Portland Foreside | 58 Fore Street | Portland

This seems to be the most recent rendering of the plan for the west end of the Hamilton Marine building - Compass has the lease listed as pending, so hopefully this gets filled in soon.

27263513_Hamilton_Marine_Rendering-wpcf_650x400.jpg
 
Big new site plan application for our emerging Douchebag District:

Plan PL-002202-2022

No application documents have been uploaded yet, but the overview describes it as "blocks 4 and 6" (which suggests a future "Block 5" project). IIRC, according to the old master plan, block 6 would have been the tallest building on the far eastern end of the site, next to the old Portland House tower.

Also of interest: the application says that the project will demolish 18 units/16,000 SF of existing housing – and since the Portland Co. site doesn't currently have any housing on it, I have a hunch this means that the developers have acquired at least one of the abutting properties up on Fore Street/Eastern Prom to enlarge their site.

CSS site says that this application would build 411 apartments in 430,000 square feet of buildings.

PLUS 696 parking spaces 🤮
 
cneal said:
Big new site plan application for our emerging Douchebag District:

Plan PL-002202-2022

No application documents have been uploaded yet, but the overview describes it as "blocks 4 and 6" (which suggests a future "Block 5" project). IIRC, according to the old master plan, block 6 would have been the tallest building on the far eastern end of the site, next to the old Portland House tower.

Also of interest: the application says that the project will demolish 18 units/16,000 SF of existing housing – and since the Portland Co. site doesn't currently have any housing on it, I have a hunch this means that the developers have acquired at least one of the abutting properties up on Fore Street/Eastern Prom to enlarge their site.

CSS site says that this application would build 411 apartments in 430,000 square feet of buildings.

PLUS 696 parking spaces 🤮
Click to expand...
Good find! I would think it has to be those two structures which are set back from EP (13 and 19 EP according to Google Maps) that would be removed. The large house at 5 EP just finished renovations months ago so I doubt it would be removed - and it may be historic (I can't remember what happened with the MH historic district?).
 
Actually, now that I think of it, I believe I was walking by the driveway to 13 and 19 EP a few days ago and saw a geotechnical crew on site doing or preparing to do a test drilling. I could be wrong. Didn't think much of it at the time, but this would make sense.
 
I think the day they file a site plan that shows buildings that might in any way infringe upon the water views of wealthy homeowners on Munjoy Hill (the original Douchebag District, so named because they actually made douchebags on the hill back when it was just a rough industrial area) those people are going to be on the phone to their lawyers discussing how they can gum up the process long enough for it to be altered or abandoned...
 
Some more evidence: the Assessor's database shows that the .6-acre parcel at 19 Eastern Prom (with 4 residential buildings on it) and the adjacent building at 21 Eastern Prom are both owned by "21 EASTERN PROM LLC," which has an address at 254 Commercial Street.

PF Land LLC, the owner of the Portland Co. site in the assessor's database, is also at 254 Commercial.

Also, the property sales records from the Assessor's Database show that both 19 and 21 Eastern Prom had been in the same family since at least 1997, but sold for $8 million at the end of 2021 to 21 Eastern Prom LLC.
 
411 apartments? These are luxury units, and so bigger sized and far more impactful with the footprint. "Your View. Your Home." Hey, they Photoshopped out the oil tanks across the bay. Tricky. Not that I like them--I wish they were gone--but kind of misleading. If these apartments become condos the place will be a ghost town in the winter.
 
58fore.com has been up for a bit. The concern I have is that the development will want, or try, to build most of the units as condos. That would mean the area becomes a ghost town in the winter, like what happened with Rowes Wharf in Boston. It becomes a place for the rich in the summer (it's already something like this with the boating community from the marina). The original spirit of this project pitched with Jim Brady was a far more unifying build. I trust him, but then he was forced out a while back. That in itself implies something disturbing. Look at the new restaurant, Twelve. It's from the sous-chef of Daniel Boulud. I've been to that restaurant in Manhattan (though not on my dime). It's as pretentious as it gets. At least when the development had the marina bar it was unifying to all. So far, we've got an internationally based insurance company, a high-priced restaurant, and super yachts, one of which this summer had a helicopter sitting on the stern. Not Maine in Maine, as I like to say, though sometimes I like that idea. But not for this one.
 
The original plan called for a variety of eating establishments and bars on the retail levels; hopefully that's still the case, although I haven't looked at their site for a while.
 
Well, considering that that portlandforeside.com domain is coming up as "Domain not claimed" courtesy of Squarespace, I'm not sure they're interested in hiring competent digital marketing people, either.

Also, the site says that EVO Kitchen & Bar is going to move into the former Pattern Storehouse. Isn't that the building they had to move, which Twelve is now in? Is there room for another restaurant in there?
 
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If you remember, it was a big campaign by them to re-zone this area due to its original waterfront plan. It was three partners, and one was Jim Brady. The other two are relatively young and inexperienced. Soon after, Brady was out of the picture (who was key to it happening). He is the local with development experience who understands doing business with Mainers. This new "team" does not seem to care. The Portland Co. building reconstruct has become simply a P.R. gimmick. They appear to being doing this endeavor piecemeal. Sure, something else will be constructed here, but don't expect anything dynamic and fun like the original Quincy Market was in Boston. If I were them, avoid the disappointment and lease the entire retail space out to a brand like Time Out Market (Boston and lower Manhattan). At least that way, it's guaranteed of a cool vibe with food and drink offerings that are reasonably priced. If you haven't been to the one near Fenway, it's a treat. Bissell's loosely associated Trillium Brewery has a tasting room and patio adjacent. If Bissell did something similar, that would be cool. But I'm not expecting much from this waterside "development," other than them developing a kind of irregularity. I don't think they want the public hanging around, or much. And Rock Row is looking like a disaster. Thank God Thompson's Point turned out better than their original plan. If 58 Fore allowed serious input from the more artistic and creative of locals there could be something good here.
 
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Agreed. Finding the right mix of tenants for the 'market hall' is going to be key - and handing it over might be the best option for young/inexperienced developers - but there's no hope for that and little hope it will be done anything close to right. I haven't been to any of the Time Out Market locations, but that sort of food/entertainment would be great. Were you thinking of Chelsea Market in Manhattan? I only see a BK location in NY. Chelsea Market model might work well too - similar idea except it has retail. (edit: maybe there isn't much retail at Chelsea Market, my memory of it is hazy. Of course looking on the site after I posted and it looks like just an Anthropologie. But I still think adding retail into the mix in this development would be ideal)

For me it's too early to make a determination on Thompson's Point. What's there is decent, but there are still so many opportunities to screw it up.
 
Looks like they've got their marketing website up. Not much in the way of exterior renderings but some insight into what they're hoping to develop... 3 "distinct residential communities"... Channel Mark, The Promenade, Harbor Hill... barf. I just don't see how this wouldn't become an enclave of seasonal residents and investors that was dead eight months out of the year. Even if the "food hall" became something cool like what the Portland Public Market could have been, not enough people are going to make a trip to this area to shop for food in January when there are so many other options in greater Portland.

residences — Portland Foreside Development

www.portlandforeside.com www.portlandforeside.com
 
Max said:
Looks like they've got their marketing website up. Not much in the way of exterior renderings but some insight into what they're hoping to develop... 3 "distinct residential communities"... Channel Mark, The Promenade, Harbor Hill... barf. I just don't see how this wouldn't become an enclave of seasonal residents and investors that was dead eight months out of the year. Even if the "food hall" became something cool like what the Portland Public Market could have been, not enough people are going to make a trip to this area to shop for food in January when there are so many other options in greater Portland.

residences — Portland Foreside Development

www.portlandforeside.com www.portlandforeside.com
Click to expand...
Agreed. They inserted a pic of the helicopter on the yacht from this past June (billionaire Lorenzo Fertitta's yacht), one with a bottle of white wine (probably not TJ's cheap), and another pic of the yachts from last year. I'd say this endeavor is ONLY for condo buyers... $799K and up to $5-6 million. And yes, a dead zone from November to May (7 months). Harbor Hill must be for the lower-class types, or under one million.
 
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They couldn’t get a Time Out here but Hub Hall like at TD would be good

They should go hard after Trillium or Tree House though. Those are destination breweries that would pull in traffic and young $$ all year
 
Walking through this evening, I noticed this massing model prominently displayed in the window next to the main entrance of the Sun Life building:

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No idea how current this is – note that it doesn't show any changes on the Fore Street properties discussed above that are part of the most recent site plan application.

Also, the new stairway between the plaza and Fore Street is open to the public:

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