Eastern Waterfront

On the city's website, they still have this rendering up for the village at oceangate. I cant believe some people thought 9 stories was too tall for the heart of the most urban area in the state. says a lot about our mentalilty here. there wasnt even much of an existing residential stock for there to be problems in a neighborhood about....just industrial space, mostly anyway. and the people that do live in that area strike me as temporary residents, in between places where they would rather live anyway.
maybe im wrong.
villageatoceangate.jpg


here si the very basic rendering they have for the longfellow:
longfellowatoceangateway.jpg


the city even still has the westin's (old) rendering up:
westindevelopment.jpg


There are currently millions of dollars in projects under review or construction on the City?s eastern waterfront. Ocean Gateway, which provided the initial incentive for much of the private development, is a 17,000 square foot passenger terminal that will welcome ferries and cruise ships from all over the world. Along with a transfer bridge to ferry vehicles from ship to shore and a refurbished 800-foot pier for ship docking, the project includes the extension of Commercial Street (the main thoroughfare adjacent to the wharves), and the construction of a new public street linking Fore Street to the new terminal. Ocean Gateway also incorporates open space and public access along the City?s waterfront. Construction is underway and completion is expected by the winter of 2008.

Phase two of Ocean Gateway will see the construction of a 1,000 foot long mega-ship birth, large enough to dock the Queen Mary II. The project design was led by Woodard & Curran of Portland, with architecture by the local firm of Winton Scott Architects along with BEA International, a nationally renowned design team. Reed and Reed of Woolwich, Maine is constructing the facility.

The Longfellow at Ocean Gateway is a $75 million development with 115 residential condominiums, 25,000 square feet of offices, close to 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail and a 750-car parking garage. The project has received its approvals and construction begins in the spring of 2007.

The Village at Ocean Gate is a proposed four building development that incorporates 176 residential condominiums above structured parking for 190 parking spaces as well as ground floor retail space for a 150-200 seat restaurant. The project, which fronts on Middle, Hancock and Newbury Streets, is going through the approval process. The architect is David White.

The Westin is a $100 million project that has been approved for a 250 room Westin Hotel, 750 seat conference facility, close to 100 residential condominiums, 370 parking spaces under the building, a restaurant and spa. The developer has placed the project up for sale.
 
I agree Patrick, this whole area is nuts.

I was at Starbucks near Target today and I saw the sketchiest dude ever. Was in there reading a book, stroking his chin, drinking a venti sized coffee. Looked like a terrorist if you ask me.
 
followers are sketchier than the followed my friend, why didnt you say hello? I was on my lunch break. I was having a rough day, kind of on a caffeine binge, too. Starbucks is the closest place to go.

seriously, why didnt you say something.
 
Probably because last time I did I thought you were going to throw me through the window for knowing who you were. You looked pretty into that book, didn't want to bother you.
 
nah, I would always rather talk to a live person than read something someone wrote about other people. I have a very stressful life at times, and reading is how I cope with it. its the only way i know how to sort things through. but please, feel free to say whats up whenever you see me. when you introduced yourself as dominic the first time i met you, i had to think for a minute. jeesh man you should have said you were gritty's. ha
 
No. It was challeneged by another developer who said it would block his project's views and so now it is only like 5-6 floors at the tallest, and maybe even shorter than that by the time it gets built. It is also offering fewer units now (something like 175 instead of 250 like was originally planned). Too bad, too, because this was a really massive project.
 
Im not sure. a couple of months ago on the portland new construction thread I posted smoe new pics of it (or someone did) but they were very crappy looking and I think the project has changed again since then. Who knows, but its nothing special, and a waste of land. WHats up in NH these days development-wise?
 
those condos are still going up near the ballpark. the granite street bridge is being reconstructed and the highway pass over it. Also they are completing the highway exit at this location. This is all in the middle of downtown. Its like Boston's big dig except this one is in Manchester. The traffic is aweful but it will look nice when its finished because they are supposed to be adding a new park over there. NHCTC-M is getting an extension and there are talks of UNH-M expanding as well. Also I heard that they are supposed to be opening up a new MPD precinct on the west side of Manch. These prolly more things but I've been out of the whole urban thang for a bit.
 
Yeah I saw the granite street widening project when I was there a month or so ago...looks intense. West manchester could use a pd precinct, from the sounds of it. I cant imagine if downtown portland had all that road work being done, because how it is so old looking with narrow streets etc...and its practically an island....so it is a totally different feeling frommanchester. i dont think that many people go downtown portland...imean a lot do, but i think there are just as many at, say, the mall....its more spread out. downtown manchester seems to have a lot of potential.


On a portland note, there is a story in todays forecaster abotu the new 180 room hotel marriot, which will be triangular, five stories, and have valet parking that sweeps inside the building....and a glass tower on one corner. guess which parts the planning board didnt like? the valet inlet and the glass tower. the two coolest parts. also, the longfellow, which looked so perfect the way it was designed, is being criticized by the planning board and historic preservation board as being too ornate. What the heck does that mean, they dont like it because ti looks too "good"? that makes no sense. it was such a cool design. now the developer is saying they are changing the exterior design to make it elegant but more simple looking. that is stupid. i thought the city really had a vision for this part of town, and now they are wasting time and space and valuable opportunity and ruining the city's look. Ill post the story if i find it online.
 
Development plans advance, evolve on Eastern Waterfront
By Kate Bucklin (published: March 15, 2007)
PORTLAND ? Plans to build a 180-room hotel next to Shipyard Brewing Co. are advancing and could win approval next month.

Meanwhile, developers of the already approved Riverwalk condominium and retail project want to add more units and change the exterior design of the building, along with adding a few dozen below-ground parking spots.

The Planning Board met with representatives of Summit Hotel Properties and Norwich Partners in a workshop Tuesday to discuss the proposed extended-stay hotel the two development companies want to build on the corner of Fore Street and the planned extension of Hancock Street. The developer would contract with Riverwalk developers for 145 parking spaces at the soon-to-be-built Longfellow parking garage.

The hotel proposal calls for a five-story, 130,000-square-foot triangular building with a center courtyard. Retail space is planned for the ground floor, along with hotel amenities including a gym, pool and meeting rooms.

The main entrance to the Residence Inn by Marriott would be at the corner of Fore and Hancock, although an entrance at the proposed valet drive would also act as a primary entrance.

Board members were most concerned with the valet parking service entrance designed to circle cars in and out of the hotel lobby entrance. The U-shaped drive would be built into the building, and some planners were concerned the design could impede pedestrian flow on the Fore Street side of the building.

Planning Board member Kevin Beal questioned the need for valet parking and specifically asked why the valet entrance was situated inside the building.

Ara Aftandilian of Summit Hotel Properties said the hotel needs to provide valet parking for guests, and pointed out that other hotels downtown had similar services. He also said guests have the option of parking in the nearby Longfellow garage themselves rather than using valet.

Aftandilian said architects designed the valet drop-off inside the building for safety reasons.

?Part of the need is to avoid having people U-turn on Fore Street,? he said, because most guests will enter Fore Street from Franklin Arterial, putting them on the opposite side of the road from the hotel.

Carry Marsh, an urban planner for the city, said she was concerned with some of the exterior design elements of the building, including a glass tower on one corner. Eastern Waterfront design guidelines could also come in to play, although whether to apply those guidelines was left unresolved.

The Planning Board asked developers to meet with city staff to discuss the valet entrance and design issues. Chairman Michael Patterson suggested if the developers were able to resolve those issues with staff in the next week or two, and provide further information on landscaping and location of retail space, the project could come back for a public hearing April 10. If issues remain, an additional workshop will be scheduled.

There is a neighborhood meeting scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. at the St. Lawrence Church to discuss plans for the hotel.

Riverwalk changes

Riverwalk was up for a public hearing and vote Tuesday night on some amendments to its Eastern Waterfront complex.

Longfellow garage, part of the $100 million project, recently received a foundation-only building permit and developer Drew Swenson said work is expected to begin in April. The garage plan also changed slightly, to allow retail space in the garage to be developed immediately. The city approved a marginal height increase to the garage so ramping inside the building can be adjusted.

The requested changes to the condominium building, to be constructed on the future Commercial Street extension, follow an enthusiastic endorsement by the Historic Preservation Board to alter some of the facade design. The board had been concerned some design elements were too ornate.

?We?ll keep it elegant but simplify it,? Swenson said.

The amendments also included increasing the number of condo units from 116 to 130 and adding 30 parking spaces underground, for a total of 105. The reconfiguration of some storage space made room for the additional parking, Swenson said.

Construction of Riverwalk could begin as soon as September.

Kate Bucklin can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 106 or kbucklin@theforecaster.net.
 
Maine State Pier talks coming up
(published: March 15, 2007)
PORTLAND ? The public has three chances next week to learn about and weigh in on proposals to redevelop the Maine State Pier.

Monday at noon the Portland Community Chamber of Commerce hosts a forum at the Merrill Auditorium to discuss the $90 million proposals from Olympia Companies and Ocean Properties. The event is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required. Contact the chamber at 772- 2811 for more information.

Later that day, Ocean Properties presents its proposal at the University of Southern Maine?s Abromson Center. The forum starts at 5:30 p.m. and will feature developer Tom Walsh and his partner in the project, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.

Finally, the Community Development Committee will discuss redevelopment of the Maine State Pier Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in Room 209 at City Hall.
 
"Being too ornate." That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. Talk about picky. :p

I would love to check out those meetings on Monday but I will be going back to Orono on Sunday. I really want to check some out this summer for sure.
 
March 27th planning board meeting

iii. Longfellow/ Riverwalk Amended Site Plan/ Subdivision; Vicinity of India and Fore Streets; Riverwalk, LLC., Applicant.
The Board voted 6-0 (Beal absent) to approve the subdivision subject to 2 conditions of approval and voted 6-0 (Beal absent) to approve the site plan subject to 1 condition of approval.
 
There is a big wrecking machine behind where the Riverwalk garage is being built and it has already taken out some buildings. Just noticed it today. Looks like they might be taking down the apartment building with the Breakaway in it any day now. That will look strange when that is gone. Show you how big that area is, where Riverwalk and the Village condos will be.
 
From www.thebollard.com

Pier proposal changes cause angst
Parking already a major issue

By Chris Busby

Mud isn't the only thing shifting around the pilings of the Maine State Pier. As a City Council committee gets to work evaluating the two mega-projects proposed for the public facility, one team's plan is changing while the other team cries foul and faces other changes that could challenge its plan's success.

Since the proposals were formally submitted on Feb. 22 [see "Mega-project proposals for State Pier unveiled"], Ocean Properties has adjusted its plan. Most significantly, the 300-car parking garage originally placed at the foot of the pier, west of a proposed hotel and restaurant, has been moved to the east of the hotel.

The relocation of this garage means views of the bay from the Hilton Garden Inn across the street would not be blocked by a four-story parking structure. But though the Hilton is owned and operated by the competing team, The Olympia Companies, Olympia is far from pleased with the move.

The extent to which the proposals can be changed while the Council's Community Development Committee (CDC) is evaluating them has become a matter of debate inside and outside the committee. Olympia believes the CDC should weigh the plans submitted in February, and has questioned the fairness and legality of allowing one team to make big adjustments at this stage.

Committee member Kevin Donoghue, whose district includes the pier, shares their concern. In fact, he's vowed not to consider amended versions of either team's plans. The new site plan showing the relocated garage "is not [Ocean Properties'] proposal; it's part of the sale of their proposal," he said. "Their proposal was handed in on February 22nd."

The CDC may vote to recommend one of the proposals to the City Council in the next few months. But if the plans keep changing in the meantime, the timing of that vote becomes "an extremely political decision to make," said Donoghue. Ocean Properties' changes are "borderline abusive to the sense of fair play," he said.

City Councilor Jim Cloutier, chairman of the three-member committee, is less concerned. He maintains that the formal Request for Proposals (or RFP) the city issued for the site last fall is what's known as a "concept RFP" ? a request for general redevelopment ideas, rather than concrete, immutable plans.

The Olympia team says it doesn't intend to alter its proposal during the CDC process, but its plan to provide parking is already in flux.

Both teams are proposing huge office buildings and hotels, restaurants and retail on the marine industrial site. But unlike Ocean Properties, Olympia isn't planning to build a parking garage on the waterfront property to serve this new development.

Instead, Olympia hopes to lease parking spaces in the Casco Bay Island Transit District (CBITD) Garage adjacent to the Casco Bay Lines ferry terminal, and in the Ocean Gateway Garage expected to be under construction soon two blocks away, at India and Fore streets. The company has earmarked $13 million of its project's $90 million-plus budget to acquire 440 parking spaces in the area.

The CBITD garage is half public, half private, and the private half just changed hands.

Mugar Enterprises, a Boston-based real estate development and management company, is buying the 215 spaces previously held by Maine real estate mogul Peter Quesada. The city has 204 spaces, but the public and privately held spaces are not delineated. "We run it as one garage," said city parking division manager John Peverada.

A spokesman for Olympia said the company had not yet discussed parking arrangements with Mugar, which also owns the Custom House Garage several blocks away.

The CBITD garage is routinely filled to capacity, especially during the summer, when islanders and seasonal visitors compete with Old Port shoppers for the spaces. If Olympia was able to reserve a significant number of spaces there specifically for its project, the parking needs of those displaced by this arrangement would have to be satisfied elsewhere.

Ground hasn't yet been broken to build the Ocean Gateway Garage, but its 720 spaces are filling up quickly with hypothetical vehicles.

This garage is part of the $100 million-plus Riverwalk project expected to rise just east of the Maine State Pier property. The garage is intended to serve users of the public Ocean Gateway cruise ship and ferry terminal now under construction, and to meet the needs of neighborhood residents, office workers and shoppers drawn to the area by Riverwalk's waterfront condominiums, office building and retail shops.

As part of the property-tax deal given to Riverwalk to build the garage, the city has rights to lease over 300 spaces, said Peverada.

The development team planning a 180-room, extended-stay hotel next to Shipyard Brewing Company is also hoping to lease spaces in this garage ? about 150, said Riverwalk developer Drew Swenson.

Swenson thinks both teams bidding to redevelop the Maine State Pier are low-balling their estimated parking needs. For example, Ocean Properties is proposing a 300-car garage, but Swenson believes it would take a 700-car garage to meet the demand.

Not that Swenson's hoping they'll make the one they've proposed even bigger. Swenson said he's "disappointed" Ocean Properties has moved its garage to the east of the proposed hotel. "We're building luxury condos," he said. "Nobody wants to look at a parking garage."

Indeed, as Swenson and others involved in planning the eastern waterfront point out, using waterfront land for parking is "the citizens' number one nightmare."

Perhaps the only thing more distasteful to the public than parking along the water's edge is parking over the water, on the pier itself.

Ocean Properties is catching heat for its plan to pave an 80-car surface parking lot on the pier. Olympia officials have been dishing out this same criticism, even though their plan would pave 50 spaces on the pier, next to the six-story hotel they hope to build on it.

Olympia contends the hotel and surface parking area would technically be on "land," because they intend to fill under the part of the pier beneath the hotel.

Ocean Properties principal Bob Baldacci maintains that his company's proposed parking lot "is not a parking lot."

"There's limited parking" there for businesses Ocean Properties plans to put on the pier's southern end, Baldacci conceded during the CDC's March 20 meeting. But he stressed that the lot will also be used for festivals and other public events.

The company's plans cite other possible uses for the pier-top parking lot. "Proposed parking could become future marine component (currently unanticipated) but vital to the city of Portland in the coming years," reads a note on page 114 of Ocean Properties' original proposal. Page 115 cites the same parcel as a "future opportunity for development."

In recent presentations, Olympia's representatives have raised the possibility of securing parking on the site of the shuttered Jordan's Meats plant a block north of the waterfront. Plans to build a towering hotel, condo and retail project on the site fell apart last fall, just as city officials were relaxing zoning at the public pier to allow similar types of private development.

A spokesman for one of the site's owners, the Rhode Island-based Procaccianti Group, told The Portland Forecaster last fall that the factory would be demolished to create additional surface parking while other development options, including the sale of the property, are explored.

A source on the Olympia team said Olympia has expressed interest in buying the Jordan's property, which the Procaccianti partnership picked up for $6 million in the fall of 2005. Olympia spokesperson Sasha Cook said the company is also interested in other sites, but declined to elaborate.


Chris Busby is editor and publisher of The Bollard. He can be reached at editor@thebollard.com.
 
Thank you for posting that article, very interesting changes on the horizon for that part of the city.

I think changes should be allowed. Just like competition between two supermarkets keeps prices low, competition between developers keeps designs good and amenities the plentiful.

What about underground parking? Is it so close to the water that it would be precluded by sealevel? I wonder. There is a lot fo vacant land in that neck of the woods; I would think someone would design a giant parking garage and make it look like a building somehow, with retail and shielded parking levels to look like a hotel or something. That could work.

I was at the Hilton on Friday night, and they charged $179/night for a room with a harbor view. I said forget it, I can look at the oil tanks in South portland for free anytime I want. I ended up staying at the Portland Harbor hotel instead, which I thought would have been more expensive, but it was only $129/night, plus $15 for parking. It has valet parking on the first level, and an outdoor garden and breakfast cafe area on the outside that makes you feel like youre not in the middle of a city. The hotel is for older people, I felt. nice though, very nice.

I spent all weekend trking across new england cities, from portland to boston to providence and through connecticut. Believe me when I say this, Maine has it made. traveling gives new meaning to the phrase "big city amenities, small town charm."
 
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