Maine Medical Center Expansion | Portland

And it will keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Why not another hospital to create more competition? Many surgeries are cheaper in Boston (see PPH article on that). I was kind of hoping for a return to the train station here (with a bus depot) as the train would not have to back up from Thompson's Point. MMC has such a large footprint now, and perhaps even becomes doubled from what you see on the hill when you factor in all its remotely located clinics, admin services, and specialties. How big is too big?

https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/mainehealth-buys-portlands-union-station-plaza-for-168-million
 
" The buyer said it has no plans to develop the property, purchased from the Union Station LMT Partnership, at this time."
uh huh, sure, yeah....MaineMed keeping their cards close to their chest here

What Maine needs is a good research hospital...Like Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Tufts or UVM Medical.

My grand (and very unrealistic) vision: Redevelop the Union Station Plaza into a biomed research campus with laboratory and advanced treatment facilities...Relocate the Cumberland County Jail (The facility is old and outdated anyway) and create a new mixed-use neighborhood that integrates the Mercy Hospital Fore River Campus with MaineMed...all anchored by a relocated and expanded Train Station with hourly trains to Boston...Portland's version of the Boston Landing project...
 
This was the vision I posted for the property in the Crazy Transit Pitches thread back in February 2021 - a mixed-use urban development with a connecting train station

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@Dr. StrangeHat the scale of your photoshop is a bit off (The real life frontage of these buildings on Causeway St. in Boston is ~900 Ft, and the frontage between the former Maine Central Building and the corner of Congress is ~620 feet)... but I agree that a transit-oriented project of a similar size would be incredible! Portland deserves a proper, modern train station located on the mainline with room to expand and grow, not an afterthought addition to a bus depot that hasn't been renovated since the mid 90's
 
Cosakita18 said:
@Dr. StrangeHat the scale of your photoshop is a bit off (The real life frontage of these buildings on Causeway St. in Boston is ~900 Ft, and the frontage between the former Maine Central Building and the corner of Congress is ~620 feet)... but I agree that a transit-oriented project of a similar size would be incredible! Portland deserves a proper, modern train station located on the mainline with room to expand and grow, not an afterthought addition to a bus depot that hasn't been renovated since the mid 90's
Click to expand...

Yeah, I scaled it down to fit the property. This was more conceptual than anything.
 
My concern is that they will tear down the other attached parking garage on Congress Street and build a replacement where the strip mall is.

I would be okay with a parking garage if it incorporated the desired transportation hub, medical housing, offices, research/laboratory centers, and so on. Maine Med would need some incentive to build a transportation hub though.

If they were smart, they'd do something to consolidate the cluster-fuck of buildings on the existing hospital campus and create more meaningful/sensible additions.

I believe they also own the giant surface-lot on Chadwick/Bramhall and McGeachy Hall on Vaughn. I used to live in the Bowdoin on Chadwick St ages ago. There were medical offices on the first couple of floors. Some of the apartments were leased by the hospital for doctors doing their residencies. They also own the old Bus Station, Pizza Villa Building right?

In my humble opinion, they should build some kind of housing for med school residents, building the transportation hub (with parking), and the research/lab centers. Connecting with Mercy would be smart too.

With the development of a Soccer Stadium, potential updates to Hadlock - there will be need for housing and hotels in this area too. I'm surprised there aren't any hotels near the hospital. This whole area could see an explosion of development in the next 10-20 years. If the Prison goes, then that's also a ton of real estate. Portland should redesign the I-295 Ramps around Congress and Fore River Parkway to open up land for development as well.
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I don't see the jail going anywhere; it was built in the early 90's and if I were on the county commission I'd see it as more of a 50+ year investment than a 30-year one.

However, MMC buying the plaza is interesting, mainly because the state is looking at that area for a new Amtrak station. The only two decent spots in the area they want to be in are the plaza and the Ferguson showroom south of the new MMC garage.
 
"Maine Health said it has no plans to redevelop the property at this time." This statement comes from a company that decided it had to expand in the middle of building its current expansion (adding two larger floors on top). I'd venture to say that by February their intentions will be known, and I'm assuming it will be big. Perhaps it will be a research arm or children's hospital. The latter, of which will probably have a fun front plaza sculpture in the idea and scale as the one at NYU Langone Health. It's what you do now, I guess.


KimmelPavilion_Spot_01_web.jpg
 
With Congress Square getting rid of the Union Station clock, this would be a great time to return the clock to its proper place. That would be my first order of business..
 
I believe the parking lot on Chadwick St was a water reservoir until 1962. Wondering if this lot is buildable since it has been a parking lot for 60 years.
 
It's the doctors' parking lot AFAIK, although also open to visitors and patients the last I checked, so they may be reluctant to get rid of it And yes, it's a former reservoir (as are the Promenade East tennis courts).
 
PWMFlyer said:
With Congress Square getting rid of the Union Station clock, this would be a great time to return the clock to its proper place. That would be my first order of business..
Click to expand...
Seriously? I didn't realize the clock (and also maybe the piece of granite from the station?) was coming out. I know various City Councilors have definitely wanted to see it restored to a new permanent train station whenever such was built (the current one is owned by Concord Coach).
 
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