Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

Forest Avenue action, expansion of The Park Danforth senior housing.

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TC_zoid said:
"New" architecture in Portland is now getting to be quite bland and it all looks the same. It wasn't long ago that some exciting buildings were built such as the 4 story glass addition to the Portland Harbor Hotel, and the CIEE building. A well designed glass building can complement an older, traditional building. 19th Century Trinity Church in Boston is wonderfully flattered sitting next to the 60 story glass Hancock Tower. The tower reflects the sky and the church from its giant mirrored panels. The skewed alignment to Copley Square also gives it a kind of gentle flirtation with the square, instead of slamming up to it in a parallel fashion. Portland is now getting lazy in its architectural mindset. It would be great to see some leadership on this. If the original Federated project's scale had been negotiated to achieve a higher design aesthetic, perhaps we would be seeing this now instead of the current compromised design. It's rather quite simple in my opinion, the problem here -- laziness. Great architecture does not always involve great expenditure.
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I agree that the MiniMidtown is disappointing, and I would love to see some more not-brick buildings. However, at the same time, I can't see how the Hyatt and Courtyard hotels (the most public new buildings that have actually been constructed) look the same at all.

Aside: my very first job was based out of an office in the 1100 Forest Ave. building that then also held Wellby's, recently held Goodwill, and was knocked down in Corey's most recent photo.
 
markhb, yes, forgot about the new hyatt. that is quite different. though the new courtyard Marriott is not anything dramatically different than what's on commercial street, its just newer. boston is an older city than Portland and proportionately, it has far more new and tasteful architecture than Portland. I think Portland ten years or so back had a much better arch design climate than it does today. as one developer here said, you buy a lot in Portland today and everybody has to tell you what they want on it. the compromise that jim brady just made by only being able to demo one out of all those buildings at the Portland company complex is indicative of the climate here. jim brady is a good and thoughtful developer, the new press hotel is fantastic. hopefully he wont be screwed with this ridiculous referendum vote coming up next week. imagine taking a factory complex and rationalizing its historical and architectural merits. Portland has certainly become a lampoon of a city now, and the only way its going to change is when the older provincial minded people die off--so probably another 10 years of this type of behavior.
 
Don't forget to vote today! You can register at the polls, which are open 'til 8 p.m.

Portland's question 2, which would scuttle redevelopment plans for the Portland Company site downtown and give NIMBYs new powers to block development citywide, is going to be close, so cast your ballots!
 
I'm not from Portland, but I pray that Portland's question 2 does not pass! VOTE, VOTE, VOTE please!!!
 
I got out and voted NO! And then I had to flip a coin for mayor.
 
The state also approved a $15 million bond for senior housing development. It isn't much in the grand scheme of things but it should help finance a handful of additional projects above and beyond the typical Avesta Housing pipeline.
 
SHAZBAT73 said:
The people have spoken! Congratulations!!!

"The lopsided vote rejects an initiative that would have made it significantly harder for developers to build projects that blocked the views of property owners." Portland Press Herald

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/11/03/scenic-views-ordinance-headed-toward-defeat/
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Given how lopsided the vote was, I now really wish Midtown had gone up for a vote a couple years ago too, so those Keep Portland Livable clowns could have seen just how much of a minority voice they actually were and still are.
 
The City Clerk has posted the totals by precinct. While the minimum wage referendum passed in Districts 1 (the islands, East End and Downtown) and 2 (the West End) and failed in the off-peninsula districts, Question 2 was defeated in every precinct, even the one that includes the petitioners!
 
I thought about creating a new thread for this, but eventually decided to just stick this in here.

There was an interesting opinion piece in the Maine Sunday Telegram discussing high-rise and low-rise construction using engineered wood products for the structure vs. steel.

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/11/08/maine-voices-its-time-build-plyscrapers-here/

It's an interesting idea, especially for Portland where low-rise construction dominates. I know some recent developments like the Bay House used 3-4 levels of wood construction on top of one level of steel.

I'd love to here some other opinions on it from folks that might work in construction or engineering. Thoughts?
 
Dr. StrangeHat said:
I thought about creating a new thread for this, but eventually decided to just stick this in here.

There was an interesting opinion piece in the Maine Sunday Telegram discussing high-rise and low-rise construction using engineered wood products for the structure vs. steel.

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/11/08/maine-voices-its-time-build-plyscrapers-here/

It's an interesting idea, especially for Portland where low-rise construction dominates. I know some recent developments like the Bay House used 3-4 levels of wood construction on top of one level of steel.

I'd love to here some other opinions on it from folks that might work in construction or engineering. Thoughts?
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It could work - I wonder however whether a building code issue would be presented. Maine is under the MUBEC for most municipalities, which in turn imports most of the standards from IBC 2009 (international building code). Not sure if that would preclude this for some reason. If not, I think it's worth looking at, especially when the price of steel climbs. The city of Paris and other traditional cities are usually about 6 stories because wood construction over that height has typically been impossible.
 
http://www.pressherald.com/2015/11/...state-projects-planned-for-downtown-portland/

Not sure why they held a press conference on those developments today other than to say they've broken ground on one of them. As far as I can tell the plans are the exact same as they were when they announced them over a year ago.

On another note, Joe's Smokeshop has a sign on the door that says they are closing on November 30, and hope to reopen in the new building in mid-2016. If that's the case we're talking about a pretty quick build-out, especially considering they'd be doing foundation work in the winter.
 
^Looking forward to documenting the new building atop Joe's Smokeshop, it's almost next door to my apartment.

Around town....

113 Newbury | Luxury Downtown Condominiums

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185 Fore Street


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101 York Street / J.B. Brown & Sons Project (note the addition of a sidewalk on the waterfront side of the street)

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How the 133 York St. development turned out:
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And some pedestrian upgrades on Commercial Street:
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Avesta's new building on Washington Ave. is just about done. This replaced a single-family house with 18 efficiency apartments and only two on-site parking spaces.

It's a nice addition to the street wall; this stretch feels less like an off-ramp and more like a neighborhood Main Street now. I've noticed that the traffic seems like its slowed down as a result.
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The project also built a curb bump-out and a new crosswalk to Walnut Street:
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Joe's Super Variety is now officially closed. I stopped in over the weekend and a clerk told me they expect demolition of the building to begin by the end of December, and they hope to re-open by May while the upper portion of the building is still being constructed.
 
I haven't seen it anywhere, except for the observations above - So, 667 or 665 Congress Street is approved? Any links saying as much? (If I can verify this, I will give Emporis the heads up)
 
Yep, it sailed through a council rezoning vote, historic preservation review, and planning board approval with barely a squeak (but with some improvements to the design made along the way). A good example of how the planning process can and should work.
 
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