Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

Latest SLA renderings - looks like very minor exterior changes:

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I like the reduction in massing with the various shapes and setbacks. It's certainly an enhancement and/or improvement for the area, with many of the existing older homes in need of repair or paint. And it's use case can't be argued against.
 
I know the locals were losing their minds with the parking situation for this facility. Between the capacity and the parking, it seems the NIMBYs are fired up about this project. This project seems to be destined never to be built.
 
Seanflynn78 said:
I know the locals were losing their minds with the parking situation for this facility. Between the capacity and the parking, it seems the NIMBYs are fired up about this project. This project seems to be destined never to be built.
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From old people who don't understand that many people can and will arrive via a rideshare service.
 
Seanflynn78 said:
I know the locals were losing their minds with the parking situation for this facility. Between the capacity and the parking, it seems the NIMBYs are fired up about this project. This project seems to be destined never to be built.
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As long as they have the $$ it will be built - it got PB approval in 2018 and when it was revived at a PB meeting in the fall it was well received by the new board. If there were negative comments from the community at that meeting they were so minimal that I don't remember them. It could have been that public comment wasn't taken. They filed a major site plan in January, so it seems they fully intend to move forward. Looks like the next steps are a neighborhood meeting and then a PB workshop - so we'll see what people think.
 
The irony is that the neighborhood would be fine with the church that existed there. Especially if it was a busy location for services and not a denomination where everyone in the East End would attend (and potentially walk)

So in full operation, the church goers would have parked all over the East End to attend services.

A theater with mixed performance schedules or seasons would be better. Plus neighborhood locals actually WOULD walk to go see a show. Many ride share as well.

It's fine, NIMBY's. Enough already.
 
cneal said:
A couple more:

Front Street phase 1 (60 units in 4 buildings) is under construction in East Deering:
Document


337 Cumberland (60 new apartments and a daycare expansion in a new 6-story building) is getting ready to go under construction in the next few months:
Document


Douglass St. cooperative housing (112 units) just got its zone change and will probably apply for site plan approvals soon:
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The same cooperative development group is also planning an even bigger neighborhood development on formerly city-owned land off Lambert St. near the Falmouth border.
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Here are the latest renderings from the MSP for Lambert Woods. This will be 165 units over 17 acres in North Deering near the Falmouth border. It's designed by Kaplan Thompson.

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Portland Housing Authority is moving ahead with plans to redevelop its property in Riverton.

Part of the redevelopment and rehabilitation of the existing townhomes involves a new, 59-unit multifamily building ("Building 1") as well as a new "neighborhood center"

It's nice to see more public housing and more off-peninsula density

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What happened to the housing project that was proposed for Cumberland Avenue and Preble Street a few years ago near the former Maria's restaurant?
 
The PHA has said it needs more than 10,000 new units of housing (and that was several years ago), yet it builds at a snails pace with 50 unit, 4 story buildings. Do they know what they are doing? Are they afraid it won't get approved? Everything now should be a minimum of 8 stories and 100 units. With new immigrants arriving daily, it's not hard to see the future of the city, and that future is an even worse housing crisis. They will keep coming. Portland is a great destination to live and work. The word is already out and spreading. And, new numbers for tourist visits came out (Maine Biz Journal) and last year was a record for days spent in Maine. And many tourists end up liking Portland more than they thought they would and decide to move here! The PHA needs to build faster.
 
TC_zoid said:
The PHA has said it needs more than 10,000 new units of housing (and that was several years ago), yet it builds at a snails pace with 50 unit, 4 story buildings. Do they know what they are doing? Are they afraid it won't get approved? Everything now should be a minimum of 8 stories and 100 units. With new immigrants arriving daily, it's not hard to see the future of the city, and that future is an even worse housing crisis. They will keep coming. Portland is a great destination to live and work. The word is already out and spreading. And, new numbers for tourist visits came out (Maine Biz Journal) and last year was a record for days spent in Maine. And many tourists end up liking Portland more than they thought they would and decide to move here! The PHA needs to build faster.
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They need to be able to finance it.
 
matt.greeson said:
They need to be able to finance it.
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Yes, that takes effort. Something they seem to not have. If so, find someone who does. I hate excuses. They have many. The woman who runs the children's museum had relatively little problem raising millions for their endeavor. Find someone like that. Perhaps the "city" does not want a lot of affordable housing. That's poor people, right? Why help that? It brings down the value of your condo, right? (I'm being rhetorical.)
 
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P.R. spin. A MASSIVE undertaking and it creates 41 new units of housing. Like I said or implied, that's the PHA mandate. Create 40 or so new units at a time and feel like you are doing something to solve the problem. Uh uh. Large housing developments of several hundred or more low-cost/affordable units at a time can have a substantial positive outcome for all (even the rich) if it is designed smartly. That's good architecture (vision). Finding money for a good cause is easy if you have smart and energetic people behind it. Perhaps it would be smarter to demo the whole complex and start over. $60 million is a lot of money. Didn't Kaplan-Thompson build the truly magnificent Friends School for $4 million? Portland and Scarborough want to build new schools, and estimates are up to and over $100 million. The PHA needs better leadership.


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PHA, SPHA, Avesta, etc all rely on Maine Housing funding. Each project gets graded and each must be entered in before a deadline or they receive $0.00 until the next year. Just like the project on Franklin. CHOM requested X dollars and presented its project to the Planning Board. Then the real costs come in, cut this, cut that, materials switched out, eliminate a floor, etc. People don't realize the dynamics of public housing projects. Each project is at least 5+ years in the making before a shovel hits the ground. If you can't make X dollars works, then you scrap the project or severely downgrade it to meet X. And people wonder why private developers stay away from public housing projects.
 
PWMFlyer said:
PHA, SPHA, Avesta, etc all rely on Maine Housing funding. Each project gets graded and each must be entered in before a deadline or they receive $0.00 until the next year. Just like the project on Franklin. CHOM requested X dollars and presented its project to the Planning Board. Then the real costs come in, cut this, cut that, materials switched out, eliminate a floor, etc. People don't realize the dynamics of public housing projects. Each project is at least 5+ years in the making before a shovel hits the ground. If you can't make X dollars works, then you scrap the project or severely downgrade it to meet X. And people wonder why private developers stay away from public housing projects.
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Then find another source for money. Make it profitable. Be creative. Be smart.
 
I get there are politics involved, but the State of Maine is doing very good with revenue right now. Instead of considering an income tax decrease how about we fund more public housing or fix roads and bridges or ? I can't help but look up at all the hunks of concrete that have fallen off the bridges on 95 and 295.
 
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