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Office building now part of revised plan for Jordan?s Meats
By Kate Bucklin (published: September 13, 2007)
PORTLAND ? The group that once planned a luxury hotel and condominiums at the former Jordan?s Meats plant has now added a 122,000-square-foot office building to the scaled-back hotel, condo and retail project announced for the property in July.
PME 1 Limited Partnership representatives met with the Planning Board Tuesday afternoon to go over the revised plan, which calls for a smaller hotel, fewer condominiums and more public access to the Eastern Waterfront site.
The developer is asking for approval to revise its original conditional rezoning approval.
?Since approval there have been quite a few changes in the business market,? said Lee Burneson of Procaccianti Group, the Rhode Island-based company that is a principal in the development partnership.
The original $110 million plan, which received city approval in December 2005, included a 224-room Westin hotel, 116 luxury condominiums, retail and events space.
The developer is now proposing an extended-stay Starwood Element Hotel. The hotel would have far fewer amenities than the Westin and 162 rooms.
The residential portion of the proposal calls for 49 condominiums. The new design extends retail space around Fore and India streets and leaves open a public corridor through the middle of the property, in line with Hampshire Street. The hotel would front on Middle Street, while the condominiums front on Fore and India streets.
Retail space totals more than 15,000 square feet in addition to 7,000 square feet of restaurant space. Underground parking is included in the development.
The new component, an eight-story office building, is proposed for the corner of Franklin and Fore streets. While that portion of the property was left for future development in paperwork submitted to the city July 16, a revised proposal dated Aug. 28 says that since that time Procaccianti has made ?significant progress toward securing a build-to-suit tenant for an office building.?
?We are still trying to finalize the office component, hopefully in the next month,? Burneson said Tuesday.
But Senior Planner Bill Needelman said there are a few issues with the new design.
The proposal needs a new traffic study because of the addition of the office building, and Needelman also expressed concern about added height in the new design and the proposed use of stucco on the exterior.
Planning Board members said they were unsure about the added height, pointing out that the original project already pushed the limit. The condominium building is a full story higher in the revised proposal, at 101 feet. The office building is 102 feet tall along Franklin Street and the hotel is 89 feet along Middle Street ? about 12 feet taller than originally proposed for that street.
?I?d like to see a shadow study,? board member Shalom Odakara said.
The proposal also calls for various shades of stucco siding, a design element not currently present in the Eastern Waterfront. Board members said they were not too concerned, but wanted more information on the durability and aesthetic quality of the material.
Board member Lee Lowry applauded the developer for the street-level features, including the additional retail and public space.
?It is really quite good, an improvement over last time,? he said.
PME, which was also represented by architect Glenn Allen of TRO Jung-Brannen and project manager Dan Riley of Sebago Technics, was asked to supply the board with more visuals for a follow-up meeting, along with more information about the office building, traffic and the stucco.
Carrie Marsh, the city?s urban designer, is expected to comment on the design at the next Planning Board workshop, too. A date has not been set for that meeting.
Office building now part of revised plan for Jordan?s Meats
By Kate Bucklin (published: September 13, 2007)
PORTLAND ? The group that once planned a luxury hotel and condominiums at the former Jordan?s Meats plant has now added a 122,000-square-foot office building to the scaled-back hotel, condo and retail project announced for the property in July.
PME 1 Limited Partnership representatives met with the Planning Board Tuesday afternoon to go over the revised plan, which calls for a smaller hotel, fewer condominiums and more public access to the Eastern Waterfront site.
The developer is asking for approval to revise its original conditional rezoning approval.
?Since approval there have been quite a few changes in the business market,? said Lee Burneson of Procaccianti Group, the Rhode Island-based company that is a principal in the development partnership.
The original $110 million plan, which received city approval in December 2005, included a 224-room Westin hotel, 116 luxury condominiums, retail and events space.
The developer is now proposing an extended-stay Starwood Element Hotel. The hotel would have far fewer amenities than the Westin and 162 rooms.
The residential portion of the proposal calls for 49 condominiums. The new design extends retail space around Fore and India streets and leaves open a public corridor through the middle of the property, in line with Hampshire Street. The hotel would front on Middle Street, while the condominiums front on Fore and India streets.
Retail space totals more than 15,000 square feet in addition to 7,000 square feet of restaurant space. Underground parking is included in the development.
The new component, an eight-story office building, is proposed for the corner of Franklin and Fore streets. While that portion of the property was left for future development in paperwork submitted to the city July 16, a revised proposal dated Aug. 28 says that since that time Procaccianti has made ?significant progress toward securing a build-to-suit tenant for an office building.?
?We are still trying to finalize the office component, hopefully in the next month,? Burneson said Tuesday.
But Senior Planner Bill Needelman said there are a few issues with the new design.
The proposal needs a new traffic study because of the addition of the office building, and Needelman also expressed concern about added height in the new design and the proposed use of stucco on the exterior.
Planning Board members said they were unsure about the added height, pointing out that the original project already pushed the limit. The condominium building is a full story higher in the revised proposal, at 101 feet. The office building is 102 feet tall along Franklin Street and the hotel is 89 feet along Middle Street ? about 12 feet taller than originally proposed for that street.
?I?d like to see a shadow study,? board member Shalom Odakara said.
The proposal also calls for various shades of stucco siding, a design element not currently present in the Eastern Waterfront. Board members said they were not too concerned, but wanted more information on the durability and aesthetic quality of the material.
Board member Lee Lowry applauded the developer for the street-level features, including the additional retail and public space.
?It is really quite good, an improvement over last time,? he said.
PME, which was also represented by architect Glenn Allen of TRO Jung-Brannen and project manager Dan Riley of Sebago Technics, was asked to supply the board with more visuals for a follow-up meeting, along with more information about the office building, traffic and the stucco.
Carrie Marsh, the city?s urban designer, is expected to comment on the design at the next Planning Board workshop, too. A date has not been set for that meeting.