Infill and Small Developments | Portland

More renderings of 64 Pine Street proposal:

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Smack dab in the middle of the West End. It's not that bricky, so the neighbors might have a thing or two to say about this one.
 
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I think the old crones and codgers on the west end care. The less change the better in their eyes.
 
To be honest, this would look rather nice in that location.

The neighborhood balked at Redfern's 40 Pine Street when that was built, but ultimately looks great. It also replaced a blight of a parking lot (and a condemned sinking house). Any in-fill in this neighborhood within that proximity of Congress and State Streets is a welcome addition.

Hopefully at some point Redfern will be able to move forward with their State Street Lot next to Mercy too.
 
nomc said:
Didn't realize there's a proposal to convert 20k of office space at 178 Middle St into a 19 room hotel. Masonry repair on the building I think is already underway, glad to see they're returning the street level frontage to (what I assume was) original form or at least matching "historic precedent", including exposing the cast iron columns on the BSB and Stonewall units.

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Hi all, probably not the right place to ask but this thread felt the most appropriate. We have a third of an acre on peninsula that we would love to build on. We're new to building at this scale so have mentioned it to a bunch of different builders over the last year or so while working on other projects, all have responded with their absolute favorite architect which have all been different.. Wondering what you guys thought about recommendations? The lot has a residential multifamily on it now but given it's location I'm guessing we will have some planning hoops to jump through to move something larger forward, so really looking for someone who's got experience with zoning etc. in Portland. Would love to add some commercial units as well. Is there anyone that sounds like they'd be a good fit? Second to combing through current permits/approvals I haven't figured out who would be a good fit.
 
I don't really have a recommendation, but looking to hire an architect rather than just using whatever out-of-the-box crap the civil engineering firm slaps on the table as "design" is a good start. The latter has been employed on far too many projects in the Greater Portland area in the past 10+ years.

If you did choose to go the latter (and obviously cheaper) route, $10 says they'd slap this bad-boy on the table, which is an example of the out-of-the-box crap that has been popping up like weeds all over the area lately:

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wanttobuild said:
Hi all, probably not the right place to ask but this thread felt the most appropriate. We have a third of an acre on peninsula that we would love to build on. We're new to building at this scale so have mentioned it to a bunch of different builders over the last year or so while working on other projects, all have responded with their absolute favorite architect which have all been different.. Wondering what you guys thought about recommendations? The lot has a residential multifamily on it now but given it's location I'm guessing we will have some planning hoops to jump through to move something larger forward, so really looking for someone who's got experience with zoning etc. in Portland. Would love to add some commercial units as well. Is there anyone that sounds like they'd be a good fit? Second to combing through current permits/approvals I haven't figured out who would be a good fit.
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What's the base zoning of your property? That will determine how much height and density you can achieve. That will also impact your ability to create ground-floor retail.

Delano Architecture based out of Saco has experience working with small-to-medium sized multifamily infill and their designs are contemporary and attractive.

PORTFOLIO | Delano Architecture

does form follow function? Sometimes. Most of the time, however, they are inseparable best friends that go everywhere together. We design buildings for people and we would be remiss if both were anything less than top priority.Below are some of the highlights of our work that show the breadth...
delanoarchitecture.com delanoarchitecture.com
 
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Appreciate the replies. It's currently zoned R5 but surrounded by R6 which is part of the reason I'm trying to find someone with experience w/zoning vs the city. We'd need to petition to change and match the surrounding zoning if we have any chance of building anything of significant size.
 
You may want to call Acorn Engineering - I've noticed that they've been running point on several recent zoning requests and site plan approvals that have come through the city.

They're not architects, they're engineers, but you'd need to engage an engineer anyhow if you're thinking about a multifamily project.

acorn-engineering.com

Home - Acorn Engineering

Acorn Engineering is an award winning firm that specializes in providing urban redevelopment, civil/site design, environmental services, municipal consulting and construction administration.
acorn-engineering.com acorn-engineering.com

Also take a look at the city's "ReCode" proposals, which are generally on track to allow more housing in each zone. If you're lucky may let you avoid the hassle of a rezoning request, which is an expensive bit of red tape.
 
Also as I'm sure you know, if you're in (or abutting) a historic district, your project would also need a review by the Historic Preservation board and/or HP administrative review, which adds an extra step.
 
cneal said:
You may want to call Acorn Engineering
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Nice, Acorn were already on my engineering shortlist so I'll definitely reach out to them - thanks!

Lucky to not be in or against a historic district! That's about the only win haha
 

Boston Financial Fund to Support 1,081 Affordable Homes​

The LIHTC syndicator has closed $131 million in its latest multi-investor fund.​

The Equinox, a 43-unit affordable housing community in Portland, Maine, is among the developments in Boston Financial’s latest low-income housing tax credit fund.

The Equinox, a 43-unit affordable housing community in Portland, Maine, is among the developments in Boston Financial’s latest low-income housing tax credit fund.

“Boston Financial has announced the closing of a $131 million low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) fund, its first multi-investor fund of the year.

Boston Financial Institutional Tax Credits 58 (ITC 58) will deploy capital across 12 developer partnerships, supporting 1,081 homes.

The fund will aid developers in creating new or preserving existing affordable housing in 15 communities. The properties are in nine states—California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

“Successfully closing this fund in the current economic environment speaks to the extraordinary commitment of our capital partners and the Boston Financial team,” said Todd D. Jones, senior managing director and head of tax credit equity production at Boston Financial. “We are thrilled with the outcome and extremely grateful to our investor and developer partners for staying the course and helping us deliver on our collective vision of creating a future where everyone has a home, one investment at a time.”

The firm secured commitments from five institutional investors, including four regional and national banks and a large insurance company.

Eight properties in the latest fund will provide supportive services for residents, including veterans services, elder care, case management for formerly unhoused people, employment assistance, care for those escaping domestic violence, health and dental care, food and utility assistance, legal assistance, and child care resources.

These are communities like the Equinox in Portland, Maine, developed in partnership with Portland-based nonprofit Community Housing of Maine and the Portland Housing Development Corp. The Equinox is part of a larger redevelopment of a historic hospital that will include 95 affordable homes for seniors and families and 15 units set aside for people who have been staying at a local family homeless shelter….”

https://www.housingfinance.com/finance/boston-financial-fund-to-support-1-081-affordable-homes_o
 
It's the time of year when new tax credit-funded affordable housing developments are trying to get planning board approval in order to score better in Maine Housing's competitive tax credit allocation process.

There's another intriguing Historic Preservation application for an adaptive reuse/addition on the Williston Chuch on High Street across from the Eastland:
https://selfservice.portlandmaine.g...8-72ac-4810-ba9e-029810582b53?tab=attachments

We present a comprehensive proposal for the adaptive reuse of the current parish house, aiming to preserve its historical significance while addressing the critical need for affordable housing in our community. The project involves transforming the existing parish house into 21 Maine State Housing affordable units, with a thoughtful and meticulous approach to maintaining the integrity of the church, chapel, and two meeting spaces.

The adaptive reuse plan entails converting the current office spaces, classrooms, and performance space on the third floor of the parish house into residential units. Simultaneously, we propose a sensitive 5-story addition that includes parking on the ground floor and three residential units per floor, totaling 12 additional units above the parking structure.
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Kind of sad to see the demise of the church and its congregation but a 5 story residential addition is a positive for that area of downtown while still preserving the historic integrity of the church building.
 
From the application letter I actually got the impression that the church is staying – the letter describes a conversion of office and performance space on the 3rd floor of the parish house, with 9 units in the existing structure and 12 more in a new addition.

Here's the property in question – I think that the parish house is the structure in the middle facing Deering St., and I'm guessing the new addition would replace the parking lot in back:

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Very likely unless they own or are planning to purchase the "real estate" home on the right though it may be historically protected.
 
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