Herald Square | 385 Congress St | Portland

PWMFlyer said:
Merrill needs parking for events and having a facility next to city will help alleviate that especially for older folks that don't want to walk far. It would be nice to have a 24/7 garage to service to neighborhood during snow bans also...
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Especially if, as in the previous proposal, the parking was mostly masked within the block and behind the residential and hotel buildings.
 
Cosakita18 said:
I would imagine that "one building" would really be more like one large podium with several separate towers.

Link to the new MDP:

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Citizen Self Service web site
selfservice.portlandmaine.gov
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Is anyone seeing anything there? I looked in the Attachments tab and found nothing.
 
No attachments yet. Usually attachments don't show up until a project gets closer to a public hearing.

I am curious whether this proposal is grandfathered under the previous IZ workforce housing ordinance of 10% of units at 120% AMI, or whether the new standard of 25% at 80% AMI will apply. I think it's probably the latter, and assuming they will pay a fee-in-lieu rather than include the units on-site, the developers are looking at writing a substantial check to the city's housing trust fund. Just some back of the napkin math says it could be $10 million plus.
 
They'll have to make an affordable housing linkage fee payment for the hotel component, too. $5K/hotel room, which may be higher now from inflation.

As for parking for the Merrill, I doubt that's much of a factor here; valet parking services that make use of underutilized spaces in nearby lots are probably going to be cheaper than building $30,000 parking spaces in a new garage (particularly since big Merrill events only happen for a few hours each month).

To finance a $30K parking space at 6% interest, the developers would need to collect at least $300 in monthly revenue to cover the capital+maintenance costs (and that doesn't include the opportunity costs; i.e., the lost revenue that the developers could collect if that parking square footage were a more valuable $1,200/month studio apartment instead). I doubt that Merrill's patrons could cover those costs. I'm doubtful whether this building's residential tenants will be willing to pay that much, for that matter.
 
They've added a site narrative and some renderings to the application materials. My first thought is that the proposal has not changed much from what we saw last year, except that the senior living facility has been replaced with another condo building. Other than that the renderings look similar to me to all the 12-14 story condo buildings that have gone up in places like Washington, DC or Boston's seaport district in recent years. Kind of boxy, a fair amount of glass, fairly generic looking. I'm sure the designs will evolve and hopefully improve if this thing progresses.

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Looks better than the previous renderings in my opinion and I really like the design of the hotel with it's glass and contemporary vibe and I agree with Max on the generic architecture of the other two structures. The main entrance on Congress Street is impressive and appears to be a modern repeat of City Hall Plaza. If Phase 1A and 1B get built (and I think they will) I'll be very pleased.
 
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If built out as the renderings portray it would add an impressive anchor to the eastern portion of the skyline and bring an incredible amount of life and vitality to that portion of Congress Street and the upper Old Port. The only downside is that it may delay potential development of the Top of the Old Port property even longer but after looking at parking lots for over 40 years, what's a few more! In fairness to the architects of 385 Congress, I think there are more design limitations involved when you are dealing with residential buildings as compared to ones for office usage. The rooftop green spaces are a nice touch.
 
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Agree with the above, seems like a great use of that space. Nice and dense without being one big blob of a building. Bonus points from me for not being another brick facade. Aesthetically I've love if one of the buildings (maybe the one facing the Top of the Old Port lot) were taller than the rest but I am just nitpicking. Really excited for this.
 
mainejeff said:
Overall this looks great. I really like the glass, greys and whites.
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Though I would have preferred that they move away from the highly overused color gray. The use of this color and black (i.e. Sun Life, PWM and the other new structure on India street) are quickly becoming passe and is going to firmly age these places as having been built in the 2010-20's. The use of these colors indicates a pure lack of creativity.
 
I wonder if they will keep the underground tunnel between the Press Hotel? I don't see any pushback from Franklin Towers (view issues) when Lincoln Tower was proposed. I will see people complaining about being across Central Station unless they have sound proof windows. It will be interesting to see how traffic mitigation happens when there is an event at Merrill with everyone being dropped off plus the drop off for the hotel. Will the planning board ask or intersection improvements and pedestrian improvements. I wished they maxed out the height options for the site.
 
I'd like to see this in context with the rest of the city. It feels like the combination of the buildings' widths and uniform height are going to leave this looking like a fortress. It kind of reminds me of North Point in Cambridge. While of bunch of those buildings would be the tallest in Portland, none of them are positive contributors as "skyline buildings" due to their extreme widths. This might feel like more of the same if they are all built as proposed. Aesthetically, if there is no height variety I don't think this project will be particularly beloved by this forum once all 3 are built.
 
It's funny how this development looks great from the "skinny" sides but "blockish" and boring from the wide sides.
 
I read the comments in the PPH story this morning regarding this project. Surprisingly, it was not too critical, and many were directed to the desire for more affordable housing. One comment is from "a regular" and I've always been impressed with his astute take on Porland development (Christopher White). He suggested the buildings be taller, as a compromise, to include more affordable apartments. The back tower, or the second phase, could be an additional ten stories higher, so that the building would become 22-24 stories high. It would add perhaps another 300 apartments, with an entrance on Cumberland Avenue. The underground garage could be expanded for parking. The deal presented to the city could be a barter with the mandated inclusionary zoning rules, which require that a quarter of new units either be affordably priced for renters or buyers making about 80 percent of the region’s median income, or the developers would pay about $150,000 per unit into a city housing fund. If they don't pay these "fines," to build the approximately 80 affordable apartments, that could then be upped to perhaps 300. The developer would not necessarily make money on the higher build, but break even (with the addition part), and then experience an easier approval process and favorable impression to the city. Portland needs to think a bit more out-of-the box with housing as demand is only going to increase. It seems imminent that Portland is going to be a much bigger city in the foreseeable future. For my work, I've had to live in midtown Manhattan the last five years. It's not what it used to be, and is not coming back they way it was. Many things have changed since then. People are leaving. Many are working remotely now. Why not live in a luxury hi-rise condo in Portland, Maine? Isn't that a better life? Are the restaurants much better in Manhattan? More theatre and shows? Merrill Auditorium has quite an impressive selection now. I think that by the time this building is ready, the $3 million dollar condos will become $7 or $8 million dollar ones. There's comparative precedent for that percentage rise in Portland.
 
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I honestly like this design. Sure, I'd love to see a little more height variance, and yes, this style is a little overused in other cities. However, this is fresh for Portland and could (someday...a guy can dream) be a precursor to the design of a larger structure(s) with even more glass on the Top of the Old Port lot.

I do like the idea TC_zoid mentions above about bartering more height for more affordable housing on the phase 2 building on Cumberland.
 
TC_zoid said:
The back tower, or the second phase, could be an additional ten stories higher, so that the building would become 22-24 stories high. It would add perhaps another 300 apartments, with an entrance on Cumberland Avenue.

Portland needs to think a bit more out-of-the box with housing as demand is only going to increase. It seems imminent that Portland is going to be a much bigger city in the foreseeable future.
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I definitely agree with these statements - Portland/developers needs to not squander the available development space on the peninsula. I won't complain about the height if these are built 10-12 stories, but both this and Top of the Old Port seem like prime spots for cluster of even taller buildings. I'd love to see someone propose a 20+ story building somewhere in the city, why not here?

I wonder if the development - even as it stands in the above renderings - will get any push back from the PB or HPB on the proximity to City Hall. I know during the HPB process for 201 Federal one of the members mentioned that a tall building behind City Hall would diminish it on the sky line. I think this is absurd - and nobody else on the HPB said anything about that - but I'm wondering where the line is. Or if there is even a line about height/proximity to City Hall.
 
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