Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

USM is planning to break ground this spring on a new student center and 550 bed dorm on their Portland campus:

www.sunjournal.com

USM picks the developer for its biggest building project ever

The university hopes to complete a new student and career center, and the first student housing on its Portland campus, by the fall of 2022.
www.sunjournal.com www.sunjournal.com

The plans consist of a career and student center that would house dining services, lounges, meeting space and student organization offices; a residence hall and a campus green fronting both the center and the new dorm.
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no plans or renderings yet, but a 550 bed dorm is not exactly small
 
USM has a huge housing shortage. I am a student at the school and there is much greater demand for on campus housing than the school is currently able to provide so that is a really good step forward.
 
For a sense of scale for a 550 bed dorm : Here is the USM master plan from a few years ago. The new campus center and 500 beds in 2 5 story buildings a bit to the east of a new quad. From what I can tell based on this article, it seems like the plan has changed a bit to be 550 beds in a single building. That could end up being an 8+ story building in a more confined footprint.
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Dr. StrangeHat said:
Bayside Village was the equivalent of a 400-450 bed dorm, right?
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It's 100 4-bedroom quad suites. So 400 even.

For a sense of comparison, this segment of Boston University's Student village-1 complex has about 500 beds arranged in a modern quad/suite configuration.

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It's room size that determines how many floors you will need. Many of the better colleges today are giving students what they want, or the students with money to spend, and that means bigger and/or private rooms. To attract students today you need more than a good curriculum, but an outstanding student center (like UNE has in Biddeford) and better dorms. The old days of suffering in a concrete wall, particle board furniture interior with 3 roommates are gone. As a comparison with a high school that functions similar to a college, Thornton Academy (my Alma mater), has over 300 foreign students in new, radiant floor heated dorms (feels ecstatic on the stocking feet) who each pay $40K a year. Do the math on that. Housing rich out-of-state and foreign students is how you become profitable. It's that or die.
 
Just read that the tallest CLT building was recently completed in London at 110 ft and 10 floors. As Cosakita previously mentioned, the tallest in the US just happens to be in the other Portland at 85 ft and 8 floors. However, a 12 story CLT structure was put on hold in Portland due to cost overruns which may mean that it could be an expensive approach to construction. Would guess it should be cheaper than structural steel and most of the buildings are really beautiful especially when influenced with modern glass treatments.
 
Not development or architectural-related, but I know some of you will appreciate this like I do - the aerial/satellite view on Google Earth for the Greater Portland area appears to finally be updated to reflect the area as of this summer. So, you can now view a lot of the more recent development.
 
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^ Thanks, one of my favorite sites and it had not been updated in a couple of years. At last check Google street views were from last summer and should also get refreshed soon.
 
markhb said:
Yes, and as someone repeatedly pointed out in the Press Herald comments, it's taller than the original Midtown proposal.
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Honestly its one of the tallest buildings in Maine. (stories wise). I would love to see more projects like the Back Bay Tower, a very underrated large building in Portlands skyline. I am guessing the USM dorms will be 6-7 stories. Does anyone know the height limits for the area?

If Portland wants to help solve its affordable housing crisis, it needs to strongly incentivize construction off the peninsula. For example; the 10 story building near Baxter Woods and Morrils Corner.
 
PortlandLifeGuy said:
If Portland wants to help solve its affordable housing crisis, it needs to strongly incentivize construction off the peninsula. For example; the 10 story building near Baxter Woods and Morrils Corner.
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I agree with this wholeheartedly. Why is any height seemingly limited to the peninsula?

There are pockets where height could work, like around Morrill's Corner, Woodford's Corner, East Deering, etc. Heck, if Rock Row ever gets build out as proposed, then area around Nason's Corner and along Rand Rd. could be ripe for some height.
 
Mercy Hospital is moving forward with their Fore River Campus development in perhaps the most disappointing way possible. The new master plan calls for a "campus like" complex with multiple disconnected buildings and lots of surface level parking. The first 2 phases include a 2-story addition to an existing building, and a separate 2-story surgical center.

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The same Planning Board agenda Packet includes some new renderings for Portland Foreside, including a first look at the proposed office building for the wedge-shaped parcel abutting Fore St. behind the proposed SunLife HQ. I don't think this building is included in the upcoming 1st phase.

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