Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

great photos guys. thx for sharing!

edit: does anyone know if the fore st hotel will have condo apartments on the top floor for sale? ala the hampton inn ?
 
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Thanks for the great photos both of you. It's great to see so much going on in Portland.

Any word on what hotel brand the developers of the former Press Herald building are courting? Kimpton would be an excellent fit, they have a great track record of redeveloping historic buildings and they have a loyal clientele base who look to stay in their "boutique" style hotels wherever they travel.
 
Kimpton brand would be ideal and I think they'd love to working with the newspaper theme. Restaurant has a chance to be really good. Lots of old articles blown up on walls
 
Ikea demands around 2 million people in a 40-60 mile radius to open a store. Not gonna cut it here
 
grittys457 said:
Ikea demands around 2 million people in a 40-60 mile radius to open a store. Not gonna cut it here
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They have numerous locations in the Northeast , some on top of each other and same with Europe with less then that. IKEA doesn't set rules for store location , they try to fit the needs of each region. They also like hip / trendy areas....so Maine or Portland fits that.
 
grittys457 said:
No, they would not put one here. Google Ikea population
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Those seem like educated guesses , Connecticut has an Ikea in New Haven , and Hawaii is getting an Ikea on Oahu....so that blog and its connections lose credibility... So Portland can most certainly receive an Ikea.
 
Nexis4jersey said:
Those seem like educated guesses , Connecticut has an Ikea in New Haven , and Hawaii is getting an Ikea on Oahu....so that blog and its connections lose credibility... So Portland can most certainly receive an Ikea.
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Having been to several, I don't understand your fascination with Ikea. They are the Walmart of furniture. It's a giant boxy store with wood. One can get far superior stuff at similar prices at the many furniture and home furnishing stores around Portland.

While the presence of international corporate machinery can help provide some measure of economic stability to an area, to me Ikea is not a barometer of prosperity and it certainly wouldn't be high on my wish list for the Portland area.
 
Well said Max! In addition, an Ikea would not be located downtown and would provide no benefit to the development of Portland's central core. I realize that life in the suburbs plays an important role in the overall vitality and stability of Greater Portland, but I think that most of us here are extremely loyal to the progress and revitalization of downtown Portland.
 
Nexis4jersey said:
Thats like Walmart, Ikea has a more diverse feel to it and sells local products in its stores.....and they have Swedish food which is freshly made their each day.
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Costco is NOT like Wal-Mart.......and I shopped in IKEA in San Diego all the time and NEVER saw any local products.
 
Nexis4jersey said:
They have numerous locations in the Northeast , some on top of each other and same with Europe with less then that. IKEA doesn't set rules for store location , they try to fit the needs of each region. They also like hip / trendy areas....so Maine or Portland fits that.
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They have exactly TWO stores in all of New England.......and nothing North of Stoughton, MA. They aren't coming to Portland, ME.
 
We can't even keep an urban outfitters open. That's my guess for next big closure
 
Anyway.........slightly off topic but worthy of Portland discussion........is there ever any talk of an aquarium in Portland anymore? Gotta think that Portland tourist and local traffic would support some type of aquarium development. I know that Ripley's Entertainment runs a very nice aquarium in Tennessee Smokies......and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga is also very nice.......

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2 world class aquariums far from the ocean in Tennessee.......LOL.

Seems to me like Thompson's Point would be a GREAT place for something like this.
 
Construction has started on the Marriott on Commercial Street @ Maple. Looks like it will be a close race with the Hyatt on Fore Street which broke ground last week, to see which hotel opens first!
 
^I already mentioned this in that thread, but I would be okay with a separate Portland subforum. Curious to hear the thoughts of other Portlanders.

Some photos from today, a beautiful March morning in Maine:

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Saw them putting scaffolding back up around that brick building across from the art museum and state theater. Finally, they stopped working on it for over a year I think. Saw my uncle out there. He could probably do the whole thing himself.
 
I don't think it has been mentioned here yet, but I'm excited to see how this new cargo service in Portland changes western waterfront:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/citys-new-cargo-service-set-to-deliver_2013-03-11.html

I've heard that Sprague might abandon or alter his plans for a new boat yard just west of the Casco Bay Bridge because of this, since Pan Am is going to be re-opening those tracks.

It'll be interesting if this new service works out. It certainly seems to have the potential for more staying power than the feeder cargo services that have tried and failed over the past 5-10 years, especially with the rail service aspect attached to it.
 
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