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grittys457

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Crap, dammit, piss. Better extend my lease now.

From www.thebollard.com

What's up with the Westin?
Condo/hotel project delayed; developers keep mum

The $110 million Westin hotel, condo and retail complex planned for the former Jordan's Meats plant on Franklin Arterial appears to be in trouble. Work on the project was expected to begin late last winter and be completed next summer, but the developers have yet to take the first step toward actual construction ? getting a demolition permit ? and are not responding to press inquiries about the project's status.

City officials are at a loss to explain why work has not begun, though several theories are circulating through the rumor mill.

The project ? which includes 229 hotel rooms, 95 condo units, a restaurant, retail and underground parking ? is a joint effort by the Rhode Island-based Procaccianti Group, a real estate investment company with a nationwide portfolio of properties, and the Liberty Group, the South Portland-based group of companies headed by local developer Michael Liberty.

In March, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Liberty, claiming he improperly diverted millions of dollars from a Philadelphia-based investment fund for his own use and for third parties associated with his business interests. Liberty's attorney has denied the charges in the ongoing lawsuit, and the SEC suit did not allege any misconduct related to the Westin partnership.

Procaccianti spokesperson Ralph Izzi and Bob Herron, an executive with the mortgage banking firm working on the Westin project, told the Portland Press Herald in March that Liberty's legal woes will not affect the project, but observers inside and outside City Hall aren't so sure that isn't a factor.

Izzi did not respond to a request for comment. Herron referred questions to Izzi, and noted, "I don't even know some of the intimate details" about the development. A secretary at The Liberty Group said Liberty was unavailable for comment. Told this reporter was inquiring about the Westin project, she referred the question to Andrew Bedard, the Liberty Group's senior vice president for investments, asset management and new development. Bedard did not return that call seeking comment.

One city councilor privately shared a rumor that Liberty angered his Procaccianti partners by trumpeting the Westin condos' multimillion-dollar price tags, when in fact the group intended to sell the units for prices in the $500,000 range.

In a Dec. 20, 2005, article on the front page of the Press Herald's business section, staff writer Tux Turkel highlighted the possibility condos in The Residences at the Westin Portland could sell for as much as $5 million. However, Turkel noted that such a high price would result only if a buyer purchased more than one unit and combined them, particularly if the units occupied the upper floors of the nearly 100-foot-tall building. And Turkel attributed those figures to the "developers," not Liberty specifically.

Still, the councilor noted, a $500,000 price tag is within the range of upper-middle-class homebuyers, who could conceivably sell their current homes to finance a Westin condo. By contrast, multimillion-dollar condos are available to a much smaller group of super-rich individuals, and to the extent the condos are considered out of most buyers' price range, it becomes harder to market them or secure funding to build them in the first place.

City Inspections Division head Mike Nugent confirmed that no demolition or building permits had been requested for the Westin project, and said his last local contact regarding the project was with its architect, Winton Scott. Nugent said Scott was doing some redesign work "a couple months ago" on the levels of underground parking planned for the site. Scott did not return a call seeking comment.

Some city officials have also speculated that the prospect a luxury hotel could be built nearby on the site of the Portland Ocean Terminal has spooked the Westin developers. That possibility, however, remains just that, as councilors and city staff are just beginning to work on zoning changes which may or may not allow such a development on the waterfront. [See "Ex-mayor, Gov's brother, push waterfront hotel project."]

Harborview Properties, a real estate brokerage firm owned by Shipyard Brewing Company president Fred Forsley, had an exclusive arrangement to sell condos at the Westin this spring. That arrangement has since lapsed, Forsley said, as the Westin partners have decided to take that work "in house," though he added that his firm could still co-broker the sales of some units. [See "Tangled web of interests on the Eastern Waterfront."]

Forsley said he doesn't know what the status of the project is now. "I hope it happens," he said.
 
grittys457 said:
Crap, dammit, piss. Better extend my lease now.

From www.thebollard.com

What's up with the Westin?
Condo/hotel project delayed; developers keep mum
Click to expand...

This is embarassing for our city.

1. lincoln center.

2. Waterview.

3. Village at Oceangate

4. Westin.

5. Civic center expansion instead of new arena

6. i bet the ocean terminal hotel wont happen, thereby killing both itself AND westin

7. bayside office building scaled down to 8 floors

8. hey but at least we have a new 4-story box!
 
From www.thebollard.com

Cruisin' at the Maine State Pier
The Bollard recently had an opportunity to view plans for the Portland Ocean Terminal being developed by Ocean Properties, the New Hampshire-based hotel and resort development company eying the publicly owned terminal for a luxury hotel project. It turns out Ocean Properties' plans include an element city officials never mentioned when pressed to discuss the company's proposal: a cruise ship terminal. [See "Ex-Mayor, Gov's brother push waterfront hotel project."]

About six months ago, Ocean Properties executive Bob Baldacci (brother of Gov. John Baldacci) and former Portland City Councilor and Mayor Peter O'Donnell (now an employee of the state Department of Economic and Community Development) held private meetings with individual councilors to discuss Ocean Properties' proposal. Councilors told The Bollard a hotel, a museum and retail space were among the elements of Ocean Properties' plan, and Baldacci has said the company would preserve part of the deep-water site for marine industrial work.

Those elements are all in the plans The Bollard viewed (courtesy of a private source unaffiliated with Ocean Properties or city government), but so is a big cruise ship and passenger terminal ? a detail city officials seemingly failed to recall. The fairly detailed sketch of Ocean Properties' preliminary plans ? drawn up by TMS Architects, of Portsmouth ? shows a hotel rising about eight stories from the middle of the terminal site. Building heights are reduced as the complex extends toward the water, with structures designated for a ?market? and a museum of some sort.

Construction of the public Ocean Gateway passenger-ship terminal began last fall. The facility is expected to open in the fall of 2007.

City officials are in the process of considering zoning changes for the POT site (part of the Maine State Pier) that would allow a hotel to be built there. A draft of the new zoning would also allow ?accessory passenger support services? at the POT. This detail confused some observers at a rezoning meeting last month, who wondered why such services would be needed at the POT, given that the Ocean Gateway project will provide them.

Capt. Jeff Monroe, the city's Director of Ports and Transportation, said there's room for another ferry terminal at the POT, in addition to Ocean Gateway, both physically and in terms of the cruise ship tourism market.
 
By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright ? 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend





Construction of the Ocean Gateway cruise-ship terminal on Portland's eastern waterfront has unearthed the history of how the area was filled and developed as a railroad and shipping hub in the late 1840s.

Workers for Reed & Reed Inc. of Woolwich, the firm hired to build the $21 million terminal, have excavated several massive brick arches while laying drainage pipes for the extension of Commercial and Hancock streets.

City officials say the arches formed the foundation of the first terminal building in Portland for the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, which started construction in 1846 and began operating in 1853.

By that time, the line was part of the Grand Trunk Railway System. It connected Portland to Montreal over 292 miles of track and gave Canada a year-round port for grain and other products.

The city built an estimated half-acre field of brick arches on mudflats at Fore and India streets to support the railroad's first buildings and tracks. It's unclear whether the early railroad buildings had basements, but the area around the arches was eventually filled, said Jeffrey Monroe, Portland's director of ports and transportation.

Fore Street used to be the city's waterfront, before it was filled in the 1850s to create Commercial Street. Tracks eventually ran down the center of Commercial to connect the Grand Trunk line to the former Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad, later the Boston and Maine, which had a terminal at the base of State Street.

The tops of the brick arches are about 4 feet below ground, Monroe said. The arches are about 6 feet wide, about 10 feet tall and spaced about 20 feet apart. An exact count of arches and their precise measurements is unavailable.

"Unless you dig up the whole area, you're not going to be able to know exactly what's down there," Monroe said Monday.

Large chunks of the brick arches will be displayed at Ocean Gateway when it's completed in November 2007, he said.

The city and the Maine Department of Transportation started building Ocean Gateway last fall. Until recently, most of the work focused on demolition, utility installation and pier construction. Steel beams for the terminal's passenger-receiving station started going up last week, Monroe said.

Because the project includes federal transportation money, the Maine Historic Preservation Commission conducted an archaeological survey of the area in 2001. The survey found no properties that should be protected by the National Historic Preservation Act, said Earle Shettleworth Jr., the commission's director.

Fort Loyal and other early buildings were built nearby in the 1600s and 1700s, but they were long gone by the 1840s, according to the survey report.

Still, finding the brick arches provides an opportunity to understand how the city's waterfront and economy changed through the years.

The first terminal building was a modest structure that likely served as a passenger and freight depot, Monroe said. It was replaced, and likely torn down, soon after larger passenger and freight depots were built nearby, as well as an engine house and grain elevators.

A Victorian-style, pink granite passenger depot was built at India and Fore streets in 1903 and was torn down in 1966.

The Grand Trunk office building still stands at India and Commercial streets and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Reed & Reed workers also have dug up various concrete footings that were built below ground for later passenger depots, grain elevators and freight depots. They show the evolution of waterfront construction techniques, ranging from concrete fortified with large chunks of granite to modern steel rebar.

"It's been very intriguing," said Daniel Reed, a state engineer. "I already knew the history of the site, so I knew there'd be all kinds of stuff down there."
 
Property for Westin hotel, condos back on the market
By Kate Bucklin
Developers considering their options



PORTLAND ? Developers of a proposed Westin hotel and condominium complex planned for the former Jordan?s Meats plant on India Street have put the project on hold and the property up for sale.

For now, they will turn the property into a parking lot while they reconsider the development.

Ralph Izzi, a spokesman for Rhode Island-based Procaccianti Group, said this week that the company?s mission is still to redevelop the property, which is now listed by the CB Richard Ellis real estate organization.

?If a great opportunity presents itself we certainly would entertain it,? Izzi said.

The 1.75-acre property was listed Wednesday, Oct. 4, as a redevelopment opportunity by CB Richard Ellis commercial real estate. A marketing flier for the property explains it is approved for a hotel and condominium project. But it also says the residential project does not have to be built and a new buyer could propose a different development.

The listing touts the proximity of the property to the new Ocean Gateway cruise ship terminal and to the Old Port. The asking price for the property is not listed and broker Tony McDonald of CB Richard Ellis could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

According to the city assessor?s Web site, Procaccianti paid $6 million for the property a year ago. Its assessed value is $3.1 million.

Izzi said Procaccianti would consider selling the property as it is now, but pointed out that the former hot dog factory would soon be demolished. The land will be used for parking until Procaccianti works out new plans.

He said the firm is considering adding office space to the project, which was approved last December for a hotel, condominiums, retail space and underground parking.

Last week Procaccianti received a one-year extension on the site plan approval it received from the Planning Board. Izzi said the extension will give his company time to research the market and work out the best plans for the property.

District 1 City Councilor William Gorham said Tuesday that he was not surprised the property was for sale. Gorham, a real estate broker, predicted a new developer may come in and build an office building on the site.

?The market has changed so much since they proposed (the hotel),? Gorham said. ?Plus, ever since the Maine State Pier discussion started they?ve really backed off of (the project).?

The city recently rezoned the Maine State Pier to allow nonmarine development. Although a hotel would not be allowed on the pier, a waterfront hotel could be built on land abutting the pier along Commercial Street.

The Westin project was one of three major residential and/or hotel projects slated for the eastern waterfront, all of which have fallen victim to a rapidly changing market and, perhaps, overly optimistic assessments of the market.

Closer to the water along India Street, Drew Swenson is getting ready to start construction of Riverwalk. The project includes a 700-space parking garage and a 115-unit condominium complex called the Longfellow at Oceangate. The project is likely to cost $100 million to construct. The project originally included a boutique hotel, but that feature was eliminated.

North of the former hot dog factory at 38 India St., a Boston developer is proposing to build 175 condominium units on either side of Newbury Street. The Village at Ocean Gate would replace the Village Cafe. GFI Residential had originally proposed 250 units, but scaled back because of what a project manager referred to as market limitations and financing.

Procaccianti has approval to build a 223-room hotel, 97 units of luxury condominiums, underground parking and retail space on the 1.74-acre parcel. The $110 million development would have filled almost an entire city block between Middle, India, Fore and Franklin streets.

The Procaccianti Group, working with several partners including local developer Michael Liberty, formed PME Limited Partnership and announced plans for the hotel and condos in April 2005.

Shortly after the project was approved, an invitation-only reception was held for potential condominium buyers at the University of Southern Maine. Prices for condos were said to start at $550,000 and top out at $5 million.

The firm had originally planned to demolish the hot dog factory last January and begin construction. But as winter turned to spring, the grass and weeds became overgrown and local graffiti writers marked the building. In August the company announced it would scale back the project.

According to Izzi, Procaccianti is still interested in developing the property, but first must find a plan that will fit in with the market.

?Our mission is to get the right mix,? he said.

Kate Bucklin can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 106 or kbucklin@theforecaster.net.


City prepares to solicit pier proposals
By Kate Bucklin
Committee will also discuss moratorium inspired by Hooters



PORTLAND ? The city is moving ahead with plans to redevelop the Maine State Pier and is expected tonight to finalize a Request for Proposals for the property.

The Community Development Committee will also consider proposed amendments to a city ordinance on ?formula? or chain restaurants.

The pier and surrounding property have been rezoned to allow a wider variety of uses. The pier is currently used by Portland Tugboat and the city Ports Department. Several small businesses and nonprofits also have offices on the pier.

The new zoning will allow nonmarine development. Hotels would have been allowed on the pier in early drafts of the proposal, but the City Council voted to allow that sort of development only on land next to the pier along Commercial Street.

City Councilor James Cloutier, chairman of the CDC, said he wanted the RFP to go out as soon as possible.

?I?d guess we?ll put out a public notice letting people know the RFP is going out,? he said. The proposal request will ask developers to follow the Comprehensive Plan for the pier, which prioritizes marine- related development, public access and preserving views, Cloutier said.

Developers should also expect to put several million dollars into repairs. About a third of the pilings holding up the 84-year-old structure are failing. The need for repairs, combined with the city?s failure to find a major marine tenant for the pier, led to the rezoning.

Cloutier said he is ?pretty certain? two proposals will be submitted to the city and has heard there are a couple more in the works.

The discussion on chain restaurants comes after the City Council in September established a moratorium prohibiting any restaurants with more than 30 locations nationwide to open on Congress Street or in the Old Port.

The temporary ban came shortly after a local businessman announced his plans to bring a Hooters restaurant to Congress Street.

The 10-week moratorium was approved 6-3 by the council, with Councilors Cheryl Leeman, Will Gorham and Ed Suslovic opposed.

The Community Development Committee must determine how the city should proceed with the temporary ban. The committee is supposed to submit a recommendation to the full council before Nov. 20 ? the date the ban runs out.

Michael Harris, owner of The Stadium on Congress Street, said in a letter to the city Aug. 23 that he had been in negotiations with Hooters to bring the restaurant ? known for buxom waitresses in skimpy uniforms ? to Portland. Several members of the arts community balked at the idea of having a Hooters in the Arts District and Councilor Karen Geraghty spearheaded the effort to impose a temporary ban.

The CDC meets tonight at 5 p.m. in Room 209 of City Hall.

Kate Bucklin can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 106 or kbucklin@theforecaster.net.

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The Village condos go for a final vote tonight. Somebody wrote an editorial in the paper today urging the council to vote it down. It was obviously one of the owners of the townhouses built behind it. It said that they were monolithic 6 story towers. haha. Had to add in the "we don't want to be like Boston" bit, as always.
 
right, cause boston is just full of six story sky scrapers!

that has to be that dude from fed street cause he always uses that line. the city wants to revitalize that area, yet shows no real enthusiasm for anything that falls in line with that plan. it is baffling.
 
Portland hotel project delay shouldn't last too long
E-mail this page Reader Comments (below)
Portland Press Herald Monday, October 9, 2006

Developers of a planned Westin hotel/condominium complex at the site of the former Jordan Meats plant in Portland are well within their rights to ask the city for a one-year extension of the site plan approval for the project.
City ordinances allow for an automatic year-long extension upon request, according to Lee Urban, the city's planning and development director.
However, re-use of the site -- which is bounded by Franklin, Fore, India and Middle streets -- is a key component of the city's plans for redeveloping its eastern waterfront.
The new development is expected to complement Ocean Gateway, the city's new cruise ship and ferry terminal being constructed nearby off Commercial Street. The planned new project should not stay on the back burner too long.
A spokesman for the Rhode Island company leading the development, The Procaccianti Group, said last week that the company is seeking the delay so developers can reconsider the size of the project and its tenant mix in a real estate market that's cooling. That seems sensible.
Initial plans called for a $110 million project that included a 223-room hotel with 97 luxury condominiums, 20,000 square feet of retail space and parking built underground. However, Procaccianti now may add office space as well, and also make the development smaller. The company has stopped marketing the condominiums and is refunding deposits to some would-be residents.
It obviously would not be good for a developer to build a project for which there isn't a rental market. Also, having empty buildings is not a good way to revitalize the eastern waterfront.
Procaccianti says it is not having trouble getting lenders to back the project. The company also made a clear statement to the city that it wants to move forward after this pause.
That is good news. This site can't wait too long for development.
 
Don`t pave way for high-rises
Tonight, the Portland City Council will vote whether to grant a "contract zone" to Boston-based development company GFI Residential for its proposed construction of monolithic condo buildings on the current Village Caf? site.
If approved, the contract zone would allow the developers to exceed publicly established height requirements by 66 percent for the project.
We should expect nothing less than a unanimous "no" vote from our councilors.
Based on extensive public planning efforts, which produced the Eastern Waterfront Master Plan, the East End is characterized by pedestrian-friendly, open-view, human-scaled architecture.
If the City Council does not protect this quality, the neighborhood will be transformed, overshadowed by monolithic towers that will rise over 70 feet.
Let's ask our city councilors to honor the public's desire to keep Portland like Portland, not like Boston.
Ian Skelly
Portland
 
Portland chamber thanks council for collaboration
The Portland Community Chamber wants to publicly thank members of the Portland City Council who recently voted to support rezoning of the Maine State Pier, the first of several steps to allow mixed-use development, restore the Maine State Pier as an effective economic site and effectively reduce Portland property taxes while also creating jobs.
This collaboration between the chamber and the city of Portland is another example of the City Council listening to and collaborating with the business community.
Over many years, a number of projects have materialized through this valuable relationship, including the Lincoln Square project, East End housing, support for the iconic Gulf of Maine Research Institute and the arrival of the Downeaster.
Less recently, but equally importantly, the city and the chamber worked hand in hand to bring the Scotia Prince, and later the "Cat," to keep the U.S. Postal Service's distribution center in Greater Portland, to support the Bayside Redevelopment Plan, the Ocean Gateway project, bringing the Portland Pirates to town and building the Portland Expo Center.
The chamber thanks the Portland City Council for its enthusiastic collaboration on matters of importance for residents, employees and businesses in Portland.
Chip Harris
President
Godfrey Wood
CEO
Portland Community Chamber
 
Patrick said:
Portland chamber thanks council for collaboration
The Portland Community Chamber wants to publicly thank members of the Portland City Council who recently voted to support rezoning of the Maine State Pier, the first of several steps to allow mixed-use development, restore the Maine State Pier as an effective economic site and effectively reduce Portland property taxes while also creating jobs.
This collaboration between the chamber and the city of Portland is another example of the City Council listening to and collaborating with the business community.
Over many years, a number of projects have materialized through this valuable relationship, including the Lincoln Square project, East End housing, support for the iconic Gulf of Maine Research Institute and the arrival of the Downeaster.
Less recently, but equally importantly, the city and the chamber worked hand in hand to bring the Scotia Prince, and later the "Cat," to keep the U.S. Postal Service's distribution center in Greater Portland, to support the Bayside Redevelopment Plan, the Ocean Gateway project, bringing the Portland Pirates to town and building the Portland Expo Center.
The chamber thanks the Portland City Council for its enthusiastic collaboration on matters of importance for residents, employees and businesses in Portland.
Chip Harris
President
Godfrey Wood
CEO
Portland Community Chamber
Click to expand...

What about the Lincoln Square project? Do the Chamber guys know something we don't? I thought that project was D-E-A-D! At least as long as Baldscratchy is in office which will be another 4 years. My guess is that we will have a new arena by the year 2012 at the earliest.
 
Lincoln Square refers to a different project than lincoln center. It was from the 1980s and had full final approval but the investors developing the project pulled out last minute as the market crashed. But i was a full "go" before that happened....same with franklin towers...anything of height is sponsored by the business comm. it seems. lincolnc square would have been a 275 goot modest skyscraper that would have dominated portlands skyline, from what i hear and the renderings i have seen.
 
When buildings change, so do cities

When the character and composition of the buildings in a neighborhood is altered, that also changes the dynamics and the culture of that community -- for good or ill.
Research shows communities are rooted in the strengths of their neighborhood connections. Most of the neighborhoods in Portland have long, proud histories of support, advocacy and commitment.
Block parties, community festivals and neighborhood forums are all part of the way that Portlanders celebrate and profile their neighborhood cultures.
Neighborhoods around the city seem blind to issues of social class and work together to solve neighborhood problems, help a neighbor shovel a walkway, check in on the elderly.
But there are many changes in the works that challenge this sense of neighborhood culture.
LANDMARKS SOLD
Like any other American city, Portland has seen a change in ownership of some of its landmark institutions. The defunct Jordan's Meats will become a parking lot while its condo conversion is put on hold.
The nearby Village Caf?, the site of many neighborhood meetings and community conversations and general meetings with friends, will also be destroyed. The plan is to make it into luxury condominiums catering to wealthy residents and visitors from away who are looking for a vacation home.
These second homes often serve dual functions for their owners. They are places of relaxation for private life, a realm of personal control. But they are also an important and sizable form of investment. These buildings are forecast to tower above the existing buildings in the community. They will stand as achievements to investment, population density and as prosperity or rebirth to the area.
But as we stand on the precipice of change in this area, it will also change the nature of the neighborhood culture by infusing a collective of residents who not only have no connection to the community, but also live in structures that are specifically designed to shelter their occupants from the neighborhoods where they are built.
Security cameras, locked doors and gated or pass-controlled parking are all standards mantras of density. It is this change that ripples through neighborhoods in two ways.
First, neighborhoods will lose their connection to residents.
With little emotional investment or connection to the neighborhood culture or history, these new residents will see no reason to participate in cultural events or neighborhood gatherings.
While they may attend as spectators, their active involvement in planning, organizing and volunteering will be limited.
Second, the economic structure of the neighborhood will be compromised.
With millions invested in changes in the property, there is little doubt that it will also change community status. In other communities where condominiums such as these have been constructed, changes to neighborhoods soon followed.
Gone were the local breakfast places were people congregated for coffee and the gossip of the community. They were replaced by small candlelit restaurants and specialty stores that cater to people with higher incomes, places where a nod or an affirming wave sufficed as community connection.
OPPORTUNITY IN DECAY
Within all of this is a dangerous dichotomy. City planners and councilors are presented with the dilemma of how to address urban decay.
Neighbors mourn the loss of businesses in their communities, and the city is presented with the problem of what to do with these buildings. Developers move in with the promise of rejuvenated tax revenues and rehabilitation.
Haphazard zoning changes are the vehicle not only for the acceleration of neighborhood decay but also the conduit for increased revenues.
Changes in zoning with the promise of newly created communities can serve as Trojan horses for city planners and the neighborhoods where these projects are located.
As Portland stands on this precipice of change and the promises of new buildings that will change the skyscape of our community, let us consider the toll on the neighborhoods where they will be located.
Let us continue not only to celebrate the diversity and rich history of our Portland neighborhoods, but also their delicate connection to what makes Portland so special -- its people.
- Special to the Press Herald


Reader comments

patrick venne of portland, me
Oct 18, 2006 3:09 PM
Jordan's meats factory does not compose a neighborhood--far from. It is located at the fringe of the downtown and old port districts (commerce areas, primarily) and it is far removed from the heart of the nearest neighborhood (munjoy hill). The facts are as follows: Jordan's has closed down and been sold to a private developer. The Village Cafe' owner put his property on the market but plans to keep the restaurant alive in whatever becomes of his now dirt parking lot and run down building. and the city of portland has followed an intense process of ensuring whatever private development comes about in their place is something that involves "public space" around each building, and something that does not cast unwanted shadows on whatever few residents inhabit the surrounding area. That doesn't seem all that bad to me given the alternative: Jordan's and the Village remaining largely non descript rundown buildings abutting a dense and rundown neighborhood full of graffitti and broken beer bottles. I think your ideas are well intentioned, but put forth in the wrong direction and applied toward the wrong cause. These projects will do nothing but improve an otherwise desolate area of the city.

Kevin of Dayton, ME
Oct 18, 2006 12:32 PM
One - The Village Cafe will be rebuilt in the building.
Two - I find your class war offensive. Just because people have the means to purchase a $500,000 condo does not mean that they do not strive for a community connection and more then a person who doesn't have the means is a drug addicted, social welfare parent. Social graces and community involvement has more to do with personal character then with bank balances.
Three - Well planned projects can bring much needed out of state resources into the ecomony. I know several retired transplants that donate many hours to civic causes. They find Portland to be a place where they can in fact connect with the community. Something that they didn't have the time or the desire to do in the working lives.

PETE of Gorham, Me
Oct 18, 2006 12:17 PM
Mr McLaughlin's commentary on the "neighborhood" around surrounding the Village Cafe area of downtown Portland is once again a nostalgic look into an area of the city that may have been the case 40 or 50 years ago but is FAR from what reality is regarding that area of the city.
FIRST, When actually taking the time to walk that section of town (Make sure to lock your car first) you see several umkempt storefronts or people milling about during a time when most would be working.
It seems to me that anyone who chooses to live in this "neighborhood" would understand that this is basicly located in DOWNTOWN PORTLAND! To read this commentary without visiting you would think that we were talking about Gray, Pownal, or some other subburban/rural area of southern Maine. When you live in the middle of the most urban aea of our state, the idea that commerce might be going on is something that should be understood and accepted. This is where buildings of modest height (6-15 stories) should be located!
Instead of providing construction jobs, permanent jobs, and an opportunity to lower the tax burdon by offering a nice place for someone to live who pays substantial property taxes but is not a heavy burdon on the city's infrastructor, these residents fight a respectable project that will help make the city a better place to live and be a part of. Far fetched ideas such as 40 story buildings with gondolas notwithstanding, Land in this area is not cheap but the continues legal fights of these types of groups make it unnapealing to those looking to make a go of it.
Time to move to Mayberry if you want obstruct progress and live where time stands still.

Pete (Former resident of Portland)

Mary of Portland, ME
Oct 18, 2006 7:42 AM
Thank you very much, wish you had been at the meetgins held about five years ago when a group of Munjoy Hill residents were opposing the monsterous housing complex built on the cities reservoir (North and Walnut). You've hit the nail on the head, question is when will the city council/planner wake up, Portland's busting at the seams, I can't breath!
 
Well said, Patrick.

I don't think there's much to preserve in that neighborhood. Development to connect downtown with munjoy hill would be good for most everyone.
 
From thebollard.com


Suspicion and concern grow over State Pier development
Potential developers get until Feb. 22 to craft proposals

By Chris Busby

Portland officials hope the Maine State Pier will be the site of a world-class development project by the end of this decade, but developers of the world will have less than four months to craft proposals for such a project.

That short timeframe has raised concerns the publicly owned pier will not attract a wide range of plans from private developers, who will need to do extensive (and expensive) work to put a viable proposal together for the complex waterfront property.

It?s also raised suspicions that city officials are tailoring the proposal process to fit the needs of Ocean Properties, a national hotel and resort development and management company with personal and political ties to city and state officials.

As The Bollard reported last spring, Ocean Properties executive Bob Baldacci (brother of Gov. John Baldacci) and former Portland City Councilor and Mayor Peter O?Donnell (an employee of the state Department of Economic and Community Development) were pitching Ocean Properties? plans for the pier in private, one-on-one meetings with city councilors nearly a year ago. [See ?Ex-mayor, Gov?s brother push waterfront hotel project.?]

As late as last month, O?Donnell was bending the ear of City Council candidates, trying to gain support for the latest incarnation of Ocean Properties? plans.

Last spring, city councilors who agreed to meet with O?Donnell and Baldacci said plans called for a luxury hotel on the pier. The Bollard subsequently viewed an architectural sketch drawn up for the company that showed a seven or eight?story hotel, a cruise ship terminal, and space for retail shops and a museum on the pier.

When city councilors and planning staff drafted new zoning for the area this past summer, they initially proposed allowing a hotel to be built on the pier, a suggestion that provoked the threat of a citizen-initiated ?people?s veto.? A citizen-initiated referendum in the late ?80s banned hotel and condominium development on the water-side of Commercial Street.

Councilors subsequently amended the zoning to allow hotel and office development on land at the foot of the pier, rather than on the pier itself.

Ocean Properties? plans seem to have changed accordingly, and now call for a hotel and parking on land at the foot of the pier, said Kirk Goodhue, a real estate broker running for the City Council seat representing District 1, which includes the pier. According to Goodhue, O?Donnell told him last month that Ocean Properties has been in discussions with prominent Portland restaurateur Dana Street and owners of the Rosemont Market and Bakery to occupy retail space on the pier.

O?Donnell refuses to speak to The Bollard, and requested last spring that this publication never attempt to reach him for comment again. Neither Street nor bakery owner John Naylor returned calls seeking comment.

Bob Baldacci said Ocean Properties is still reviewing the draft RFP. ?We haven?t made a decision on our proposal, to be quite frank,? he said. ?We?re still assessing it.?

Timing is everything

Having changed the zoning at the Maine State Pier, the City Council directed its three-member Community Development Committee (CDC) to work with city staff to craft a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop the property. Last week, the CDC held a meeting to finalize the RFP and get public input on it before it's advertised.

Committee members Jim Cloutier, Nick Mavodones and Jill Duson spent a considerable amount of time discussing whether Compass Park, the public park next to the pier, should be included in the request for development plans. The committee ultimately decided to add language in the RFP suggesting the park can be developed for private use ? though developers would be encouraged to provide an equal or greater amount of public space elsewhere in the pier?s vicinity should they propose to do that.

Aside from a few other technical changes, the main issue was the length of time developers will have to submit their proposals.

Former Portland City Councilor and Mayor Anne Pringle said she kept a tally of those who spoke at the CDC meeting, and noted that of 14 speakers, eight urged the committee to allow more than three or four months for proposals, and two supported a shorter timeframe.

Those two were Ron Ward, an attorney representing Ocean Properties, and Chris O?Neil, a former state legislator working as the Portland Community Chamber of Commerce?s ?liason? to city officials on this issue. Both Ward and O?Neil work for the Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon; Ward is also an active member of the Portland Community Chamber.

Among those urging a more protracted process was Nicholas ?Nico? Walsh, an attorney representing The Olympia Companies, local developers of several area hotels and commercial properties ? including the Hilton Garden Inn, located diagonally across the street from the pier. Olympia President and CEO Kevin Mahaney also spoke in favor of a longer bid window, as did former Portland Planning Board member John Anton, who initially led calls for the ?people?s veto,? but is now, like Olympia, considering crafting a proposal to develop the pier.

Walsh gave the committee a timeline that suggested developers be given at least nine months to put a proposal together. He said the complexity of the site and the multitude of regulatory hurdles a developer would have to negotiate to build on the waterfront necessitate the longer timeframe.

?It can take 30 days for developers to even know about [the RFP],? Walsh told the committee.

Duson was inclined to support a six-month bid process. Mavodones said he supported giving developers no more than four months, and ?could live with 90 days.? Cloutier noted that some councilors expected a 30-day process, and personally advocated for 90 days.

Cloutier said it could take a full year after bids are in before construction begins, and cited the possibility an economic recession could hit the nation in 2008, negatively impacting a project in the planning or construction phase. Echoing comments made by Ward and O?Neil, Cloutier said in a subsequent interview that longer timeframes increase the risk a project will fall apart due to changing financial conditions.

A ?wired deal??

Several people at the CDC?s Oct. 11 meeting mentioned the fact Ocean Properties has already been working on plans for the site, and suggested the shorter bid process gives them an advantage over competing developers.

?They?ve already got a leg up,? Pringle said that evening. There will be ?a fairness issue,? she added, if the bid process is not longer than three or four months.

In a subsequent interview, Pringle said she was ?very surprised? the CDC set the Feb. 22 deadline after hearing a majority of those present at the meeting advocate for more time. ?If, in the end, Ocean Properties is selected because they are better prepared to respond to a short RFP, it raises issues,? Pringle said. ?Is it really a level playing field for other developers who may have an interest? The city needs to be sensitive to that.?

Anton was more blunt. ?I went into [the Oct. 11 CDC meeting] a lot less suspicious this is a wired deal for Ocean Properties than when I left,? he said. ?The whole thing smells.?

City officials are hoping lease revenue will help pay for repairs to the pier, which could cost upwards of $15 million or more. Anton said a longer bid process would generate more proposals, and thereby put the city in a better position to get a good financial deal.

City Councilor Cheryl Leeman agreed, saying a longer process is necessary to attract more bids and ultimately get a deal ?in the best interest [of]? the taxpayers in Portland.?

Councilor Will Gorham, a real estate broker whose council district includes the pier, said he feels the bid process should be four-to-six months long. The two candidates challenging him for his council seat this fall agree that a three-and-a-half-month process is not long enough.

Challenger Kevin Donoghue, a close observer of city planning matters, supports a nine-month bidding window, given that Ocean Properties ?has already been working on it for a year.?

?Three or four months is way too short for anybody to realistically come up with a plan ? unless, of course, somebody already had nine months to work on it,? said Goodhue, Gorham?s other challenger.

Former Planning Board member Cyrus Hagge, a building contractor running for the District 2 Council seat this fall, also said the bidding process should be longer. ?It?s a very complicated project [the city is] proposing, and in order to have a good, national competition, you need to have more time,? Hagge said. With a Feb. 22 deadline, ?your proposals are going to be very sketchy,? he added.

Developer Drew Swenson, part of the team selected through an RFP process to develop land near the pier, agreed, saying more time would be necessary to put together a ?quality? proposal that meets the city?s expectations for the pier, which he called ?the linchpin? of development on the eastern waterfront.

Swenson?s development team is busy preparing to build a parking garage, office tower, condominiums and townhouses in the area, but has considered submitting a proposal for the pier, he said.

In an interview after the meeting, Cloutier defended the CDC?s Feb. 22 deadline. He said he got a call after the meeting from ?one of the biggest developers in the United States,? whom he declined to name, and said that developer was satisfied the Feb. 22 deadline provides a ?reasonable? amount of time to submit a proposal.

Of the differing views expressed at the CDC?s Oct. 11 meeting, Cloutier said, ?What we witnessed was some pushing and shoving between Olympia, which wanted to put Ocean Properties at a distinct disadvantage, and Ocean Properties, which wanted to put Olympia at a distinct disadvantage.?

Cloutier?s committee left open the possibility the deadline could be extended if developers call the city and request more time. He also said the committee expects developers to submit ?concept? plans, rather than highly detailed proposals.

City Finance Department staffer Ellen Sanborn said small ads announcing the RFP will run in a few newspapers beginning late this month and in early November. Those publications will likely include the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. An ad may also be placed in The Journal of Commerce, a marine trade publication that covers the shipping industry. Sanborn said she hopes ?word of mouth? among developers will also help spread news of this development opportunity.
 
1. successful developments are ALWAYS, private public partnerships....as in one-on-one private meeting staking place between city officials and developers etc....nothing gets done through a totally democratic process....not even government.

2. the Bollard has got to be kiding if they mean to imply that the city of portland would not choose a better proposal than ocean properties ltd (should one come in) just because these "private meetings: have been taking place.

3. a seven story hotel is not "world-class" by any definition.....well, at least not in my mind. Maybe something 10 stories at the very least would be considered world class if done right.


4. has anyone seen, on the opposite side of town, walker terrace lately? man those side accent lights they installed look great!
 
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