Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

mainejeff said:
I see in the PPH this morning where Amazon is looking for submissions from cities for a second corporate HQ. I wish that Portland had the requirements to land something like this. They say an initial investment of $3 billion with 50K jobs in 10-15 years, etc, etc. Their proposal submission form is here: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/Anything/test/images/usa/RFP_3._V516043504_.pdf

I would think that an East Coast site is imminent, but who knows where?
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Hey Portland could pull this off! They require an international airport within 45 minutes, and now that Elite Airways is flying to Halifax, we fit that criteria :p :p

Speaking of the Jetport, I've heard a rumor that management there is in talks with WOW Air to experiment with a Portland - Reykjavik flight. This would be dependent on the Jetport upgrading their customs area.
 
WOW Air would be a great addition to PWM's options. Upgrading the airport's customs capability is already part of it's Master Plan's short term development goals which includes a new FIS facility. My only concern would be runway length.

WOW Air utilizes larger Airbus aircraft that may limit load factors due to Portland's 7200 foot primary runway. The main issue is the distance to Iceland (2400 miles) which requires much more fuel than the larger aircraft that currently serve PWM to places like CLT (790 miles) and ATL (1030 miles).

Winter operations are even more critical especially when it comes to useable runway on the landing side. As much as it kills me to admit it, Manchester would be a better option for them due to it's 9250 foot main runway or even Pease International which has an 11,320 foot runway. Bangor has the massive runway but is lacking the population base in my opinion.

With all that being said, if WOW representatives have met with Jetport officials the experts must have already determined that PWM to KEF is feasible. Maybe Portland's relationship with Eimskip on the waterfront is creating this possible interest?
 
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Portlander said:
WOW Air would be a great addition to PWM's options. Upgrading the airport's customs capability is already part of it's Master Plan's short term development goals which includes a new FIS facility. My only concern would be runway length.

WOW Air utilizes larger Airbus aircraft that may limit load factors due to Portland's 7200 foot primary runway. The main issue is the distance to Iceland (2400 miles) which requires much more fuel than the larger aircraft that currently serve PWM to places like CLT (790 miles) and ATL (1030 miles).
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Maybe Portland's relationship with Eimskip on the waterfront is creating this possible interest?
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WOW air uses smaller A320 / A321 aircraft for their flights to the US east coast, so 7200 feet is very adequate for that size of plane, even fully loaded with fuel and passengers.


I would definitely say that the growing presence of Eimskip is playing a role if WOW Air is interested in a smaller market like Portland.
 
and so, the NIMBY circle of life continues. West End residents are filing papers to block the new western waterfront zoning changes.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/09/07/west-end-neigborhood-files-paperwork-to-block-warehouse/

A group of West End residents has filed paperwork to nullify a zoning change that would block a proposed cold storage warehouse on Portland’s western waterfront.

The petition, signed by a quarter of registered voters within 500 feet of the waterfront’s industrial development zone, would only take effect if a referendum giving citizens more say over zoning changes passes in November.
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They are going to alienate so many Portland voters that their referendum vote in November will fail miserably. They should chill out and concentrate on future projects that may actually warrant a reason to protest. This grievance affects not only financial growth and jobs in Greater Portland, but the entire State of Maine. And being retroactive to May of this year is also a farce in my opinion. Very selfish move by a small group of activists!
 
Portlander said:
They are going to alienate so many Portland voters that their referendum vote in November will fail miserably. They should chill out and concentrate on future projects that may actually warrant a reason to protest. This grievance affects not only financial growth and jobs in Greater Portland, but the entire State of Maine. And being retroactive to May of this year is also a farce in my opinion. Very selfish move by a small group of activists!
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I was under the impression that Americold / Maine Port Authority had their site plan ready to go, and that they were waiting for the City Council vote to begin the planning process.
Does this mean that any planning board approval for the Americold facility will have to wait until at least November...or longer??

I don't understand the legal basis for this...since it's dependent on a referendum that hasn't happened yet
 
Americold will have to wait until the November election due to this group being able to get the referendum on the ballot last week due to an unintentional deadline mistake by the City Clerk. I think it was grandfathered back to May 15th intentionally in an attempt to railroad this project knowing that the Planning Board phase would commence after that date. I hope I'm wrong.
 
Portlander said:
Americold will have to wait until the November election due to this group being able to get the referendum on the ballot last week due to an unintentional deadline mistake by the City Clerk. I think it was grandfathered back to May 15th intentionally in an attempt to railroad this project knowing that the Planning Board phase would commence after that date. I hope I'm wrong.
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What legal basis do these people have? Can they really block this project for another 2 months based on something that isn't even law yet (and probably never will be) It really shows how flawed Portland's planning process can be.

I really hope Portlanders are able to see through this charade. This referendum is so clearly designed to benefit a few select people, it was tailor-made to stop a few specific projects.

Thankfully, given the spectacular failure of the "scenic view" referendum back in 2015, I think this is will be destined to the same fate. At least I hope so.
 
Portlander said:
Americold will have to wait until the November election due to this group being able to get the referendum on the ballot last week due to an unintentional deadline mistake by the City Clerk. I think it was grandfathered back to May 15th intentionally in an attempt to railroad this project knowing that the Planning Board phase would commence after that date. I hope I'm wrong.
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No, you're absolutely correct. Makes me long for the days when the city required people to go to the City Clerk's office to sign the petitions.

Re: WOW Air, I had never heard of them until this thread, but I believe that Icelandair to PWM has also been a possibility; they fly mostly 757s and a few 767s.
 
mainejeff said:
I see in the PPH this morning where Amazon is looking for submissions from cities for a second corporate HQ. I wish that Portland had the requirements to land something like this. They say an initial investment of $3 billion with 50K jobs in 10-15 years, etc, etc. Their proposal submission form is here: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/Anything/test/images/usa/RFP_3._V516043504_.pdf

I would think that an East Coast site is imminent, but who knows where?
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Outside of NYC - maybe Hudson Yards? - Boston is the natural East Coast choice, I would think, and if that City (or anywhere in its vicinity) lands the deal then the economic impact will be felt in Portland guaranteed. The downside of course is that retail is an ever changing landscape, and if Amazon were to go out of business in the future that would be one big vacuum of economic activity to fill with all of the supporting commerce impacted as well. I'd almost rather not see all of this region's eggs put in one basket like that (almost).
 
A number of new renderings (or, more accurately, new perspectives of old renderings) for the WEX proposal (up for a workshop on Tuesday) are on the City's planning board agenda center packet material link.
 
Spent the afternoon in Portsmouth and noticed that a few side streets near the public parking garage have recently had their utilities moved underground. It really highlights the positive impact that removing utility poles and wires can have on a streetscape.

I hope Portland can eventually follow Portsmouth's (and a lot of other cities) and begin the process of undergrounding utilities along major streets.
 
An interesting tidbit at the end of this article about the approval of a 4-story condo development at 155 Sheridan Street. The developer says he's bought a 55-unit project on Chestnut Street which has already received Planning Board approval. He must be referring to the Westerlea View Lofts which was dropped by its former developer. Would be great to see that project renewed as that part of Bayside is ripe for development!
 
Max said:
An interesting tidbit at the end of this article about the approval of a 4-story condo development at 155 Sheridan Street. The developer says he's bought a 55-unit project on Chestnut Street which has already received Planning Board approval. He must be referring to the Westerlea View Lofts which was dropped by its former developer. Would be great to see that project renewed as that part of Bayside is ripe for development!
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I think the original developer of the project cited "bad personal timing" as his reason for not moving ahead with 75 Chestnut once he received planning board approval .

Given the success of 667 Congress St. (Less than a dozen of the 130 units are on the market) it's pretty clear that there's still big demand for market-rate apartments on the peninsula.
 
Site plan for the garage at 48 Brown st. again hints at the potential future residential tower on Shepley and Casco Streets discussed earlier

From Ocean Gate LLC's submittal:

"...At the same time, addressing all of the parking demands of 511 Congress in a single structure frees spaces currently leased in area garages for other commercial and residential users and creates future new residential development opportunities on Ocean Gate’s Shepley Street surface lots"
 
The surface lots the submittal is referring to are actually on the south side of Shepley Street and not related to the residential tower rumored at Cumberland, Casco and Shepley. However, I bet the new garage may be a catalyst for a developer to proceed with a project at that site. Cosakita18, could you possibly post the rendering of the proposed garage on Brown Street, it's outside of my computer skill set?
 
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Portlander said:
Cosakita18, could you possibly post the rendering of the proposed garage on Brown Street, it's outside of my computer skill set?
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Here are a few from the planning board workshop on the 26th of September.

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For those folks with windows on the back side of the Ambassador, having this right in front of them will probably be an improvement over looking at that existing garage on Brown St., easily the ugliest garage in town.
 
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