Eastern Waterfront

Yep, restaurant. And the roof decks are enclosed, not the whole roof. The islands you see are the only decks. You can't walk on the whole roof. I personally wouldn't pay over half a million to live there, but I wonder if others will.
 
Not too "affordable". And wait until the prospective buyers hear the traffic on the arterial. Be just like living next to the "pike".
 
John_French said:
And wait until the prospective buyers hear the traffic on the arterial. Be just like living next to the "pike".
Click to expand...

On that section of Franklin? Hardly. I've found traffic to be slower and almost negligable on the Commerical Street to Congress Street stretch, especially when compared to the Congress Street to Marginal Way stretch. It definitely won't be anything close to living near the "pike", where you have tractor trailers rumbling by at 75 mph and hitting their jake-brakes.
 
****Munjoy Hill News is reporting some changes to planned projects around the india st neighborhood



India Street Real Estate Values Increasing Causing Changes; Sussman’s Newberry Lofts Condominiums Abandoned
Posted on January 15, 2013
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Tom Federle, Esq., at His Office Today; Behind Him(L) is a Photo of Daughter, Lee, 10 years old and Son, Quinn, 7 years old.

By Carol McCracken* (Post # 1,269)

Real estate values in the India Street neighborhood are rapidly rising which has caused a shift in plans for prospective developers in the area according to*real estate professionals*familiar*with the area.* Some developers, not all, are seeing the increased value of the area and taking advantage of the opportunity to make money.

One of the more*surprising changes in the India Street neighborhood is the recent decision of S.*Donald Sussman, billionaire hedge fund owner, *to vacate his plans to build market rate condominiums on Newberry Street.* “He’s taking a step back and re-evaluating the situation,” said Tom Federle, Esq., his real estate attorney this afternoon at his office.* “Donald wasn’t convinced that* we’ve come up with the best project for this space at this time.” (The area of Newberry Street and Hampshire Street.)* Currently, Sussman owns five properties; three have tenants and*two are vacant.*It’s about doing what is* most impactful for the city, ” Federle said. Apparently Sussman is open to ideas, but there are no guarantees for the future of this section of the East End.

Some residents and business owners in the India Street corridor*are concerned about the future of the*neighborhood and are writing a letter to Mr. Sussman about their concerns. (S. Donald Sussman is the husband of US Rep. Chellie Pingree and a majority stockholder in the “Portland Press Herald.”)

Because of the rise in values in real estate, some developers have begun to rethink what they have begun.* Opechee Construction, N.H. completed Phase 1 of their development with a luxurious Hampton Inn in it.* Last fall plans for constructing condominiums and office space on Phase* 2 of the development fell through.* Earlier this year, Opechee sold the property to Hospitalityh REIT, an investment company, not developers, for between $24 M and $28 M.* The site is the former location of Jordan’s Meat Co.

Finally, Maine Charities has purchased the Rite-Aid mall which faces on Congress Street.** It’s expected to be an income producing property.
 
Phase 2 of the Jordan's site is the only project I was looking forward to. Thought it was a great addition to the remainder of that parcel. At least the Bay House project is underway which will add some new residents and fill in one of the vacant lots in the area.
 
Was there an official announcement that phase 2 was cancelled? This is the first ive heard of it not going through.....previously, it was put on hold, but there was still a plan to go through....too bad, it would have been a great addition
 
Here's a link to that article on the Munjoy Hill News.

This is also the first I've heard of Phase II of the Jordan's site being cancelled. I think we all really liked that design so that is too bad it's off the table now. Someone, maybe it was Patrick, was hinting at an impressive tenant being lined up for the retail space on the first floor. Since it's not going to happen, maybe that information can be shared with us?

Also I am slightly disappointed that the Rite-Aid Strip Mall was bought by the neighbor across the street, Catholic Charities. It would have been nifty if a big-time developer bought the strip mall, tore it down, and built something more fitting for a piece of prime release estate in the heart of a city. I could be wrong, but I don't think Catholic Charities will be too aggressive in improving the property (if at all) or removing any of the parking that is conveniently used as overflow parking for the church.
 
Thankfully Sussman agrees that the site has more potential.

Remember phase ii of opechee is not canceled even if ownership changes. The project is fully approved and that will last for some time. So the new owner doesn't have to get it reapproved if they want to construct the same thing, which is a possibility. In fact many companies do just that, they buy property and secure entitlements ( rights to build ) and then sell it to a developer as a shovel ready parcel for more than they bought it at.

Word on the street is that this what federated is doing in bayside. They may build phase I as required by the fed grant for the parking garage ( unless I'm mistaken, and I very well could be ) but don't be surprised it phase ii is sold as permitted but not constructed. The company has a history of flipping property and has even done it in bayside already. This doesn't make it bad just business savvy. Notice how the company is asking for more buildable area in terms of height increase and avoiding step back requirements on upper floors. That will increase the price of land once sold if nothing is built. At the same time it doesn't commit them to build that big if they do construct phase ii. This is pure speculation about what might happen and nothing more but it explains what might have gone on in India street too.

A REIT for those who don't know is a real estate investment trust and holds the property for the benefit of someone or something else. Here the REIT is a hospitality one which means it is probably connected with a hotel. Hampton? Could even be owned by the same people as opechee (not saying it is but could be). So the project could go forward at some point next fall and all depends on market conditions. Ownership changes don't mean much.
 
I'd heard these same rumors. I'm glad that Sussman is re-evaluating, but bummed that Jordan's Phase II seems to be scratched (their marketing website, 40indiastreet.com, has been taken down, and a quick search on Trulia or other RE search sites shows that the listings have been removed).

Also bummed that the Catholics are increasing their footprint. The church has been bleeding money and selling off property in most circumstances due to massive court settlements for child abuse, so having them buy a new parking lot downtown comes as a surprise. In this particular case, I wouldn't be opposed to having the city start talking about eminent domain for that blighted property.

In better news, the city is about to sign a contract with consultants to start on the Franklin Street final design study. This will actually be design-build for the 2 blocks closest to 295, from Marginal Way to Somerset, and it will give the city and developers a final "shovel ready" plan for the rest of the street. That ought to remove a lot of uncertainty for Sussman and other Franklin-adjacent landowners, and open up a lot of land for redevelopment.
 
An update on the rivetwalk project area...sounds like the area is going to be opened up for
Development...but not the riverwalk project it seems.





Parties agree to settle dispute over stalled Portland development

PORTLAND – A five-year legal battle over ownership of a partially completed downtown development project appears to be over, according to court documents.
Partners in the Riverwalk development, a $100 million project to build a parking garage, luxury condominiums, an office building and retail space within two blocks bounded by India, Thames, Hancock and Middle streets have been tangled in a lawsuit since 2008. The Ocean Gateway Garage was built, but the rest of the project remains undeveloped.
Parties in the lawsuit have agreed to settle the case, according to a document filed Feb. 28 in Cumberland County Superior Court. However, the parties are currently working out the settlement details and would not comment on the case Friday.
The settlement, once finalized, will open up the long-dormant parcel for development, said Greg Mitchell, the city's economic development director.
"The lawsuit has effectively kept that property off the market," Mitchell said. "Clarity of ownership with a willing seller at a realistic market price will allow for that property to be, I think, acquired and developed in the near term."
The Riverwalk project was once envisioned to be an economic catalyst on the eastern waterfront.
The project would have included 125 luxury condominiums, called The Watermark, on what is now a dirt-covered parcel at the intersection of Fore, Hancock and Thames streets. The project also would have included a five-story office building next to the garage at India and Fore streets, as well as 30,000 square feet of retail shops.
The city agreed to sell the developers an acre of land at the extensions of Commercial and Hancock streets in 2005. It also gave the developers an estimated $5 million property tax break over 13 years.
The project was approved by the Planning Board in 2006. But only the six-story, 750-vehicle parking garage at Middle and Hancock streets was built, which frustrated neighbors. The garage opened just as the real estate market tanked in 2008, and the rest of the project never moved forward.
Hugh Nazor, a co-founder of the India Street Neighborhood Association, recently called the garage "the largest mistake made on the peninsula in decades," because it is under-utilized and blocks ocean views.
Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., of Boston, agreed to finance the $20 million garage in 2007.
After the garage was finished 2008, the dispute over ownership emerged.
Fred Forsley, owner of Shipyard Brewing Co. and a partner in Riverwalk, filed the lawsuit against his Riverwalk partner, Drew Swenson, and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.
In the lawsuit, Forsley claimed ownership of the parking garage. But Swenson and Paul Nasser, Intercontinental's chief financial officer, claimed a subsequent agreement changed the terms.
The memo conveys 95 percent of Riverwalk's assets to Intercontinental and gives the Boston firm 50 percent ownership of the parking garage. Forsley claimed he never authorized the action outlined in the memo.
Neither Forsley nor Swenson would comment on the settlement being drafted.
Although the details are still not known, Mitchell said the resolution to the lawsuit could jump-start development on the eastern waterfront.
"And resolving the ownership and the ability for that property to be sold and redeveloped would in my opinion allow for more development activity on Portland's East End," Mitchell said.
*
 
Good. What has happened in that neighborhood since 2007 or so has really been interesting. First there was the plan in 2004 or so, then the zoning changed, and in 2005 the big development proposals began to come in. Some materialized, but in different forms than proposed, and most fell through or remained stagnant like this property. The one exception is the garage, which was built as planned. The interesting thing is that, in the meantime, the neighborhood has, despite the recession, developed sort of along the lines of the Old Port (re-use) and become an "undiscovered gem" in Portland (that's really overly discovered, but that's the vibe one gets when they're there...sort of like independent music that goes commercial). I was watching an episode of Portlandia where these cartoon rats were looking for a new neighborhood and were citing the presence of industrial uses nearby and the fact that there was undiscovered Indian food restaurant around the corners as the urban edge that made a particular alley-neighborhood "cool" in their eyes (clearly making fun of yuppies/hipsters), but the most funny part was when they were trying to "name" the neighborhood. People have tried to name the India Street neighborhood (Sussman's team). The rats concluded the fact that it was unnamed made it even more mysterious and therefore unique and therefore cool. Is that the area surrounding India? Who knows. Anyway, I've heard some murmurings about this piece being freed up recently (dating back to the Monsour talks), but it has been increasing in frequency lately, and now I know why. The one thing I wish the "new" people in the neighborhood would realize when complaining about that garage is that, as the article points out, it was the center piece to a large planned development. It would still be a garage, in either case, but in the fully developed plans it would make sense. Now it doesn't. And it's ugly and sticks out. But, people complain about lost views etc. without realizing that, before the garage was built, there were really no residents in the area that cared about views. It was just a rundown working class or in some cases abandoned neighborhood. It's not really worth arguing this to anyone, because peoples' minds seem to be set, but this is how I see it. And, for the record, view protection, like parking on-street which is another frequent but illogical concern of NIMBYs, is arguably not a subject matter proper for any sort of discussion on zoning, unless those to benefit pay for it. Also, three story buildings block views just as effectively as ten story buildings.

Now we have an active neighborhood group (formed by a consultant I counseled, I'll add), developers who want to maximize return, local advocates who want to limit building heights, the City which was to start a potential form-based-code planning exercise (even though it just completed a plan for the only developable areas in the neighborhood, leaving the top of the street, which is built out, unplanned for because there is no development opportunity there which does not entail demolition), and most recently Sustain Southern Maine has entered the fray. The undiscovered gem has not only been discovered, it's almost annoying how often this area is discussed and/or competed over. It is one of my favorite neighborhoods, if not my favorite, in the City, though. Lots of cool stuff going on and whatever goes here will improve it. The funny thing will be if the ISNA says "we need to plan for the Riverwalk Site (which is the Intercontinental site) proactively before a major development comes in" because, if they cared to look, the plans have been done already, as based on more than 15 public workshops, attended by hundreds of members of the public (see the City's public input process documents, available from planning). But, that's what ISNA will say, I think.
 
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The pressherald ran another story regarding the Portland Co. land deal....here it is.



Sale could spur major redevelopment on Portland waterfront
By Kelley Bouchard
Staff Writer

PORTLAND — Redevelopment of the Portland Company Marine Complex is likely years away, but city officials, neighbors and others are already weighing the potential of the prime waterfront property, including opportunities for business, housing and historic preservation.
CPB2, a Yarmouth-based development company, bought the 10-acre property on Fore Street last week from its longtime owner, Phineas Sprague Jr., triggering a series of land deals that could transform Portland's waterfront over the next several years.
CPB2 principals Jim Brady and Casey Prentice said they have no immediate plans for the sprawling industrial complex, which dates to the mid-1800s, but intend to redevelop it according to the city's Eastern Waterfront Master Plan.
City Councilor Cheryl Leeman was mayor when she appointed the committee that developed the plan more than a decade ago. The plan has been updated twice since then, most recently in 2006.
"It took a 32-member committee and lots of controversy to develop that plan, so it's nice to see this happening with the Portland Company property," Leeman said Monday. "It provides momentum for future development. It's the final piece of the puzzle."
CPB2 includes Brady, a Yarmouth resident who is redeveloping the former headquarters of the Portland Press Herald; the Prentice Organization of Yarmouth, a real estate holding company led by Prentice, who owns and manages the Chebeague Island Inn; and his father, Dick Prentice, a partner in the Portland law firm Pierce Atwood.
There are two minority partners, including a Boston-area investor, Brady said.
The Portland Company complex, with 1,000 feet of deep-water ocean frontage, is at the base of Munjoy Hill on the eastern waterfront. It now houses several businesses and nonprofits, including Portland Yacht Services, the Maine Island Trail Association and the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum.
Sprague, who sold the complex, plans to develop a boatyard up the Fore River on land on West Commercial Street that he bought last week from Pan Am Railways.
Sprague said he will remain the "master tenant" at the complex, which will continue to host boat and flower shows each year for at least the next couple of years. The new owners plan to upgrade the 128-slip marina at the complex, but Sprague will continue to run it.
The nonprofit that operates the railroad and museum has been planning to move, but Sprague said he hopes it will decide to stay.
Brady and Casey Prentice said they met recently with city officials to learn how zoning ordinances apply to the waterfront complex and express their willingness to collaborate with the city. They would not reveal the price of the property and said it is too early to discuss plans.
"We would envision mixed-use development in keeping with the city's master plan for the eastern waterfront," Brady said. "We do think there are some unique historical and architectural attributes of the property that may be preserved."
The Portland Company was founded in 1845 primarily to build steam locomotives for the new Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, which had a terminal nearby. It operated until 1982, producing locomotives and railroad cars, marine engines, ships, elevators, paper and textile mill equipment and other cast-metal items.
The master plan describes the complex as an early manufacturing center with "several large brick-and-granite buildings of architectural significance," and notes that the Maine Historic Preservation Commission identified the property in 1976 as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
The plan recognizes that the site is highly developed and needs significant structural and cosmetic repair. It encourages "the adaptive reuse and sensitive rehabilitation of historic structures."
"The city stands behind its plan," said Deb Andrews, manager of the city's historic preservation program. "We'd like to maximize the preservation potential of that property. It's a good development team with significant background in historic preservation projects that marry modern and historic aspects of development."
If the old buildings were preserved, Andrews said, the developers would be eligible for state and federal historic preservation tax credits, which Brady is seeking for his plan to convert the former Press Herald building on Congress Street into a boutique hotel.
The Portland Company site is in a Waterfront Special Use Zone, "which allows and encourages active water-dependent uses and discourages uses that are incompatible with surrounding marine, residential and park uses," according to the master plan.
Planning officials are reviewing zoning regulations to determine how they might apply to the site, but it appears that it would be difficult to develop nonmarine uses such as housing or a hotel without a zoning change, said Jeff Levine, planning director.
The business community was abuzz Monday about the potential for the Portland Company site, said Portland Chamber CEO Chris Hall.
"This is a great step forward," Hall said. "It frees up potential for a whole bunch of development opportunities on the waterfront."
Hall described the Portland Company site as the next test of whether the city truly supports development.
"It should be a facilitated process for people who bring development proposals forward," Hall said. "It should be careful but fair and expeditious. And that doesn't mean easy or lax."
City Councilor Nicholas Mavodones Jr. has worked on the waterfront since the 1970s, starting as a teenager and now as operations manager for Casco Bay Lines. He predicted there will be great interest in whatever happens to the property.
"It's an incredible location, but whatever is developed there has to coexist with the surrounding waterfront," Mavodones said. "There will be a slew of interests weighing in on this, and in my experience, complex developments like this take time for a reason."
Neighbors likely will be concerned about preserving water views, developing affordable housing, increasing public access to the waterfront and expanding public transportation, said City Councilor Kevin Donoghue, who represents the district.
"Gentrification is a juggernaut issue on the East End," Donoghue said. "This is a very large property. If there's housing, the question is housing for whom and how much it will cost. It should be accessible for working families in Portland."
Marcos Miller moved to Atlantic Street 16 years ago and can look down on the Portland Company complex from his home on Munjoy Hill. Miller, a former president of the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization, said he hopes the new owners will preserve or expand waterfront access, and consider developing housing on the site.
He wouldn't object to a mix of other uses such as retail and offices. Miller also wants to see some of the historic buildings on the property preserved.
"I think people are a little excited but they are also holding their breath to see what happens," he said.
Joan Sheedy, who has lived on Munjoy Hill for nine years, said she was "thrilled to death" to hear that the property had been sold.
She has attended events over the years at the complex, including the annual flower show, and said the site has great potential. "It's a wonderful, huge parcel of land," she said.
Sheedy would like to see some type of housing on the site.
"We sure need more housing on the Hill," she said. "It's so crowded now."
-- Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this report.
Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
 
an article about the eastern waterfront....hopefully more to come from this area




Posted:Today
Updated: 6:24 AM

Developers try to restart Portland waterfront projects
By Randy Billings
Staff Writer

PORTLAND – Former partners in an ambitious $100 million mixed-use development that stalled on the eastern waterfront say they are moving forward separately with plans to sell and develop the parcels.
The movement comes after the former partners finally settled a lawsuit filed five years earlier over ownership of the Ocean Gateway Garage, halting progress on a proposed mixed-use development of luxury condos, office buildings and retail space.
The court-approved settlement gave Fred Forsley, president and co-owner of Shipyard Brewing Co., ownership of two parcels directly abutting the Ocean Gateway Garage, while Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. retained ownership of the garage and a 1.6-acre lot across Fore Street.
Forsley said he is working with Harborview Properties to find a developer to construct office buildings and/or residential condominiums on the two lots he owns.
He expects to list the properties in the coming weeks.
"I think the market is here for small office and residential," said Forsley, who indicated he is looking to be a partner in the development. "I really think there is a strong demand for residential (units) downtown."
Intercontinental, meanwhile, will likely sell the garage and the vacant lot to a developer within the next three to six months, said Paul Nasser, the company's chief operating and chief finance officer.
Previous planning approvals for more than 100 luxury condos have expired, he said.
"The good news is it seems the market in Portland has picked up," Nasser said. "We've had several inquiries on the property. There's a lot of good uses that can go on that property."
Forsley, Intercontinental and local developer Drew Swenson formed a partnership to build the Ocean Gateway parking garage, which was intended to serve a nearly two-acre mixed-use development that city officials hoped would be an economic catalyst for the eastern waterfront.
The project would have included 125 luxury condominiums, called The Watermark, on what is now a dirt-covered parcel at the intersection of Fore, Hancock and Thames streets. The project also would have included a five-story office building next to the garage at India and Fore streets, as well as 30,000 square feet for retail shops.
The project was approved by the Planning Board in 2006, but only the six-story, 750-vehicle parking garage at Middle and Hancock streets was built, which frustrated neighbors.
The garage opened just as the real estate market tanked in 2008, and the rest of the project never moved forward.
Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., of Boston, agreed to finance the $20 million garage in 2007.
The dispute over ownership emerged after the garage was finished 2008.
Forsley, a partner in Riverwalk LLC, filed the lawsuit against his Riverwalk partner, Drew Swenson, and Intercontinental.
In the lawsuit, Forsley claimed ownership of the garage. But Swenson and Nasser claimed a subsequent agreement changed the terms. That agreement conveyed 95 percent of Riverwalk's assets to Intercontinental and gave the Boston firm 50 percent ownership of the parking garage. Forsley claimed he never authorized the action outlined in the memo.
After years of legal wrangling, attorneys for Forsely and Nasser filed papers in Cumberland County Superior Court in February saying they would settle the case. An agreement was reached and the case was dismissed in May.
Neither Forsley nor Nasser would disclose details of the settlement beyond the land ownership. Swenson, who was also involved in the lawsuit, did not return calls this week seeking comment.
Forsley said the settlement gives him ownership of a 12,000-square-foot lot at the corner of Hancock and Middle streets and a 7,000-square-foot lot at the corner of India and Fore streets.
Brandon Mazer, general counsel for Shipyard Brewing Co., said the current zoning would allow for the construction of a 65-foot tall building.
Drafts of a real estate brochure show conceptual designs of a six-story building at Hancock and Middle, and five-story building at India and Fore.
Forsley said his property is now held by a newly formed company, East India Land Co. LLC.
Forsley said he expects to begin advertising the parcels in the next few weeks as being suitable for a small office building or residential condominiums, with first floor retail.
Nasser, meanwhile, said Intercontinental is now the sole owner of the parking garage and the 1.6 acre lot on Thames Street.
City zoning would allow a 65-foot-tall building at that location.
Attorney Paul Driscoll, who represented Intercontinental, said the company also retained an ownership interest, along with Gorham Savings Bank, in the old Grand Trunk building at the corner of India and Thames streets.
Driscoll said there were other terms of the settlement that he could not disclose.
"There are a lot of terms to that agreement," Driscoll said. "It was a long and involved process."
When the project was first pitched, the city agreed to sell the developers an acre of land at the extensions of Commercial and Hancock streets in 2005. It also gave the developers an estimated $5 million property tax break over 13 years.
City Economic Development Director Greg Mitchell said that tax agreement was given to a single corporate entity based on a specific development plan. Any attempts to modify that agreement would have to be reviewed and approved by the City Council, he said.
Mitchell said he is pleased an agreement had been reached clarifying ownership, which should clear the way for development on some well-positioned land near the waterfront.
"I have had some discussions regarding development interest in this property," Mitchell said.
 
grittys457 said:
Anybody know the timeframe of how long an approval lasts before you build? I'm guessing they've just forgot about this website but if they were to go through with the exact same proposal would it already be cleared?

http://www.thewatermarkportland.com/building.html
Click to expand...

It is different everywhere. It may be a year or two with Max 15 month extension. If I recall correctly. This project is probably not permissible. It's 6-7 years old. And I'm not even sure this was approved. Would have been pretty cool.
 
Starting the approval process (as a single project, as far as I can tell, on either side of the Ocean Gateway garage):

16 Middle Street, offices above ground floor retail

16-MIDDLE-ST-RENDERING.jpg


185 Fore Street, 6 residential units above ground floor retail:

185-FORE-ST-RENDERING.jpg
 
I like both of those; not only because they provide much needed in-fill around that garage, but also because the designs are way better than anything else new in that neighborhood. The designs seem much more in line with what was proposed for the 2nd phase of the Jordan Meats property.
 
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