Old Port Square (née Canal Plaza) | Portland

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I was in San Antonio last week, downtown, and wow what a fun place to be. It's teeming with activity and not far from its riverwalk there is an observation tower (Tower of the Americas) that is a bit taller (750 feet) than the height of what Old Port Square will be. At night it has some interesting lights emanating from the restaurant on top and it's fun to watch the lit exterior elevators climb up. This structure ENHANCES San Antonio's downtown. And so will Old Port Square with its interesting illumination and sight positioning from the many boats in Portland Harbor. And with this new building, Jim Brady's beautiful hotel conversion for the Fidelity Trust building and the new PMA addition, proper life and visitors will return to the core of downtown. Just be a little tougher on the people who loiter and break the law (illegal drug use and theft) so that residents can feel safe, that's all. Is that too much to ask from the city? Doing its job?


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mainejeff said:
I tried to but.....nope.

If they take the roof line off....it is a decent looking building. Just ditch that thing!
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It'd be nice to have a tall building clad in glass rather than brick (or some faux material installed in panels).

If they wanted to resemble a Light House - they missed the mark.
 
TC_zoid said:
I was in San Antonio last week, downtown, and wow what a fun place to be. It's teeming with activity and not far from its riverwalk there is an observation tower (Tower of the Americas) that is a bit taller (750 feet) than the height of what Old Port Square will be. At night it has some interesting lights emanating from the restaurant on top and it's fun to watch the lit exterior elevators climb up. This structure ENHANCES San Antonio's downtown. And so will Old Port Square with its interesting illumination and sight positioning from the many boats in Portland Harbor. And with this new building, Jim Brady's beautiful hotel conversion for the Fidelity Trust building and the new PMA addition, proper life and visitors will return to the core of downtown. Just be a little tougher on the people who loiter and break the law (illegal drug use and theft) so that residents can feel safe, that's all. Is that too much to ask from the city? Doing its job?


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I'm glad you got to enjoy SA - Riverwalk is gorgeous. It's like Providence's Waterplace Park but 5x the size and with quality retail/dining lining the entire thing.

Out of Texas' Big 4, SA may be the smallest and least-renowned nationally, but it's also the most livable and intimate.
 
I'm sure they're trying to start the break from the prior name, but I would think N Canal Plaza would be more meaningful to most of the neighbors than 200 Middle. I had to look up the address of Urban Outfitters (188, as it turns out) to be sure.
 
Did anyone attend the neighborhood meeting? (Or Jacob- is there a recording available to watch?)
 
Hi all! It has been great to see all the dialogue and perspectives that have been happening in this forum over the past few months while I've been absent. @Max I don't have a recording of the neighborhood meeting that I can share as we did not take one, but I would encourage anyone who is interested in participating in the ongoing Major Site Plan process for 45 Union Street to attend the Planning Board workshop on 9/23. Information can be found on our website here: https://www.oldportsquare.com/events/planning-board-workshop.
 
If the Old Port Square tower eventually tops out at 383' tall it would exceed the height of the tallest building in 13 other states:

ALASKA Anchorage (296')
DELAWARE Wilmington (360')
IDAHO Boise (323')
MISSISSIPPI Biloxi (347')
MONTANA Billings (272')
NEW HAMPSHIRE Manchester (275')
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque (351')
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck (242')
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia (349')
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls (174')
VERMONT Burlington (141')
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston (293')
WYOMING Cheyenne (143')

Currently, "The Casco" exceeds the tallest in only three states. Old Port Square would also be 94' taller than Worcester Plaza and The 6Hundred at 289' and would only be 18' shorter than Monarch Place which is Springfield's tallest. If Tim can add three more feet it would beat out the Epic Center in Wichita (385') and add KANSAS to the list!
 
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Taking the "tallest building north of Boston" to its logical end, and noting that Springfield is south of Boston (even if we take I-90 as the divider west of 128), 383' would not only beat out the rest of northern New England, it also is taller than any building in North America east of Montreal, save the Édifice Marie-Guyart in Quebec City, which is 43'. (Presumably, if we count the whole world north of the Boston parallel, the tallest building would likely be The Shard in London.)

I discovered something while researching this that may lead me to revive one of the puzzle threads....
 
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