General Portland Discussion

Last year, I had a long conversation with one of the reps at ReVision Energy next to the Jetport. It's the leader in solar in Maine--and places beyond too--with patents on the technologies to make it more efficient (they did the roof on the new LL Bean building and Bayside Bowl). He said that with today's panels, placing them flat does not make much of a difference in the amount of energy they collect. And in Maine, or Portland in the southern part with it's clean particulate free air, it catch match the productivity of cities in the southern U.S. However, what's going to happen with the next big Nor'easter we get during the winter, one with a nearly 3 foot drop of heavy snow? I didn't ask him about that scenario. Yeeeeears ago I helped shovel heavy snow off a flat roof building similar to this--not fun. But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see one of these types of storms for quite some time. When I was growing up in Saco, one winter with a lot of snowfall the city said enough and hired a guy with a big red road grader, a six wheeled monster with a massive plow on the front. It destroyed a nearly five foot drift in the street on the first pass next to my parent's house, and for me it was great because I had an eight foot high pile of snow on our property to climb on the next day.

https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/le...anels-installed-on-roof-of-portland-warehouse

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Is there a website or updated elevation plans for the Washington Ave project?
 
For those with better things to do with their time who may not know, the Portland subreddit (r/portlandme) has recently gotten a bunch of posts and comments regarding The Continental, the English pub fare restaurant / bar that has taken over the former 7-Eleven at St. John and Brighton. So many, in fact, that a) people are wondering if there's astroturfing going on, and b) it has become a meme.

This one, though, was worthy of showing you all. Note the poster.
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There has been a lot of skyline and growth conversations recently with a lot of recent positive development news! I wanted to float this idea by you all. Obviously a far-fetched idea but after watching a video on “urban interchanges” taking up a lot of acreage in densely populated areas, my mind went to the absurdly built Exit 5a/b where I-295 meets Fore River Pkwy and Congress Street so I flirted with this idea.
Current layout:
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Proposed Realignment:
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The current configuration takes up over 46 acres of land less than two miles from Portlands Downtown Core. The new configuration would take up 18-20 acres while freeing up developable land for Dougherty Field to expand their park space, add over 1,000 MUCH NEEDED new housing units, multiple other park spaces including the waterfront park bordering the the rail line, 16+ new commercial spaces, an office tower in the southernmost area next to the waterfront park, parking garages instead of surface parking, street and intersection improvements, and of course, the parallel roads hugging I-295 instead of the winding configuration taking up so much space.
So many more benefits to this and I know that, again, this is a pipe dream, but no better place to share it than with the knowledgeable people in here!!
I don’t want to completely fill up the page, but a couple other visuals.
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This would truly make the entrance into Maine’s most urban setting more impressive and imposing. While, of course, freeing up tons of land for economic benefit + so many other benefits.
I’m no traffic engineer. I’m sure this would make traffic a little more dense but at the same time would revitalize this area with the ease of being able to walk, run, or bike around new housing, parks, businesses, and other public amenities.
Let’s hear what you all think!
 
Didn't realize the Amvets building on Washington (across from the Redfern/165 Washington project) has been on the market for a few months, could be another great redevelopment project for that part of the street. I feel like it might be priced high, though.

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I do realize that he brings up some ambivalent feelings, but his background was quite impressive. He went to John Hopkins Univ. and studied biology and medical science, then got a Masters at M.I.T. in city planning. He loved Portland. Is he worthy of a statue? Maybe not, but I think Sam Hayward is. Fore Street started the ball rolling on putting Portland on the map.

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/12...rtland-landlord-and-developer-dies-at-age-93/

Joseph Soley moved to Maine full-time in 1976 and left only briefly to get a masters degree in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he co-founded the MIT Center for Real Estate, according to his obituary.

Soley, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War, was a big fan of the arts and was fascinated with the history and architecture of Portland and other cities in which he lived, David Soley said.

The Old Port was more of a gritty, rough-and-tumble place in the 1970s and 1980s. But a concerted effort by city officials and private developers such as Soley transformed the Old Port from a place to be avoided to a world-class destination, filled with award-winning restaurants, art galleries, shops, hotels and condominiums.

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TC_zoid said:
I do realize that he brings up some ambivalent feelings, but his background was quite impressive. He went to John Hopkins Univ. and studied biology and medical science, then got a Masters at M.I.T. in city planning. He loved Portland. Is he worthy of a statue? Maybe not, but I think Sam Hayward is. Fore Street started the ball rolling on putting Portland on the map.
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I suppose it depends on whether you like your Portland smooth and elegant, or chunky and lower-brow.

I never met or rented from him, but when Joe Soley was at his prime, his buildings (many of which were the upper-floor apartments in the old Old Port buildings) may have been considered poorly-maintained deathtraps, but they were cheap, affordable for 20-somethings getting their first apartments, and filled with said 20-somethings who were the patrons of the bars that filled the south-of-Fore-St. Old Port in that era (80's and 90's).

Once he was forced to fix the buildings, the rent went up, and the tenant mix went from people who were there because it was close to Amigo's, to people who were there because it was close to Walter's and Central Provisions (and the galleries further up the hill). Then those tenants started complaining about the noise from the bars, and the next thing you knew there was a minimum distance between liquor licenses, which really killed the vibe. (Admittedly, this was also about the time that people started showing up down there packing guns, which was obviously a huge problem.)

For my personal experiences, I downed many beers (and struck out many times) in Erik's (free pizza after midnight!), Leo's Basement and J's Oyster. I've never eaten in Walter's or Central Provisions (Fore Street and Street & Co. once each, the latter on the company tab).
 
Anyone else notice the ad in the "Home" section of the Maine Sunday Telegram that looks like an effort by Tom Landry to get investors for his Aurora Condos project: www.investlocal.me

If I had $250k laying around perhaps I'd go in on it, though I find it laughable that part of the pitch for moving your money from Wall Street to Main Street is to "be part of the solution by providing more housing." These are going to be $2 million condos... :rolleyes:

Anyway a little further down the page there's a more general pitch for something called the "Investors Collaborative," and while there are no specific projects mentioned, there is a mockup of what appears to be a 8-9 story building with a URL indicating it would be somewhere on Washington Ave. Looks purely speculative but interesting nonetheless...

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Max said:
Anyone else notice the ad in the "Home" section of the Maine Sunday Telegram that looks like an effort by Tom Landry to get investors for his Aurora Condos project: www.investlocal.me

If I had $250k laying around perhaps I'd go in on it, though I find it laughable that part of the pitch for moving your money from Wall Street to Main Street is to "be part of the solution by providing more housing." These are going to be $2 million condos... :rolleyes:

Anyway a little further down the page there's a more general pitch for something called the "Investors Collaborative," and while there are no specific projects mentioned, there is a mockup of what appears to be a 8-9 story building with a URL indicating it would be somewhere on Washington Ave. Looks purely speculative but interesting nonetheless...

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Click to expand...

I know this is more of a "hypothetical rendering" this is on inner Washington Avenue right across from the Cheese Shop (Benchmark's existing offices)

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