Maine Public Broadcasting Bldg. | 25 Commercial St. | Portland

I want to see the photos they used for those two old-Portland mural walls! There aren't many good aerial shots like that showing Spring St. when it didn't go all the way through to Temple, or the intact Grant Trunk wharves.

(I also had to wonder if any of those studio spaces would have been big enough to bring back the auction).
 
PWMFlyer said:
Very impressed with the video. MP hit a home run on this. I wish all developers would have a presentation like this. What is going to happen with the Galt Building next door?
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Couldn’t have said it better myself. This video presentation was perfectly executed and I’m very excited to see this passed and break ground!
 
Max said:
They had their first workshop with the HPB last night. The board seemed generally receptive (although I wasn't listening that closely). The developers played this video at the start of their presentation: https://www.mainepublic.org/a-new-home-for-maine-public-virtual-tour

Looks like they're going to build a really state-of-the-art facility.
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The facade of the building resembles a scaled down version of the new Maine Med building in a way.
 
A couple of the more prickly members of the HPB were not that enthused about the front facade, one even likening it to a "jail, or an accordian." The architects explained that the vertical windows (which include some mechanism for reducing sun glare) are intended to help reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the building, especially in the summer. There was also some back and forth about the amount of greenspace and vegetation being proposed, with a couple HPB members suggesting vegetation along commercial street would be incongruous with the historic district. :rolleyes:
 
Max said:
A couple of the more prickly members of the HPB were not that enthused about the front facade, one even likening it to a "jail, or an accordian." The architects explained that the vertical windows (which include some mechanism for reducing sun glare) are intended to help reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the building, especially in the summer. There was also some back and forth about the amount of greenspace and vegetation being proposed, with a couple HPB members suggesting vegetation along commercial street would be incongruous with the historic district. :rolleyes:
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Funny I made my "green" post before seeing this. Are they crazy? More trees are ALWAYS better.....this development looks awesome as is.
 
Max said:
A couple of the more prickly members of the HPB were not that enthused about the front facade, one even likening it to a "jail, or an accordian." The architects explained that the vertical windows (which include some mechanism for reducing sun glare) are intended to help reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the building, especially in the summer. There was also some back and forth about the amount of greenspace and vegetation being proposed, with a couple HPB members suggesting vegetation along commercial street would be incongruous with the historic district. :rolleyes:
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Do you know what members that might be? I would like to respond to their assertion that vegetation is incongruous with the historic district. As a landscape designer and urban forester for forty years I have often encountered this type of blatant ignorance on the part of municipal officials. They need to be educated.
 
If you start watching the video at about the 1h 30m mark, there ensues a 5-6 minute discussion of the street level planter and the requirement for green space on/around the building. If you're willing to keep watching my recollection is the topic comes up again later in the meeting, but I don't recall where exactly.

Historic Preservation Meeting (3rd Wednesday of the Month)

portlandme.civicclerk.com portlandme.civicclerk.com
 
Not that this is historic, but Boston's Seaport District is using one street as a public greenway with a virtual miniaturized wilderness. I've seen numerous designs around the country planned on this idea, bringing back some nature to the city. And look at Post Office Park with its trees and embedded large rocks. So cool and fun to hang out there, and in the middle of 19th Century era buildings.
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My observation is that Maine residents in general don't seem to value trees beyond their economic impact for timber and firewood harvesting. I don't know if it stems from an overabundance of trees where people just become numb to it all....but you just don't see a lot of conservation efforts in preserving trees...especially in urban areas. It's a totally different story out West....or even in the Midwest and South. There seems to be a rigid pragmatic approach to forests here as well.....older trees are thought to be past their prime and should be cut down and chipped. How about we let some of these ancient trees grow (as long as they are healthy) so that future generations can enjoy them?
 
mainejeff said:
My observation is that Maine residents in general don't seem to value trees beyond their economic impact for timber and firewood harvesting. I don't know if it stems from an overabundance of trees where people just become numb to it all....but you just don't see a lot of conservation efforts in preserving trees...especially in urban areas. It's a totally different story out West....or even in the Midwest and South. There seems to be a rigid pragmatic approach to forests here as well.....older trees are thought to be past their prime and should be cut down and chipped. How about we let some of these ancient trees grow (as long as they are healthy) so that future generations can enjoy them?
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I agree with this mostly, however Westbrook has a huge tree planting campaign. If a city tree is lost, diseased, and must come down they always replace it. In my case, I lost three old maple trees in front of my house that were cracking and dangerous. The city took them down in preparation for repaving the street the following year. They have since replaced them with three new trees. The other half of my street was just repaved this year and they added a row of maples up the entire side of the street where there were no trees at all. They've always been incredibly responsive with questions, concerns about tree health, and replanting. A Westbrook friend of mine also had a mostly dead city tree in front of her house. She called the city with her concerns, and they agreed it was dying and dangerous to her property. They took it down, ground the stump, and replaced it with a new tree. Westbrook is committed to this.
 
South Portland has a tree protection policy that protects them through the planning process. Portland also has a heritage tree protection policy in the historic districts.
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DanielPWM19 said:
I agree with this mostly, however Westbrook has a huge tree planting campaign. If a city tree is lost, diseased, and must come down they always replace it. In my case, I lost three old maple trees in front of my house that were cracking and dangerous. The city took them down in preparation for repaving the street the following year. They have since replaced them with three new trees. The other half of my street was just repaved this year and they added a row of maples up the entire side of the street where there were no trees at all. They've always been incredibly responsive with questions, concerns about tree health, and replanting. A Westbrook friend of mine also had a mostly dead city tree in front of her house. She called the city with her concerns, and they agreed it was dying and dangerous to her property. They took it down, ground the stump, and replaced it with a new tree. Westbrook is committed to this.
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Westbrook's program is pretty good in most respects, however there have been some glaring examples of mismanagement as well where very healthy trees have been removed unnecessarily when work is being done on a property. One example was the removal of beautiful little leaf lindens that were cut down in front of what is now Portland Pie when they redeveloped that building. The trees were in no way a nuisance and not causing damage to sidewalks or curbing. They were replaced with Ginkgo that are not thriving unfortunately.
 
PWMFlyer said:
South Portland has a tree protection policy that protects them through the planning process. Portland also has a heritage tree protection policy in the historic districts.View attachment 31159
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Both programs that have been questionably enforced and there seems to be little concern for non-historic areas and new developments. The fact is that trees mitigate heat gain in the environments they inhabit thus reducing electricity demands for air conditioning.
 
DanielPWM19 said:
I agree with this mostly, however Westbrook has a huge tree planting campaign. If a city tree is lost, diseased, and must come down they always replace it. In my case, I lost three old maple trees in front of my house that were cracking and dangerous. The city took them down in preparation for repaving the street the following year. They have since replaced them with three new trees. The other half of my street was just repaved this year and they added a row of maples up the entire side of the street where there were no trees at all. They've always been incredibly responsive with questions, concerns about tree health, and replanting. A Westbrook friend of mine also had a mostly dead city tree in front of her house. She called the city with her concerns, and they agreed it was dying and dangerous to her property. They took it down, ground the stump, and replaced it with a new tree. Westbrook is committed to this.
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That's great to hear regarding Westbrook....I don't think that is the case everywhere. Waterville has also planted many trees on Main St. after their redesign and paving. If you haven't seen downtown Waterville lately...WOW. I will say that the tide seems to be turning somewhat....I think that many people moving here from other states want trees in their life.

Personally I was lucky enough to buy acreage that includes a ton of mature trees including some monstrous pines and a beautiful grove of hemlock. The lady that lived here for decades never allowed anyone to cut on her land...we are reaping the benefits of that.
 
PlantArch said:
Westbrook's program is pretty good in most respects, however there have been some glaring examples of mismanagement as well where very healthy trees have been removed unnecessarily when work is being done on a property. One example was the removal of beautiful little leaf lindens that were cut down in front of what is now Portland Pie when they redeveloped that building. The trees were in no way a nuisance and not causing damage to sidewalks or curbing. They were replaced with Ginkgo that are not thriving unfortunately.
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Agreed - I was pretty sad when I saw these trees come down. I couldn't understand why at all. Now they have either gingko or weird cultivated mini-oak trees.
 
Sad news....This project is officially dead. Maine Public is going to be moving into the former public market building on Prebble / Cumberland.

Apparently Maine Public had some fundraising issues and the board wasn't fully supportive of the huge upfront cost for constructing a new HQ and wanted funds directed elsewhere.
 
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