Huge projects unveiled for Portland waterfront

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grittys457

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Patrick, how the hell did I beat you to this. I wish the ch 13 site had the video online because they spent almost 10 minutes on it during the news. If you see this, watch the 13 news tonight.

These projects are both around 100 million. I don't know which one I like better. I'll try to find the pics of one of the projects that I know is on their website.

www.wcsh6.com/video/news/player.aspx?aid=14229&sid=53211&bw=hi&cat=2
 
I thought this was old news? They look nice I like the more built up one myself.

On a different note they have the Office Parade Mall site map on their site!
 
What are they? Can't seem to find what you mean by 'huge projects'. Is one of them the Maine State Pier?
 
Bottom right of the homepage. It says Maine State Pier Proposal and an Animation one. Click the animation one first, since the other is a huge file.

These plans weren't released to the public until 3 o'clock today. As new as you can get.

Here's the good news story.

mms://ss1.sbgnet.com/stations/wgme/WGME_newsk_300k.wmv
 
These are huge projects by maine standards. the eastern waterfront redevelopment zone has seen proposal after proposal shot down or backed off of by developers, including two ten story projects, both of which were well over 100 million dollars, and there si currently another 90 mill project underway, as well as ocean gateway. and now we have these two competing proposals for the pier, both at 90 mill....there is a lot of money going into plans down there. all in all, there has been almost half a billion in planned or talked about projects, including this most recent one. 90 mill for the pier, 90 mill for longfellow condos, 110 mill for westin, 100 mill for village at oceangate, 25 mill for oceangate cruise ship terminal...and more to come. here si todays news paper article about it


Plans to develop city pier unveiled

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By TREVOR MAXWELL, Staff Writer

Friday, February 23, 2007



Portland officials unwrapped two competing plans Thursday to redevelop the Maine State Pier with a hotel, office building, restaurants and docking space for cruise ships and other vessels.
The $90 million proposals -- opened at City Hall -- are backed by some of the biggest names in Maine politics and business.
One developer is Portsmouth, N.H.-based Ocean Properties Ltd., led by Chairman Tom Walsh and Vice President of Development Robert Baldacci, brother of Gov. John Baldacci. They have joined for this proposal with former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.
The other proposal comes from The Olympia Companies, based in Portland and headed by President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mahaney.
"The amounts of investment that both are talking about is a tremendous amount of money," said Jim Cloutier, one of the three city councilors who will make a recommendation to the full council.
"The scale on these projects is actually quite a bit larger than what I anticipated," he said. "It looks like both of these teams like to swing for the fences."
The 85-year-old pier has become a financial liability for the city because of disrepair and underuse. The pier and a large shed, formerly occupied by Bath Iron Works and Cianbro Corp., sit near the intersection of Franklin Arterial and Commercial Street.
The council rezoned the property last year to allow commercial redevelopment, with an emphasis on maritime uses and public access. Councilors put out a request for proposals in October, with a deadline of 3 p.m. Thursday.
City staff members will review the submissions in the next few weeks. Then the council's Community Development Committee will hold a public meeting March 20, where residents will see a full presentation on each plan and will be able to ask questions. The committee of Cloutier, Jill Duson and Kevin Donoghue will select a winner, which then moves on for review by the full council and the Planning Board.
Even if all goes according to schedule, Cloutier said, construction likely would not begin until late 2008, with completion expected in 2010.
The $91 million Olympia Companies concept revolves around a two-acre green space called Casco Bay Park. Other key elements of the plan include a 175-room hotel, four-story office building, marine terminals and a network of shops, restaurants, artist studios and a museum.
"The citizens really need to understand what is going on down there. This will have an impact on them over the next 50 or 100 years," said Sasa Cook, project coordinator for The Olympia Companies. "We met with as many stakeholders as possible, to make sure that this was a concept that people wanted to see there."
The $90 million Ocean Properties proposal also emphasizes public access, with a harbor walkway, rooftop gardens and a public market. That plan also calls for a 175-room hotel, office building, and similar mix of other commercial uses.
Both proposals call for cruise ship terminals, which would act as secondary docking to the Ocean Gateway terminal, under construction on the eastern waterfront.
"We hope the citizens of Portland like our plan," Walsh said in a prepared statement. "We have spent considerable time trying to balance traditional marine interests, add more public space and access, and provide for alternative forms of transportation."
In the same statement, Mitchell added: "We have always wanted to do a project together in Maine and we proudly come together on this proposal."
Because the city will retain ownership of the seven-acre parcel, both developers have proposed complex, long-term lease arrangements. They also requested tax-increment financing packages from the city, to help offset initial development costs and the public amenities.
Both Ocean Properties and The Olympia Companies are prepared to invest at least $11 million immediately to renovate the aging pier structure and replace many of its pilings.
Cloutier said officials will need time to determine which submission makes most sense for the city, from a design and financial standpoint.
"It will be complicated," he said. "They are paying for some things, they are asking for some public concessions. It is going to take some time to sort that out."
Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:
tmaxwell@pressherald.com


Reader comments




Keith of Portland, ME
Feb 23, 2007 9:24 AM

This project has little to do with the fishing industry. It's not waterfront development that has created hardships for the fishing industry - its federal regulations and dwindling fish stocks. Let's not hold up this project or others like it just because one small faction stands at the end of the pier holding a candle light vigil for a bygone industry and taking prime waterfront property hostage for as some kind of memorial for days gone by.


Jeff of Vonore, TN
Feb 23, 2007 9:05 AM
If it doesn't involve fish heads and fish guts.....then it just isn't the Portland waterfront.....*yawn*.

I doubt that this project will ever get off the ground.....and if it does, it will fail.

When will people in Portland realise that development can only be supported by actual money making propositions, otherwise it is just another form of welfare.

Hooters. Casinos. National retail and restaurants. Waterfront condos. Hotels (the only part of this project that could succeed). Those are the reviled yet curiously profitable money makers.


Darren McLellan of Cape ELizabeth, ME
Feb 23, 2007 8:48 AM
Well yardbird, I would agree but for the fact that this space has had no bearing on fisherman for decades. Maine State Pier has long been more for cargo and the like.
As for these plans, I think Supertramp put it best, "Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer."


yardbird of Arundel, ME
Feb 23, 2007 8:21 AM
Does this have something to do with the hard time that is being put on the fishermen ? Is this a conspiracy to take the water front away from the fishermen , so developers can have it ? think about
 
"This proposal presents the City of Portland
with a unique and creative concept plan for the
future of the MSP area and, if implemented, will
establish Casco Bay Park as the focal point of the
City. Moreover, it will create an internationally
recognized signature waterfront that will instantly
generate greater interest and excitement in the
area"

I never cease to be amazed at how clueless planners can be. This reminds be of a quote someone made when Government Center was proposed in Boston. The suggestion was made to save the office where The Liberator was published from demolition. Someone replied "I'd rather people come to Boston and see modern glass and steel buildings like Miami rather than the place where the Liberator was published." Of course the irony is I doubt a single person has ever visited Boston to see glass and steel buildings wheras millions come each year to see the historical sites. Likewise, no one will ever go to Portland to see this modern glass and steel "internationally recognized signature waterfront" but plenty of people go to see the old waterfront with its narrow streets and get the feel of the old working waterfront.
Also, just once I'd love to see a proposed rendering of what an area will look like in winter instead of always the trees in bloom and people lounging around on the grass. Designers always seem to forget that it is winter a lot more than it is summer around here and need to design buildings that will look good in February as well as July. Look at these renderings with that in mind and what you will see is bleak, cold, cold, cold, and desolate.
 
you raise excellent concerns and points. i agree 100%. this will create a dynamic waterfront and we do need something like this though, because we are now the 1st largest inbound tonnage port on the east coast and in the top two or three for the country. i mean, our name is "port" - land. we are known for being a port, so we need a signature building for people coming here via cruise ships to look at and understand why we are of any importance (or at least feel like we are important, even if we aren't :roll: ). but i agree about the winter part....and how often do i see that many people on the streets of portland? never. there are way more people in that rendering than would ever hang out in this park, even in summer.
 
I never cease to be amazed at how clueless planners can be. This reminds be of a quote someone made when Government Center was proposed in Boston. The suggestion was made to save the office where The Liberator was published from demolition. Someone replied "I'd rather people come to Boston and see modern glass and steel buildings like Miami rather than the place where the Liberator was published." Of course the irony is I doubt a single person has ever visited Boston to see glass and steel buildings wheras millions come each year to see the historical sites.
Click to expand...

But Government Center turned out so well :roll:
 
I'm in love with the one that has the park. Kinda reminds me of a little Christopher Columbus park in Boston. :)

wfront1dv1.jpg
 
Corey said:
I'm in love with the one that has the park. Kinda reminds me of a little Christopher Columbus park in Boston. :)

wfront1dv1.jpg
Click to expand...
That looks nice!
 
and that pic doesn't even show the whole hotel and the smaller buildings along the pier. Project is perfect, if you ask me. Imagine a summer night concert series. Park will be able to hold over 3000. Please get this done.
 
Public can weigh in early on pier plans
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By TOM BELL, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald Saturday, February 24, 2007

MORE
THE OLYMPIA COMPANIES

BUSINESS: A commercial real-estate development company that owns and manages primarily hotel properties from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast.

HEADQUARTERS: Portland.

CEO: Kevin Mahaney since 1988. He may be best known in Maine for his 1995 entry "Young America" in the America's Cup race.

PROJECTS: Hilton Garden Inns, Portland and Portsmouth, N.H.; Harbor Hill Condominiums, Portsmouth; Custom House Square, Portland

OCEAN PROPERTIES LTD.

BUSINESS: A hotel development and management company. It is one of the largest privately held companies of its kind in the United States. It owns or operates more than 100 hotels in North America under names such as Marriott and Holiday Inn.

HEADQUARTERS: Delray Beach, Fla., and Portsmouth, N.H.

CEO: Tom Walsh, founded Ocean Properties in 1969. He began his career in 1950 with the establishment of Maine Motel Supply in Bangor. He was the first Holiday Inn franchisee in Maine. He is a resident of New Hampshire.

PROJECTS: Wentworth by the Sea, New Castle, N.H.; Harborside Hotel and Marina, Bar Harbor; Holiday Inn, Boston.

Two Portland nonprofit groups aren't waiting for city officials to get residents talking about two new proposals for developing the Maine State Pier. Portland Trails and Greater Portland Landmarks will host a forum on the topic next week.
Both proposals unveiled Thursday would transform an old and underused working pier into a mixed-use urban neighborhood, possibly setting a precedent for how the rest of the city's waterfront will be developed over the next several decades.
Although a City Council committee plans to hold several public meetings starting late in March, the forum Thursday evening at Portland Public Library will give citizens an early opportunity to voice their concerns and ideas, said Nan Cumming, executive director of Portland Trails.
Because of the large scale of the two proposals and the waterfront location, the public needs to be involved as much as possible, Cumming said.
"The harbor is the heart of Portland," she said. "The development of the Maine State Pier is one of the biggest things to happen in years to the harbor."
Representatives from the two competing developers will make presentations and give people a chance to ask questions. Comments will be recorded and passed on to the City Council, Cumming said.
City Councilor Jim Cloutier, who chairs the council's Economic Development Committee, said he normally would discourage groups from holding forums on development proposals because they would interfere with the city's own public process. But the "breathtaking" scale of the proposals warrants as much public discussion as possible, he said.
"It's such a big proposal and such an important property, I think it's hard to be critical of the opportunity for people to discuss it and understand it and hear about it," he said.
At the request of the city, two development teams have submitted $90 million plans to redevelop the city-owned pier with a hotel, office building, restaurants and docking space for cruise ships and other vessels.
City Council members and waterfront property owners had little to say Thursday about the plans, in large part because the proposals were so complex and massive that they said they needed time to digest them.
Most said they were pleased to see that there were two solid proposals by highly respected developers, Ocean Properties Ltd., led by Chairman Tom Walsh, and The Olympia Companies, led by President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mahaney.
The competition gives the City Council leverage over how the pier is developed, said Councilor Kevin Donoghue, who sits on the council's Community Development Committee. He said developing the pier for nonmarine uses will create pressure to develop other waterfront properties in a similar way.
The council could pick the best ideas of both plans and fashion something new, he said, and the council could also decide not to develop the pier at all.
"Whatever ends up happening," he said, "this is a tipping point for the future of the working waterfront and the future of the East End."
City Councilor James Cohen said both proposals are wellthought-out and seemed to have met the broad parameters set by the council.
"The challenge now is to decide which group provides the best platform that allows us to move ahead with more careful negotiations," he said.
The proposal by Ocean Properties would put a restaurant, public rooftop gardens, cruise ship terminal and an office building on the pier. It also includes a separate pier for tugboats, which are now docked at the main pier. The tugboat pier would be a big plus because officials have been worried about the fate of the displaced tugboats, Cloutier said.
The Olympia Companies plan puts a network of shops, two restaurants, artists' studios and a maritime museum on the pier. Unlike Ocean Properties, which puts a 175-room hotel on the shore, Olympia Companies puts its 175-room hotel on the pier. That would conflict with existing zoning in the area, which does not allow hotels on piers. Cloutier said the council will discuss with the developer the reasoning behind putting the hotel on the pier.
Thursday's forum will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the library's Rines Auditorium.
The Economic Development Committee will probably have three or four meetings on the proposal, and the public will have the chance to speak at each one, Cloutier said. He said he hopes the committee will make its recommendation to the council before June.
Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at:
tbell@pressherald.com
OCEAN PROPERTIES LTD.BUSINESS: A hotel development and management company. It is one of the largest privately held companies of its kind in the United States. It owns or operates more than 100 hotels in North America under names such as Marriott and Holiday Inn.HEADQUARTERS: Delray Beach, Fla., and Portsmouth, N.H.CEO: Tom Walsh, founded Ocean Properties in 1969. He began his career in 1950 with the establishment of Maine Motel Supply in Bangor. He was the first Holiday Inn franchisee in Maine. He is a resident of New Hampshire.PROJECTS: Wentworth by the Sea, New Castle, N.H.; Harborside Hotel and Marina, Bar Harbor; Holiday Inn, Boston. -->


Reader comments

Keith of Portland, ME
Feb 24, 2007 9:57 AM
Yardbird - I am pretty sure that Kevin Mahaney is to blame for Pluto losing it's "planet" status...

yardbird of Arundel, ME
Feb 24, 2007 8:17 AM
do you realy think they'll stop there ?

Keith of Portland, ME
Feb 24, 2007 6:57 AM
Don't miss this opportunity, General Public, to blame private developers for the decline of the fishing industry, lack of homeless shelter beds, inadaquate methadone treatment facilities, global warming, the absence of locations to recharge electric cars of the future or white sandy beaches.
 
I hadn;t noticed that they did so much work. Just imagine the new State Pier plus Ocean Gateway plus these

westin1.jpg


I'm kinda starting to move on past the whole lincoln project and the waterview :)
 
From boston.com

Development plans for Portland waterfront unveiled

PORTLAND, Maine --City officials are reviewing two competing plans to develop the Maine State Pier with a hotel, restaurants, offices, a waterfront park and docking space for cruise ships and other vessels.

The plans, which were unveiled Thursday, are being backed by some big names in Maine business and politics. Each proposal calls for spending about $90 million.

One of the proposals comes from The Olympia Companies, which is based in Portland and headed by Kevin Mahaney, who won a silver medal for sailing at the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

The other developer is Ocean Properties Ltd. of Portsmouth, N.H., whose team includes former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and Robert Baldacci, brother of Maine Gov. John Baldacci.

The 85-year-old Maine State Pier is owned by the city, but it has become a financial liability and is in need of repair. The pier and a large shed, formerly occupied by Bath Iron Works and Cianbro Corp., sit near the intersection of Franklin Arterial and Commercial Street.

The City Council rezoned the property last year to allow commercial development with an emphasis on marine uses and public access. Councilors put out a request for proposals in October, with a deadline of 3 p.m. Thursday.

The Olympia Companies' proposal includes a 175-room hotel, a four-story office building, marine terminals, a two-acre park, and an assortment of restaurants, shops, artist studios and a museum.

The Ocean Properties' plan also includes a hotel, an office building, a public market and public park, and a similar mix of other commercial uses.

"The amounts of investment that both are talking about is a tremendous amount of money," said Jim Cloutier, one of the three city councilors who will make a recommendation to the full council. "The scale on these projects is actually quite a bit larger than what I anticipated. It looks like both of these teams like to swing for the fences."

The proposals will be reviewed by city staff in the next few weeks before the City Council's Community Development Committee holds a public meeting on March 20.

The committee will select a winner, which will then be reviewed by the full council and the Planning Board. Construction likely would not begin until late 2008, with completion expected in 2010, Cloutier said.

Because the city will retain ownership of the seven-acre parcel, both developers have proposed complex, long-term lease arrangements. They also requested tax-increment financing packages from the city, to help offset initial development costs and the public amenities.
 
Pier proposals steam into port

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Monday, February 26, 2007



The two $90 million blueprints for remaking the city's Maine State Pier that were unveiled Thursday show that Portland's waterfront has a bright future indeed.
Both master plans -- submitted by Ocean Properties Ltd., based in New Hampshire, and by Portland's Olympia Companies -- feature cruise-ship terminals, restaurants, hotels, offices, parking garages and shipping berths.
The redevelopment of the 85-year- old pier, which is part of a 7-acre industrial site owned by the city, has long been a goal of Portland.
The effort has taken on additional urgency in the past year after a study showed the pier and its pilings needed $13 million in repairs over the next 15 years.
Last year, the pier was rezoned to allow for commercial development, with the expectation that plans would focus on maritime uses and public access.
The winning proposal will also have to accommodate embarking and disembarking areas for the new Ocean Gateway cruise-ship terminal, Portland Harbor's tugboat fleet and offices for the high-speed ferry The Cat.
Councilors hoped the prime waterfront location would attract big hitters, and they have not been disappointed.
Ocean Properties is one of the country's biggest franchisers of hotels and resorts. Its Maine State Pier proposal's leadership cadre includes former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and Robert Baldacci, the governor's brother.
Ocean Properties' vision calls for a harbor walkway, rooftop gardens, a public market, a 200-room hotel, along with berths for cruise ships, coastal ferries and tugs.
Portland's Olympia Companies is a development, hotel-management and investment firm whose holdings include the Old Port's Hilton Garden Inn and the DoubleTree Hotel on Congress Street.
Its plan offers a different configuration of cruise, tug and ferry facilities, offices, a hotel and restaurants, along with a public boat landing, a deepwater berth and a public park.
Both companies are willing to make an immediate investment of $11 million to help refurbish and maintain the pier - something that must have come as music to the city's ears.
While it's far too early to pick a favorite, now is the time for Portlanders to become familiar with their merits.
Both appear to be the appropriate type and scale of development that would turn a deteriorating asset into a waterfront showpiece and regional magnet.
 
PORTLAND: Only one of two developers will present pier plans today
Organizers have scaled back a public presentation today at the Portland Public Library on plans to redevelop the Maine State Pier.
Only officials from The Olympia Cos. will present their plans. Officials from the other bidder, Ocean Properties, said they couldn't make it.
Robert Baldacci, vice president of development for Ocean Properties, said his company first learned about the forum on Feb. 22. He said the project's two principal investors, Tom Walsh and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, wanted to attend but could not fit it into their schedules. He said his company will hold its own forum at a later date.
Both groups will present their plans to the City Council's Economic Development Committee on March 20.
Today's forum will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Rines Auditorium.
 
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