General Portland Discussion

Reading the article, those particular towers are apparently asbestos death traps. I don't know why they're more deadly than any other older apartment buildings with asbestos in them; AFAIK the stuff is considered safe as long as it's sealed up and intact. Perhaps whoever the low bidder who built the towers was didn't do the job properly.
 
Reading the article, those particular towers are apparently asbestos death traps. I don't know why they're more deadly than any other older apartment buildings with asbestos in them; AFAIK the stuff is considered safe as long as it's sealed up and intact. Perhaps whoever the low bidder who built the towers was didn't do the job properly.
Placing the homeless (or anyone) in a condemned building with asbestos would be a P.R. disaster. I'm guessing the PPH posted the photo expecting some controversy so that they could "sell more newspapers." It's de facto shoddy reporting. I think homelessness and people in need of housing (asylum seekers) has become the new normal, or now that Portland is talked about as the place to go. I've said this before, that bringing together a few of Portland's top architects to discuss creative ideas to address this serious and pressing problem is a good start. A few years ago, Kaplan Thompson built the Friends school in Yarmouth in the Passivhaus style, and it has won not only design awards, but the Going Green feel-goods too. The cost of that school was only $4 million. What is the usual or today's projected cost to build a school? $30 million or more? Give a good architect a problem, and he/she will fix it. It's what they do. The housing should also have a business attached, one that can employ people part time with minimal skills and the city and state and Uncle Sam should mandate an exemption for asylum seekers so that they can also work here. Otherwise, people without a daily school or work structure often turn to drug use and consequently, crime (to feed the habit). The city needs to wake up and be proactive, instead of reactive.
 
The housing should also have a business attached, one that can employ people part time with minimal skills and the city and state and Uncle Sam should mandate an exemption for asylum seekers so that they can also work here. Otherwise, people without a daily school or work structure often turn to drug use and consequently, crime (to feed the habit). The city needs to wake up and be proactive, instead of reactive.
Totally agree. Portland needs its own Pine Street Inn organization like Boston.
 
Placing the homeless (or anyone) in a condemned building with asbestos would be a P.R. disaster. I'm guessing the PPH posted the photo expecting some controversy so that they could "sell more newspapers." It's de facto shoddy reporting. I think homelessness and people in need of housing (asylum seekers) has become the new normal, or now that Portland is talked about as the place to go. I've said this before, that bringing together a few of Portland's top architects to discuss creative ideas to address this serious and pressing problem is a good start. A few years ago, Kaplan Thompson built the Friends school in Yarmouth in the Passivhaus style, and it has won not only design awards, but the Going Green feel-goods too. The cost of that school was only $4 million. What is the usual or today's projected cost to build a school? $30 million or more? Give a good architect a problem, and he/she will fix it. It's what they do. The housing should also have a business attached, one that can employ people part time with minimal skills and the city and state and Uncle Sam should mandate an exemption for asylum seekers so that they can also work here. Otherwise, people without a daily school or work structure often turn to drug use and consequently, crime (to feed the habit). The city needs to wake up and be proactive, instead of reactive.
The issue with building residential with attached commercial (where you are expecting the renters to work) is that it isolates them from the rest of the community and they fail at integration into society. It's no better than the Jewish ghettos of Europe and elsewhere.
 
I am not sure that the particular individuals who have received dozens of Narcan revivals and/or have been publicly copulating in doorways are interested in reintegration into society. I think some of them may have already decided that their particular "rock bottom" will be six feet below ground level.
 
From the NYT Mag yesterday:

Imagine a Renters’ Utopia. It Might Look Like Vienna.
Soaring real estate markets have created a worldwide housing crisis. What can we learn from a city that has largely avoided it?
Yes, good article. Better architecture, or the kind that prioritizes the user experience rather than aesthetics, can work wonders for a city in regards to public housing. The worst example would the housing projects in American cities built in the 60s and 70s. I could write a thesis on what went wrong with that.
 
Yes, good article. Better architecture, or the kind that prioritizes the user experience rather than aesthetics, can work wonders for a city in regards to public housing. The worst example would the housing projects in American cities built in the 60s and 70s. I could write a thesis on what went wrong with that.
Aesthetics IS part of the user experience. They are inseparable. Aesthetically pleasing architecture = positive user experience.
 
It looks like the current plan is for the Galt Block (29 Commercial St) to become a 58 room hotel + retail. I remember there was discussion (and maybe even an HP meeting) on adding a dormer, but I thought they were talking residential. Oh well, what's one more hotel.
 
It looks like the current plan is for the Galt Block (29 Commercial St) to become a 58 room hotel + retail. I remember there was discussion (and maybe even an HP meeting) on adding a dormer, but I thought they were talking residential. Oh well, what's one more hotel.
Correction (and I was there when Auto Europe renovated it and moved in in 1996): it's 39 Commercial. I mentioned a dormer at the time (that fifth floor goes all the way up inside; it feels like a basketball gym), but AE wasn't the kind of place that needed a showcase conference room and there may have been HP considerations as well. (Considering that I still pray for the health of the guys from ServPro who went in and cleaned up 2 decades of shuttered-building-on-the-waterfront mess, I I can vouch that there hadn't been any preservation going on before we got in there.)
 
Correction (and I was there when Auto Europe renovated it and moved in in 1996): it's 39 Commercial.
CSS refers to it as 29 Commercial - whether correctly or incorrectly - for those interested in watching/digging in further.
 
It looks like the current plan is for the Galt Block (29 Commercial St) to become a 58 room hotel + retail. I remember there was discussion (and maybe even an HP meeting) on adding a dormer, but I thought they were talking residential. Oh well, what's one more hotel.
I'll be interested in seeing the floorplans for the hotel. There are certainly some architectural challenges posed by this building that you wouldn't expect seeing it from outside.
 
Maine Public Broadcasting bought the Galt Block and the lot next to it. My assumption is that to raise capital to build the new building, was to sell the Galt Block to Olympia Development. Ryan Senatore is the Architect on the project.
35 & 29 were also grouped together for a text amendment.
 
Maine Public Broadcasting bought the Galt Block and the lot next to it. My assumption is that to raise capital to build the new building, was to sell the Galt Block to Olympia Development. Ryan Senatore is the Architect on the project.
35 & 29 were also grouped together for a text amendment.
I'd love to see this project happen. Who wouldn't. But a *public* television station studio on the waterfront a block away from a building that sold a rooftop condo last year for $4.5 million? Anyone taking bets here?
 
One interesting tidbit from Portland's new revised ReCode draft is a new Downtown & Bayside height overlay map.

Some parcels have been quietly given fairly dramatic increased allowable height.
Under these recommendations, The Portland Square parcels would be zoned for up to 325 ft (A 20 ft. increase) and the "high spine" between Congress and Cumberland increased from 210 to 250 ft.

I'm not sure what prompted some of these changes, but I'm not complaining!

There are also some other changes related to dimensional standards for 125+ ft buildings within the ReCode draft.

The full draft dimensional standards document is here: https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...069257124/A7+Dimensional+Standards+062723.pdf

The new draft overlay map:
1688212281785.png


Vs. the 2021 Map

1688213002753.png
 
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Though I'm pleased to see the height being increased to 325' in certain areas, there are a few things that are a head scratcher for me. First, the Portland Square parcels have increased by 200' which would allow a 30 story tower to extend down to Fore Street minus the proposed set back. But Tim Soley's Canal Plaza parcel is still limited to only 125'. The shift to allow much taller buildings in the lower elevation portions of downtown than what are allowed on the Congress Street spine (250') is also a surprise and I'm fine with it. The 40 foot increase for the former Lincoln Square property is great and will allow for a few extra floors (22) which is a financial win for any potential developer. If this height plan is approved, it may sent the Portland Square developer back to the drawing board for a much taller project with a transition from office to residential and condo usage. Am very pleased to see the Temple Street garage parcel increased to 250' which will hopefully lead to it's eventual demolition and open that area up to an exciting new project in the center of downtown!
 
Of course, I'd like to see the Lincoln Square area added to the 325' zone, rather than just Portland Square and the few blocks in the heart of Monument Square. Does the new plan include any allowance or encouragement for rooftop architectural features like the previous map did?
 
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I am always amused by how quiet this forum is on days when people typically aren't working :) .

From someone whose 6xgreat-grandfather's nephew lost his home on King St. thanks to the bombing by Capt. Mowatt, Happy Independence Day!
 
I am always amused by how quiet this forum is on days when people typically aren't working :) .

From someone whose 6xgreat-grandfather's nephew lost his home on King St. thanks to the bombing by Capt. Mowatt, Happy Independence Day!
We are getting the food ready for the grills.
 

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