Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

[TC_zoid]

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/08/...for-small-building-switch-to-granite-surface/

It looks like a sewage pump house with windows

Although I agree it does look like that, I think it's good design. The reason is this: it's much smaller than the surrounding buildings and has a different shape (oval), color and material. The theory being that this idea of extreme contrast complements both forms resulting in each standing out even more. An analogy I will make is the 60 story Hancock Tower juxtaposition next to the old, iconic Trinity Church in Boston. Another would be a very stark, cement and glass, hard-edged angular modern interior and what happens when you place a big and brightly colored piece of rounded artwork inside?... both really stand out. And the best thing of all is that the plaza is not cluttered with a giant tree. We have plenty of those only a mile away. (I also like that the plaza color and material sort of blends into the structure as though it's rising up from the ground.)

 

[Corey]

Hi All. Just a few recent-ish photo updates to pass along.

89 Anderson St.

Bayside Anchor (Boyd St.)

Billboard advertising potential development at Washington/Cumberland

113 Newbury St.

Free/Center Streets

185 Fore St.

667 Congress St.

 

[SHAZBAT73]

A lot goin' on! Thanks Corey!

 

[Josh]

August 9th Planning Board meeting discussed this proposal. Not sure if it's been mentioned/discussed much on here. Canal Plaza, obviously you can see where on Middle St. in the picture:

Portland Press Herald Article

Planning Board document

 

[markhb]

Nitpick: it's Canal Plaza on Middle St., not Canal St. Portland doesn't have a Canal St., and if it did it would probably be in Libbytown or Stroudwater.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

Does anyone know what's going next to the Fairchild Semiconductor/Dead River Company office building on Running Hill Road in South Portland? Is it a hotel (that's my guess, but I'm not sure? I know there's a hotel going over near where Nara Sushi used to be and another hotel going up next to the Doubletree across from the Maine Mall, but I wasn't aware of a third hotel going up.

 

[markhb]

Does anyone know what's going next to the Fairchild Semiconductor/Dead River Company office building on Running Hill Road in South Portland? Is it a hotel (that's my guess, but I'm not sure? I know there's a hotel going over near where Nara Sushi used to be and another hotel going up next to the Doubletree across from the Maine Mall, but I wasn't aware of a third hotel going up.

I did some digging, and found it. It's a 3-story 130-bed congregate care facility.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

I did some digging, and found it. It's a 3-story 130-bed congregate care facility.

Thanks!

 

[Josh]

Nitpick: it's Canal Plaza on Middle St., not Canal St. Portland doesn't have a Canal St., and if it did it would probably be in Libbytown or Stroudwater.

Haha, good point. I must've been tired when I made that post or something.

 

[Max]

Soley proposing 23-story tower between Canal Plaza and Hyatt

http://portland.bangordailynews.com...loper-wants-to-build-maines-tallest-building/

So I guess this is the Canal plaza-area proposal that has been hinted at here previously.

Initial thoughts:

It's a spot that I would love to see developed. That side of Union Street from Fore to Middle is pretty drab right now. I was under the impression there was some kind of public utility building behind the fencing.

23 stories would really dominate the Old Port, but I don't think it would be terribly out of scale when you consider that One Portland Square and One Canal Plaza sit at higher elevations. It would hover over those buildings but not terribly so.

I was surprised to hear residential. I thought with the office vacancy rate being less than 5% that the next big proposal would be commercial. I guess selling condos is easier than finding a big commercial tenant.

Disappointed to hear it could be "four or five years" before this thing gets started, but can't wait to see some mockups!

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

Re: Soley proposing 23-story tower between Canal Plaza and Hyatt

but can't wait to see some mockups!...enter-proposes-massive-512-million-expansion/

Woah

 

[SHAZBAT73]

I like the idea of the 23 story building, but I don't see it happening next to the Old Port. Maybe a 9-12 story building, yes, but not 23.

As for the hospital expansion, wow that is big! I can see neighborhood groups trying to trim this one down too. I will be interesting to see the final product.

I hate being so pessimistic here in the forum, but we have seen some good and big proposals go into the waste can too many times here in P-town.

 

[Portlander]

The Maine Med expansion is impressive and will happen. The Canal Plaza tower may not reach 23 floors and 250 feet due to height limitations, but I'm betting Tim will eventually develop a structure in the 12-16 story range on his property.

Too bad he doesn't own the Top of the Old Port parking lots on Congress Street, he would be allowed to go up to 245 ft (210' plus 35' mechanical/roof cap) based on current zoning regulations. He's a progressive urban thinker and I wish him success in his endeavor!

As I mentioned back in June, the footprint for the potential tower is smaller than 1 Canal Plaza and closer in size to One Monument Square's footprint.

 

[Corey]

Exciting news between the potential Canal Plaza development and Maine Med expansion. I will need something new to photograph once the current projects wrap up.

Asylum Expansion

667 Congress St.

89 Anderson Street

185 Fore Street

Luminato Condos

Bayside Bowl Expansion

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

Great pics, as usual Corey!

99 Anderson Street

This turned out better than I expected. My only complaints are the exposed mechanical on the roof (are they going to cover that somehow?) and that top corner of the building at the corner of Anderson and Fox. I feel like it's missing something.

 

[SHAZBAT73]

Is it me or does it seem like the Luminato squeaked through the planning process with hardly a sound (similar to 665 Congress)?

I think that 99 Anderson would look better with a roof top screen.

Thanks Corey for the update!

 

[portlandneedsnewarena]

Does anyone know what's going next to the Fairchild Semiconductor/Dead River Company office building on Running Hill Road in South Portland? Is it a hotel (that's my guess, but I'm not sure? I know there's a hotel going over near where Nara Sushi used to be and another hotel going up next to the Doubletree across from the Maine Mall, but I wasn't aware of a third hotel going up.

It's Sable Lodge Retirement Community. A $30 million project being built by Cameron General Contractors out of Lincoln, Nebraska. It's a fairly high end place but seems to me to be an odd location for such a place.
Tru By Hilton hotel will be breaking ground fairly soon next to the Double Tree.

 

[Matt68]

Fabulous Update Corey - Thank You. 667 Congress is moving quickly and I am excited for Congress Street.

 

[portlandneedsnewarena]

I like the idea of the 23 story building, but I don't see it happening next to the Old Port. Maybe a 9-12 story building, yes, but not 23.

I hate being so pessimistic here in the forum, but we have seen some good and big proposals go into the waste can too many times here in P-town.

In today's Bangor Daily News there is an article that reads "Portland's mayor likes the plan to build a downtown skyscraper". Also, in the article NIMBY Tim Paradis (Keep Portland Livable) who led the opposition to the Midtown development is speaking out and states that "If Portland started putting mini-skyscrapers all over the place it would damage Portland's brand. It would damage the reasons people come here to visit, and it does not need to happen". Good grief! That guy just needs to go away!

 

[tysmith95]

In today's Bangor Daily News there is an article that reads "Portland's mayor likes the plan to build a downtown skyscraper". Also, in the article NIMBY Tim Paradis (Keep Portland Livable) who led the opposition to the Midtown development is speaking out and states that "If Portland started putting mini-skyscrapers all over the place it would damage Portland's brand. It would damage the reasons people come here to visit, and it does not need to happen". Good grief! That guy just needs to go away!

Boston has lots of skyscrapers. That must be why no one visits Boston.

And NYC, that's just a ghost town.