Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

Cosakita18 said:
Personally, I think the York Street facade looks a lot better. The Commerical St. Facade is very bland and monotonous.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hadn't seen the York Street side until the above link (thanks cneal!). Agreed that the York Street facade is far better. I also agree with other comments that varying the heights of each section would be a vast improvement.

My biggest problem with the whole thing is the light gray facade along the setbacks/recessed balconies on the upper floors (understanding that this is an early rendering mostly for massing purposes). It's one of my biggest pet peeves with the Bay House these guys developed, too. It comes across as cheap. There needs to be a little more variety of materials and colors in those sections.
 
Dr. StrangeHat said:
My biggest problem with the whole thing is the light gray facade along the setbacks/recessed balconies on the upper floors (understanding that this is an early rendering mostly for massing purposes). It's one of my biggest pet peeves with the Bay House these guys developed, too. It comes across as cheap. There needs to be a little more variety of materials and colors in those sections.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more about the Bay House -- the project had so much potential but I think it was a real let-down. The views of Bay House from Newbury Street in particular reveal a lot of what appears to be cheap vinyl or plastic siding. The courtyard which divides the two buildings and is primarily viewable from Newbury Street is quite unattractive as well, as you've got to peer past several walls, ramps and a gate that rise to a higher elevation than the street. I was under the impression when the project was first proposed that the courtyard was going to be open to the public and available as a pass-through.

As it is the Bay House has the feel of a gated community that would be more at home in Florida than in Portland. I'm hopeful that the surrounding development will start to mitigate the impact of the Bay House.
 
Max said:
I couldn't agree more about the Bay House -- the project had so much potential but I think it was a real let-down. The views of Bay House from Newbury Street in particular reveal a lot of what appears to be cheap vinyl or plastic siding. The courtyard which divides the two buildings and is primarily viewable from Newbury Street is quite unattractive as well, as you've got to peer past several walls, ramps and a gate that rise to a higher elevation than the street. I was under the impression when the project was first proposed that the courtyard was going to be open to the public and available as a pass-through.

As it is the Bay House has the feel of a gated community that would be more at home in Florida than in Portland. I'm hopeful that the surrounding development will start to mitigate the impact of the Bay House.
Click to expand...

I've checked all of the recent links (thanks!) and read the posts about the lumber yard development and what we got for the Bay House. Here is what I think - The developers are playing it safe with this new development. Why?

1. They are going with the brick wall look of Commercial Street (The Courtyard Portland Downtown/Waterfront next door initially had much less of a brick facade and was shot down) - I call it "Continuing the wall"
2. Keeping the height the same as the rest of Commercial Street. Nimby's don't like tall things near the water and anything that might look different from the status quo. C'mon, variance? 5 and 7 stories down there? That's not Portland-like!!!

As for the Bay House, if we can remember the initial proposal, it was great! But due to the out spoken few (as the city wide vote on views proved overwhelmingly) and a spineless plus brick lovin' planning board, the whole thing went to shit. Now we have a 4-5 story dump versus what would have been a great symbol of Portland's prosperity. RIP initial proposal below:







So, play it safe and you will get your boring little brick box!
 
Totally agree with the comments about the Bay House and apparent cheapness of materials. I'm optimistic so far about the buildings going up in the same block as the Grand Trunk Railroad building. Happy to get four new buildings there instead of one big building. The pedestrian plazas connecting the buildings should be interesting too.

A few recent shots of 101 York Street:

8OEwViJ.jpg


bntdSAj.jpg


woAntga.jpg


Between this and the development at the lumber yard, this stretch of York Street is getting a bit more interesting.
 
Photos from last weekend:

667 Congress Street
QRmx4M1.jpg


Portland Company/Amethyst Lot
GR0SDfk.jpg


Asylum
rt8lF4H.jpg


Luminato Condos
DqgX7IC.jpg


WB4wQ2W.jpg


Thames/India St Lot
MQodlQa.jpg


Grand Trunk Building
uxOi3pX.jpg


62 India Street
g6kpIy2.jpg


16 Middle Street
TPsevWh.jpg
 
Grand Trunk building is looking phenomenal!
Took a walk along Commercial St. the other day and it really struck me how "in your face" the utility poles and wires are. Are there any plans to put those utilities underground?
 
Cosakita18 said:
Took a walk along Commercial St. the other day and it really struck me how "in your face" the utility poles and wires are. Are there any plans to put those utilities underground?
Click to expand...

If I had one wish for downtown Portland it would be to put all of its wires underground. It is remarkable that the peninsula is still covered with poles and wires. They're so ubiquitous that we tend not to notice them but if they were put underground our streetscapes would take on a whole different look (and a better one!).
 
Max said:
If I had one wish for downtown Portland it would be to put all of its wires underground. It is remarkable that the peninsula is still covered with poles and wires. They're so ubiquitous that we tend not to notice them but if they were put underground our streetscapes would take on a whole different look (and a better one!).
Click to expand...

Commerical st, Middle st. and India st seem like the most glaring offenders to me. Putting those utilities underground would be one of the single biggest boosts to beautification the city could make.
 
Last edited:
Utility poles and all the wires are one of my pet peeves as a photographer. They also tend to take up space that could be used for wider sidewalks. I assume the reason they are not all underground is related to cost and the extra effort needed for maintenance. According to this, underground wires take "60% longer to fix when something does happen to them" and they may be vulnerable to flooding (an issue in some parts of Portland).
 
I've done some research on undergrounding and by far the single biggest obstacle is cost. The utility companies don't want to pay for it, but there are places that are figuring out the financing. Hilton Head Island, SC and Palm Beach, FL are two places where all the wires are being put underground (which also shows that proximity to flood zones is not an issue). For that matter nearly all wires in the Netherlands, much of which is below sea level, are underground.

I'm not sure there would be an appetite among Portland ratepayers to support wire undergrounding. I think too many would see it as frivolous and not want their streets dug up to put the lines underground.
 
Last edited:
Max said:
I've done some research on undergrounding and by far the single biggest obstacle is cost. The utility companies don't want to pay for it, but there are places that are figuring out the financing. Hilton Head Island, SC and Palm Beach, FL are two places where all the wires are being put underground (which also shows that proximity to flood zones is not an issue). For that matter nearly all wires in the Netherlands, much of which is below sea level, are underground.

I'm not sure there would be an appetite among Portland ratepayers to support wire undergrounding. I think too many would see it as frivolous and not want their streets dug up to put the lines underground.
Click to expand...

Ice storms give new england more of a reason to do so...
 
It makes sense if they can't put the wires underground on Commercial Street given the depth of the water table and high potential for flooding. I'd love to see them go underground in other parts of the peninsula.
 
Dr. StrangeHat said:
It makes sense if they can't put the wires underground on Commercial Street given the depth of the water table and high potential for flooding. I'd love to see them go underground in other parts of the peninsula.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, there are some underground utilities along parts of Thames and Hancock St, which are similarly flood-prone as Commercial St.
 
Cosakita18 said:
If I'm not mistaken, there are some underground utilities along parts of Thames and Hancock St, which are similarly flood-prone as Commercial St.
Click to expand...

Not entirely. I think Thames and definitely Hancock are at a slightly higher elevation than several parts of Commercial, even if only by about 5 feet. That might be enough to make a difference. Now, I'm not a geologist (my wife is, but I didn't consult her on this), so I'm mostly just speculating. However, if you go to the Maine Flood Hazard Map (link below), all of Thames and Hancock are out of the flood zone, while several parts of Commercial Street are in the flood zone:

http://maine.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=3c09351397764bd2aa9ba385d2e9efe7

I'm guessing they might be able to put sections of Commercial Street underground, but unfortunately there may be a few sections where we have to live with the poles.
 
Saw this rendering of the proposed five-story condo development at the corner of Congress and Washington Streets on Zillow. This is the first rendering I've seen, I haven't seen anything on the planning board's website, so I don't know whether this project has been approved but they appear to be marketing it. The listing describes "Seventeen custom 1-3 bedroom residences with water and city views." It appears to me to be 4 stories rather than 5, although perhaps the recessed structure on the roof is some kind of penthouse residence.

ISa5qkwzrcbdbc1000000000.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top