It most definitely isn't the end.... Im sure those idiots will try to bring it to court to get their way. The city's legal counsel doesn't seem that concerned however.
Yeah, but's it's not the potential for this to be overturned in court that I'm worried about. It's the delays, which is what they're going for. As Peter Monro has been quoted as saying "the power to delay is the power to destory." It was the delays that eventually led to the demise of developments like Lincoln Square and The Waterview.
Below is part of the letter I sent to the Planning Board yesterday (I wasn't aware until afterwards that it needed to be sent by last Wednesday to be included) outlining what I like about this project. I know not everyone enjoys the architecture of these buildings, but the more I look at the renderings, the more I find that I like.
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Many negatives, as well as misleading and deceptive rhetoric, have been stated and published regarding the proposed midtown project. Much of that negativity and defensive positioning appears rooted in a deep-down fear of change possessed by some residents of Portland that prefer the status-quo. However, I want to take some time to point out the positives and benefits of the proposed midtown project, because I don’t think enough has been said to outline these traits.
To that end, below is a list of the many positives and benefits presented by this proposed development, to both the City of Portland and the Greater Portland region as a whole.
(1) While the Federated Companies is based in Boston and Miami, the bulk of the planning and consulting work appears to have been completed to date by local companies, including:
a. Shinberg Consulting – Portland, ME (developer’s representative)
b. Fay, Spofford & Thorndike – South Portland, ME (civil engineers)
c. Mitchell & Associates – Portland, ME (landscape architect)
d. The Louis Berger Group – Portland, ME (traffic engineer)
e. Owen & Haskell – Falmouth, ME (land survey)
f. CWS Architects – Portland, ME (parking garage architect)
g. Drummond Woodsum – Portland, ME (legal counsel)
To me, this shows a commitment to the City of Portland and Greater Portland. Federated could have brought in out-of-state consultants that are more familiar to them, but they have already made the right decision to work locally to build this project. I presume this will continue during the construction phase of the project.
(2) In addition to the above, Federated Companies previously owned the Bayside Village student housing on Marginal Way. Prior to their purchase of that property, the Bayside Village was mired in mismanagement and rowdy tenant behavior. Federated was able to rehabilitate the property, and today it stands as a testament to their apartment management ability and strengths.
(3) Based on what I could find on-line, it appears the property associated with Phase One of this development is currently made up of five parcels that are assessed at a total of $880,900. The City owns these properties, so the city is not collecting any real estate taxes on the properties. However, based on the city’s mill rate of $19.41, it could be collecting $17,098 annually in real estate taxes if these properties were owned by a for-profit entity. Phase One of this development is slated to cost around $38,000,000. If that were to hold as the project’s assessed value, then Phase One alone would generate $737,580 annually in real estate taxes, which is a 4214% increase from the $17,098 these properties could be generating in their current state today.
(4) In addition to the above, those likely to live in these buildings probably won’t generate equal expenses for the city, because: (a) most will not have children that would increase education expenses for the city; and (b) many will not have vehicles that would increase transportation expenses for the city. According to numerous studies, young professionals (who are the most likely to live in these buildings) today are putting off starting families and forgoing vehicle ownership. As such, the tax revenue generated by this project will likely exceed any added expenses to the city, resulting in a net gain and extra revenue for the city to use elsewhere.
(5) It is no secret that rents are increasing throughout the city, but they are especially increasing on the main peninsula. This is due primarily to the ever increasing demand for market-rate housing in the city without much, if any, increase in the supply of market-rate housing. It is simple economics, whether the opposition wishes to believe that or not. The 675 apartments proposed in this development will represent much needed market-rate supply, thus decreasing the upwards pressure on rental prices. If anything, its 675 apartments are not nearly enough, and at the same time midtown alone is not going to lead to a population boom in Portland. If you figure each apartment will be filled by an average of two residents, than that means the population increases by 1,350 over ten years. That’s an increase of only about 2%.
(6) As noted in recent articles in the Press Herald, Maine is not growing and getting older. Young adults are going to college elsewhere and not returning, and young professionals living here are relocating to other more-affordable cities as they are priced out of Portland (my wife and I being a prime example, though we at least stayed relatively local). Midtown is part of the answer. Anything else will not increase the housing supply nearly enough and will result in costlier apartments, especially due to the expense of building on environmentally sensitive and filled land. If you kill this project, then it will have a domino effect on both the housing market and business community. With a lack of enough young professionals living here to fill the void as baby-boomers retire, companies will look elsewhere. Keeping Portland affordable to young professionals that are wrought with student loan debt is a key to future economic development within Portland and in Maine. Midtown will help Portland remain a viable and business-friendly city.
(7) Portland is a high demand place right now, as are most urban areas across the country, because people are finding their ways back into urban areas. Even if Maine itself is not growing, Portland will grow in some way over the next 25-50 years, whether people like it or not (unless we manage to completely choke the city’s business community by pushing away young professionals). We need to consider what Portland and Greater Portland will look like 25-50 years from now, not just tomorrow or next year. If we continue to develop low-rise or in-fill housing and not use the land we have available today smartly by building up, then much of the undeveloped space you see today will be eaten up by sprawl-type development. It will first happen in Portland and then spread to Westbrook and South Portland. In order to prevent suburban sprawl from choking this area in the future, we need to build up while we still can. This is exactly what midtown is doing. They are building up, using urban land in a dense and smart manner. Regardless of what happens, failing to embrace smart, sustainable and environmentally-friendly growth is a dangerous precedent for our future, and failing to build up while we still can will only lead to us building out decades from now when there is no room left to grow. We need to takes steps now to ensure we grow smartly in the future.
(8) In addition to the above, we need to consider what Bayside will look like 25-50 years from now, not just what it will look like once this project is done. The entire area is poised to be developed should this project move forward. Sure, midtown might stick out for a little while, but eventually that will fade as the properties around midtown are developed and re-developed. Midtown is the first of hopefully many dominos for development in the area, but nothing will happen if that first domino isn’t tipped.
(9) Federated is moving forward using LEEDS building requirements to make this as environmentally-friendly a development as they can, which should be commended. If I had one critique of the project, it would be for them to add some sort of vegetation to the roofs of the parking garages to further reduce the heat-island effect. Perhaps urban gardens could be created on the tops of the parking garages that any Portland resident would be free to sign-up to use each summer.
(10) This development is going to create hundreds of construction jobs over ten years. The 100,000 square feet of retail space and building management aspects of the project will create dozens of permanent living-wage jobs for middle-class and lower-class residents of Portland. The eventual development surrounding this project will create hundreds more temporary and permanent jobs. The $150 million invested in this project will go directly into the Portland and Greater Portland economy, as will the millions of dollars generated annually from this project through retail businesses, restaurants, jobs and taxes.
(11) Some have criticized the architecture of the buildings as being “out of place” with Portland, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. Look at the skyline of Portland today. It is filled with older buildings devoid of color or imagination. It is a bland palette of browns, grays and weather-beaten brick. The back of Merrill Auditorium stands out as an aluminum-sided aesthetic abomination. The backs of the Fidelity and Time & Temperature Buildings are showing their age. The older parking garages along Cumberland Ave. have become forgotten and downtrodden. In comparison, look at the latest renderings of the midtown development, especially the views from I-295 and Marginal Way. Look at how well these buildings will look against a bright blue sky. Look at how the buildings draw influences from the USM Library and 84 Marginal Way. Look at how the parking garages will be the most architecturally interesting and pleasing parking garages in the entire city. This is exactly the kind of color and imagination that the Portland skyline is missing. This is also the kind of three-dimensional depth that is missing from the Portland skyline as viewed from I-295 and Back Cove. The skyline should be more than a two-dimensional row of buildings along Congress Street, and you need to simply look at the skyline as viewed from across the Fore River to see how a three-dimensional skyline is more pleasing.
(12) This development is not going to negatively impact any other neighborhoods in Portland. Portland will retain its charm, because the Old Port, Arts District, West End and East End will remain exactly the same (well, except they may become a little more affordable). People don’t want to visit here and live her because it has the charm of a quaint New England village. People want to visit here and live her because it is a vibrant city filled with all of the amenities of a big city, without the crowding or traffic. They come here and stay here because it feels like a big city without actually being a big city. We could build ten midtowns, and it still wouldn’t become a big city with crowding or traffic. We could build fifty midtowns, and it still wouldn’t become a big city with crowding or traffic. Portland will remain Portland, despite the fears of those opposing this project.
(13) The development is going to lead to increased usage of the Bayside Trail. Today that trail is barely used, especially when it bakes in the midday summer sun. The midtown project will not only put people living directly next to it, but it will provide some much-needed shade during the heat of the midday summer sun, which isn't a bad thing as the opposition would have you to believe. The added vegetation proposed by the midtown landscape architects will enhance the aesthetic of the trail compared to its current state, and the retail and restaurants surrounding the development will draw people from other neighborhoods and communities to the Bayside Trail.
In conclusion, no project is going to please everyone, especially when many are failing to look outside of their comfortable box of life to be forward thinking about this project. Federated has shown that they are more than willing to alter their plans and compromise to better accommodate the contentions or fears of the opponents of the project, yet the opponents of the project have been completely uncompromising. They see this as black and white, and I fear the outcome of the misdirected power they are wielding. To fight to improve this project is one thing, but fighting to outright kill the project without compromise or an open mind is a failure to see any and all of the positives and benefits of this project.
