might start to have more influence on Portland's urban design than the Planning Board :p

But really, this is incredibly exciting and has the potential to totally reshape this part of the city.

Hopefully this also involves adding a few stories to the top of Canal Plaza 😉😉
 
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I just want to thank East Brown Cow for looking to this forum and inviting us!!! it's an honor to looked upon and we come from all kinds of backgrounds that care about Portland. Suggestion, I would like to see a pizza or a wine and cheese take out to replace the available retail space just like the building in wells!!! its perfectly shaped... or how about Voodoo Donuts!!!!
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I just want to thank East Brown Cow for looking to this forum and inviting us!!! it's an honor to looked upon and we come from all kinds of backgrounds that care about Portland. Suggestion, I would like to see a pizza or a wine and cheese take out to replace the available retail space just like the building in wells!!! its perfectly shaped... or how about Voodoo Donuts!!!!View attachment 62321View attachment 62313
The rebirth of HiFi donuts would be better. KEEP. IT. LOCAL.
 
I am guessing that the launch may be the rebranding of "Canal Plaza" to "Old Port Square" while allowing the 4 separate buildings to maintain their 1,2,3, and 4 Canal Plaza addresses to alleviate USPS concerns and change costs involved with tenants. Will probably include some of the entrance and exterior changes that have been underway and hopefully the redesign of the three mechanical roof caps that were shown in some previous illustrations. And lastly, some updated renderings and a possible model of the potential tower that could be gaining some traction after all of these years especially seeing that Mr Safdie will be attending the event. In my opinion SIGNIFICANT NEW CONSTRUCTION AND REDEVELOPMENT are the key words in the invitation. Didn't Tim Soley want to add a glass enclosed floor to the top of One Canal a few years ago which may have featured a restaurant? With my luck I may be wrong on all of the above due to retirement and not being connected to some of movers and shakers in Portland as I once was. :)
 
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How much presence does Key Bank even have in the complex these days, especially since they got rid of the lobby branch? (This also reminds me that the plaza has been the Maine HQ of Key Bank for decades longer than it was the Canal Bank home office.)
 
Good point Mark but I think the "Canal Plaza" name was kept for nostalgic purposes and it would be difficult for locals to refer to it by anything else since 1972. I think "Old Port Square" will be the new moniker and even old timers like us will eventually adjust. Maybe there will be a plaque or maker in the square as a tribute to the history of how Canal Bank actually got its name.
 
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I am guessing that the launch may be the rebranding of "Canal Plaza" to "Old Port Square" while allowing the 4 separate buildings to maintain their 1,2,3, and 4 Canal Plaza addresses to alleviate USPS concerns and change costs involved with tenants. Will probably include some of the entrance and exterior changes that have been underway and hopefully the redesign of the three mechanical roof caps that were shown in some previous illustrations. And lastly, some updated renderings and a possible model of the potential tower that could be gaining some traction after all of these years especially seeing that Mr Safdie will be attending the event. In my opinion SIGNIFICANT NEW CONSTRUCTION AND REDEVELOPMENT are the key words in the invitation. Didn't Tim Soley want to add a glass enclosed floor to the top of One Canal a few years ago which may have featured a restaurant? With my luck I may be wrong on all of the above due to retirement and not being connected to some of movers and shakers in Portland as I once was. :)
Where did you hear that the patriarch owner of the firm would be attending? If so, it's a notable gesture. Safdie is a TOP international arch firm with offices in Somerville (Boston), Singapore, Shanghai, Jerusalem, and Toronto. He's coming to Portland? The plan was originally to gut many of the old buildings to create a kind of connective sprawling interior retail space. And a tower would be sweet. Portland's economic and housing outlook looks good, despite the reality of this summer's tourist business taking a small hit (hotels and other lodging a bit down in rates due to lower demand this summer). I think the confidence is mostly present for Portland, close to Boston, Roux on the way, and relatively crime free when compared to most American cities. All cities have their aimless drug addicts, and the NY Times did do that hit job on Portland last week (kind of unfair), but Portland doesn't have that legacy ghetto (sorry if I've offended with truth) that nearly all U.S. cities have. Florida and Texas has a single-family home and condo glut and prices will fall, but not so much for Portland. The condo thing down there is going out of style, a bit. And townhomes are in, or for Portland. I was in Tampa a few weeks ago, nice city, but the downtown is a yawner. And we can almost say that we (Southern Maine) have a more desirable climate. Texas is ahead of schedule in heat so far, April looking like May, and Florida will be seeing the same. June through September inside is no way to live.
 
The square area in front of Key Bank has alot of potential as with movie night, lighten up the area, make it festive, do what they do in the seaport district, beer garden, corn hole, etc.. bring the people in...
 
Since we have two weeks to speculate, here are some observations:
  1. The whole Canal Plaza parcel is literally right next to Exchange Street and the middle of the Old Port on Exchange and Fore, but it certainly doesn't feel that way – it's cut off from all the foot traffic by a huge parking garage (to the south) and a big surface parking lot, and a dead plaza fronting Middle Street to the north. Parking is a notoriously low-rent land use but it's probably a loss-leader here that subsidizes all their office tenants.
  2. According to the latest annual Boulos Co. office outlook, the three Canal Plaza buildings are (basically) fully occupied, which surprised me. But the demand for offices is not strong these days, and these 1970s-era buildings are among the older Class A spaces on the market.
  3. East Brown Cow owns a lot of other Old Port mixed-use properties, including a lot of mixed-use historic buildings with ground-level retail and office above. Those properties would benefit from more foot traffic, and downtown residents and hotel guests spend a lot more on the local economy than commuter office workers.
So some predictions based on these premises:
  1. Most of the existing Canal Plaza office space will remain, but I predict some of the space will be renovated into new retail and apartments.
  2. The abandoned Key Bank drive-thru on Union Street takes up a massive amount of space and should be a prime development site.
  3. More speculative here, but hear me out: a partial demolition of the east side 3 Canal Plaza (along the party wall between the 1970s office building and the historic Canal Bank building) could open up a new access point into the center of the site from Middle Street, better integrating the parcel into the rest of the Old Port. They'd lose some square footage but this would also make the building a better fit for residences, which require smaller floorplates.
  4. This will reduce the landlords' need for on-site parking, allowing for redevelopment of the parking lot in the center of the site, and a partial or full demolition of the aging parking garage. Shrinking the garage's footprint would also improve access into the site from Fore Street – currently there's a driveway there, but it has a very unfriendly back-alley feel to it.
  5. Taking 2 and 3 together, there's an opportunity for East Brown Cow to re-create the historic "Plum Street" that used to be here, extending the Old Port with street that connects to Fore and runs parallel to Exchange, with lots of high-rent retail on newly-renovated ground floors of 1 and 3 Canal Plaza, plus the new Safdie hotel in the middle of the block. Demolishing the western half of the Fore Street garage would also make room for another new mid- or high-rise mixed-use residential building next to the Hyatt Place:

    Screenshot 2025-04-22 at 7.07.15 PM.png
 
Is there any way to redevelop the cmp lot ? Build over it? Is it not developable?
I'd love to see the CMP site tucked against the side of the building area with the trees on Temple Street. Then open up the CMP site for another building.
 
Since we have two weeks to speculate, here are some observations:


2. According to the latest annual Boulos Co. office outlook, the three Canal Plaza buildings are (basically) fully occupied, which surprised me. But the demand for offices is not strong these days, and these 1970s-era buildings are among the older Class A spaces on the market.

3,...and downtown residents and hotel guests spend a lot more on the local economy than commuter office workers.
2) East Brow Cow has put a lot into the Canal Plaza buildings and they seem to have a fairly diverse tenant base. I recall reading somewhere that their goal was to renovate 1 Canal into a more modern type of office space with more flex / shared / coworking space and amenities to attract tenants. Worth noting that Portland's office market is actually in better shape overall than most other cities.

3. That's not entirely true. A lot of downtown businesses (particularly breakfast and lunch spots) rely on downtown office workers. It's important to have a mix of uses in an urban core. I'd personally love to see another ~5,000 residents and ~5,000 jobs in the downtown. (As an aside, it baffles me that some urbanists want Portland to be nothing but a glorified bedroom community)
 
2) East Brow Cow has put a lot into the Canal Plaza buildings and they seem to have a fairly diverse tenant base. I recall reading somewhere that their goal was to renovate 1 Canal into a more modern type of office space with more flex / shared / coworking space and amenities to attract tenants. Worth noting that Portland's office market is actually in better shape overall than most other cities.

3. That's not entirely true. A lot of downtown businesses (particularly breakfast and lunch spots) rely on downtown office workers. It's important to have a mix of uses in an urban core. I'd personally love to see another ~5,000 residents and ~5,000 jobs in the downtown. (As an aside, it baffles me that some urbanists want Portland to be nothing but a glorified bedroom community)
@Cosakita18 - Such an interesting comment on #3 with the "glorified bedroom city".

I have heard most of the NIMBY objections to growth within Portland coming from many PART TIME Portland residents. Meaning - the homes they own here aren't even their primary, full time, year-round homes.

There was some development proposed on the East End maybe within 5-10 years ago that NIMBY's balked at because it would bring "diversity" to the neighborhood (ie: Black and Brown people) and they worried it would lower the value of their homes. In looking some of these people up - many of them were part time Mainers.

Some of the people who balked at Midtown were also ... you guessed it ... part time Mainers.

The "Save the Soul" of Portland was also seriously misguided in trying to prevent the development of Portland Foreside ... airing concerns about blocking views of the harbor. Yet one of the founding members built a house (equipped with an elevator) and didn't care about the views SHE blocked. She only cared about it when her own views would be affected.

Keeping Portland "small" like a glorified bedroom city will only serve to keep it more EXCLUSIVE, expensive, higher taxes for full time residents, and less diverse. As we have learned throughout time ... communities thrive when they are diverse. Without that, the city could become a boarded up ghost town with another major recession.

The lack of Canadian tourists will hurt this season (and maybe the next four years or so till the bullshit is sorted out). But we'll have to keep an eye out on the Cruise Ship stops and see if those hold steady.
 
2) East Brow Cow has put a lot into the Canal Plaza buildings and they seem to have a fairly diverse tenant base. I recall reading somewhere that their goal was to renovate 1 Canal into a more modern type of office space with more flex / shared / coworking space and amenities to attract tenants. Worth noting that Portland's office market is actually in better shape overall than most other cities.

3. That's not entirely true. A lot of downtown businesses (particularly breakfast and lunch spots) rely on downtown office workers. It's important to have a mix of uses in an urban core. I'd personally love to see another ~5,000 residents and ~5,000 jobs in the downtown. (As an aside, it baffles me that some urbanists want Portland to be nothing but a glorified bedroom community)
I generally agree and expect that *most* of the office space here will remain. But I still think that the site needs a lot more active non-office uses - especially given how much the current office uses rely on unproductive parking lots in the middle of the Old Port, and how dead this site currently feels after 5 pm. And during the day, too, if we're being totally honest.

For consumer spending, it's pretty well established that downtown residents spend *a lot* more in downtown economies than daytime office workers – after all, coffee and lunches are a pretty small portion of the typical household's budget.

About 15 years ago an industry association estimated that office buildings generate $8 of expenditures in the local economy per square foot. Let's be generous and call it $12 to adjust for inflation. A more recent study of apartment buildings estimated that they generate $160K per unit in household spending in the local economy – so if the typical apartment is 800SF, that's $200 in local spending per square foot – an order of magnitude more than the office building. And hotels generate even more, because people splurge on vacation.

Of course, the ideal circumstance is to have a strong office market where your downtown office workers also have a place to live nearby, which generates the most economic impact for the local economy and eliminates traffic and parking waste to boot. IMHO the strength of downtown Portland's office market is partly due its the low commuting costs for firms who locate downtown. But to accomplish that, downtown Portland would need a lot more housing.
 

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