General Portland Discussion

I don't believe NNEPRA is going to build the new station; MaineDOT is taking the lead on the project, which I think means the station is going to be a government building. That being the case, tax-dollars-wise, the most cost-effective solution would be to renovate the existing Ferguson showroom and spend most of the money on the platforms and any track reconfiguration. And personally, I don't want to see the "urban fabric" enhanced in that location; it should remain industrial and continue to leverage the freight rail access. No station is going to be pleasantly walkable to downtown or the Old Port; the city's topography isn't conducive to that and as much as people have said that in Europe, etc., trains can do X, Y and Z, Portland certainly isn't a consequential enough market to merit trying something that capital-intensive that would potentially involve equipment Amtrak doesn't use anywhere else on its system.
 
NNEPRA is definitely taking a lead on the station relocation and they have zero ambition to build anything other than a glorified park-and-ride. There's so much potential to build a truly great "North Sation-esque" mixed-use station but it seems like all the involved parties can't see eye-to-eye and make it happen.
 
Portlander said:
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Last rendering I recall and this was posted by Cosakita back in 2018!
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Not bad. It lost one floor on the Fore Street side and I like the use of brick and the three separate building look going down India. Any idea when construction will begin?
 
These are actually from back in April - looks like they started a CU application last month and it was voided - so it'll be awhile, if at all?
 
Cosakita18 said:
NNEPRA is definitely taking a lead on the station relocation and they have zero ambition to build anything other than a glorified park-and-ride. There's so much potential to build a truly great "North Sation-esque" mixed-use station but it seems like all the involved parties can't see eye-to-eye and make it happen.
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NNEPRA is heavily involved, but (at least still in the study stage) MaineDOT is officially the lead agency (Patricia has stated this at board meetings herself), presumably because NNEPRA is in the weird limbo of being a QUANGO with no revenue stream of its own.
 
Cosakita18 said:
it looks like the last legacy industrial site in Bayside is finally going away.

The E. Perry scrap yard block bounded by Pearl, Kennebec and Lancaster Streets has been sold to a familiar name ;)
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Did they purchase the other lot on Kennebec?, I thought E Perry owned both, this will be interesting and finally a chapter has ended. I can't wait for the soil mediation to begin.
 
DanielPWM19 said:
OMG PLEASE put up a 16 Story Building at LEAST.
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That parcel is zoned for 105 ft. They could request a height increase similar to the process for 201 Federal

Also the first floor of any new buildings will likely need to be a few feet above the street level to meet flooding standards.
 
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The Cumberland Ave/Washington Ave corner lot along with the recently renovated building at 106(?) Cumberland is for sale - here's to hoping the corner lot gets developed too.
 
Yes, wondered about that project. I think it will chop a little of the view for the park gazers with Bayside around Marginal Way, but not too much. And it looks like the views for the occupants of the units will be more to the southeast, or downtown, so not much of a sunset one for them.
 
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Cosakita18 said:
Does this already have Planning Board approval? I haven't seen it on any agendas in the past year or so
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The first set of approved plans were uploaded 9/15/23, so seems like the meeting would have taken place over a year ago.

Doesn't seem like it will change the view much at all:

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But then again, that depiction is from the developer. Hope he (or she) is keeping it honest.
 
Last thing I remember about this project was some back and forth with the city about the method they're going to use to shore up the cliff wall they've carved out of the hill. They were proposing to inject big screws that would be frozen or something like that, if I recall, but that was rejected by the city.

Looking at that rendering it's hard to tell exactly how far the roof is from the lookout, but my first thought upon seeing it was that it will be a tempting target for anyone looking to huck a rock or bottle...
 
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