Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

true, but if a new arena were on the horizon, i dont think they would invest in an entirely new roof. meaning, since they ARE investing in a new roof, a new arena must not be on the horizon. but then again you never know, just like with waterview.
 
Patrick said:
true, but if a new arena were on the horizon, i dont think they would invest in an entirely new roof. meaning, since they ARE investing in a new roof, a new arena must not be on the horizon. but then again you never know, just like with waterview.
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They need a new roof to protect (from leaks) that spanking new fancy state of the art scoreboard they just put up!
Nobody knows the status of a new arena so as a roof deteriorates on the current arena and they no longer can band-aid fix it, they have no choice but to put on a new roof. I mean if a new arena got approved within the next year and a half it probably wouldn't be finished until probably 2010 or later.
My guess is that somebody will once again take the ball and run w/ it sometime within the next 2 years and I would guess they would have less than a 50% chance of actually getting the $$ or support to get the thing built. They'll end up walking away from it feeling like they got kicked in the nuts.
Maybe they should just blow out one side of the current civic center, overhang one of the streets (either Free St. or Spring St.) then they could add luxury boxes and possibly widen the concourse on one side. I would do it on the Spring Street side w/ a glass clerestory on the back wall of the luxury boxes so you could look out at the Harbor! Probably would look really f#*%ed up though.
 
what will happen is that it will be funded stgrictly with public money, since civic centers operate at a loss generally (they are only good for uplifting surrounding businesses after big shows with tourist revenues). This means that, since the pub-priv partnership attempted by boulos failed, it will prob be just a stand alone arena, paid for by tax dollars, meaning it will be small. im guessing something in the area of 7,000 seats. the citizens of cumberland country wouldnt currently stand for more (youldnt you agree!!!!). however, if cumberland county continues to grow like it has been, maybe the tax base will broaden and the individual cost will be lower for each individual (thereby making possible a larger arena). or, what would ultimately be the best idea in my mind, would be to ask the residents of york county to pitch in (although at a lower individual rate) because many of them will benefit from the damn thing, too, and they should help pay for it. All i know is that i hope it doesnt go in the top of the old port parking garage. i want a really tall building to go there (17 stories high or more) as it is one of the few remaining spots that is both zoned for 20+ story buildings and still empty. also, it looks to small to hold a 10,000 person arena (which i am sincerely hoping for). and with 3PS a likely thing to watch out for on the horizon, there is only one other place to locate the arena: Bayside. this is both good and bad. first, bayside is in the middle of nowhere, with no real other attractions around it, second, it has already been tried, but third (and this is the good thing) the city's vision for bayside was adopted after the libra foundation offered that land and money, meaning they would likely look at it as an excellent investment today, much moreso than they did back then. they are already relocating the scrapyards etc from bayside, howabout they do the same with the pub services.....ya know! jeesh.
 
i cant spell/type anything today, im rushing and my fingers must have gotten fatter...
 
So tired from moving today. I'll take some pics soon from the Baxter Place pimphouse.

City council is on right now. They are hammering the guy trying to build the student housing on Marginal way. This is not good, cause it is Cheryl Leeman bashing him. Can't imagine what the other councilors are going to do. She goes "I can't imagine 400 college kids let loose in this area". Okay, well, how about 400 homeless people and scumfucks let loose everyday. Oh my god, Boston has 250,000 college kids let loose. Oh no.

Other news from www.thebollard.com
Burnham Arms race
The vacant lot between Geno's rock club and the Burnham Arms apartment building on Congress Street is being readied for development. According to the city's planning division, Michael Burnham of MPB Properties has submitted an application to build a four-story building on the site. The first floor would be retail space, with a total of 15 apartments on the three floors above.

The Burnhams own a host of Portland properties, including the building Geno's moved into a little over a year ago. The rock club has another year on its lease, with an option for two more years after that, though the new residential development next door could complicate that arrangement.

The new building will occupy the site of the long-defunct Capitol Theater, a popular movie house in the early-to-mid part of last century. The theater fell into disrepair after the larger Fine Arts Cinema opened next door in the early 1960s. It was demolished a couple years ago, and has since been used sporadically as a parking area.
 
grittys457 said:
So tired from moving today. I'll take some pics soon from the Baxter Place pimphouse.

City council is on right now. They are hammering the guy trying to build the student housing on Marginal way. This is not good, cause it is Cheryl Leeman bashing him. Can't imagine what the other councilors are going to do. She goes "I can't imagine 400 college kids let loose in this area". Okay, well, how about 400 homeless people and scumfucks let loose everyday. Oh my god, Boston has 250,000 college kids let loose. Oh no.

Other news from www.thebollard.com
Burnham Arms race
The vacant lot between Geno's rock club and the Burnham Arms apartment building on Congress Street is being readied for development. According to the city's planning division, Michael Burnham of MPB Properties has submitted an application to build a four-story building on the site. The first floor would be retail space, with a total of 15 apartments on the three floors above.

The Burnhams own a host of Portland properties, including the building Geno's moved into a little over a year ago. The rock club has another year on its lease, with an option for two more years after that, though the new residential development next door could complicate that arrangement.

The new building will occupy the site of the long-defunct Capitol Theater, a popular movie house in the early-to-mid part of last century. The theater fell into disrepair after the larger Fine Arts Cinema opened next door in the early 1960s. It was demolished a couple years ago, and has since been used sporadically as a parking area.
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well, I think 400 colleg e kids sounds great...im with you gritty-meister. Think how hard it would be to bring 400 "real" residents to baysid...pretty hard. but since college kids share rooms and live in dense spots, it would be real easy. but they still need services, meaning there would be restaurants etc to open up nearby. also, im with you too on the homeless bit...bayside is the social services capitol of the universe. bums on every corner practically. what kind of harm could 400 USM kids do? however, i heard that the fate of the bayside office tower for intermed hinges on the parking considerations for the students who would live nearby and use part of the garage during off hours.....so, if no students, then that building would pop up pretty easy i bet. either way bayside will be on the upswing. why cant portland ever do anything? 400 students? why not 50? that sounds better. 17 stories? howabout 6? that sounds better. not once have they thought about how smoothly the integration of 5,000 immigrants in two years would go in the whitest state in the country. that would have worried me. but it went fine. but college kids? they would hardly be the rowdy UMO kids. these are kids that a notch above SMCC and work full-time at hannaford distribution to support there infant children....jeesh.



and can u explain where that lot is on congress street?


oh yea and cant wait for the pics. thats gonna be a sick residence during the summer especially.
 
Next to Geno's , the old Skinny. Another block from the State Theater.
 
I cant picture where a blank lot is on congress street. are we talking downtown yet or still the west end? a block in which direction from the S.T.?
 
It is on the immediate left of Geno's


mp124eg.jpg
 
thanks corey, and you even managed to get gritty's in your shot as well. nice work.
 
I know. Too bad I wasn't turning back to look at your Uncle Freddie on the right side of the street. I would not want to live next to Geno's. Always got a gathering and a cloud of smoke outside.
 
Gritty's, my friend, you ARE the guy on the right side of the street. what are you carrying in your gym bag, your purple karate belt? how many stripes does it have?
 
The condos behind city hall are going up pretty fast considering I never see anyone working on them. Last I knew they were still doing preliminary ground tests on the footprint of the building to see what sort of shit needed to be cleaned up beforehand. now the foundation of the building looks to be nearly complete from what I could see driving by this afternoon.

also, the new mid-rise women and infants center has begun construction at maine med I saw it through a crack in the lined fencing they have surrounding it this morning when i dropped a family member off at work there. they are also doing some new landscaping in the front area there. big open parking lot right next to maine med needs a ten story apartment building in its belly for supper.

lastly, has anyone driven that stretch of land from pizza hut past walmart in the maine mall area lately? tons of construction, from the site preparation where the old movie theater used to be, to a new interstate improvement on the bridge area, to a new building near walmart and more. booming.

I have a family member that lives in munjoy south, and I can see a perfect view of where riverwalk/the longfellow will be built. I am starting to slowly get more and more excited for the transformation of that neighborhood, which is truly a dump as of now.

and unless it is my imagination, there appeared to be tar on a part of the waterview site, but perhaps that was left over from the previous building and i never noticed it before. maybe just blackened wet dirt from the downpoor. thats all.
 
Three offer housing plans for Danforth Street land
Portland officials are reviewing three proposals to develop housing on a small city-owned lot at Danforth and High streets.

Private developer Peter Bass, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland and the People's Regional Opportunity Program have each offered to pay $150,000 to $200,000 for the land and build condominiums or apartments.

The proposals address various housing needs in Portland, including home-ownership opportunities for singles under 30 and over 50, affordable family-size condominiums and low-income apartments for senior citizens.

"We received three very different proposals, each of them terrific," said City Councilor James Cloutier, one of three members of the council's housing committee. "I'd like to accept all three of them."

The housing committee saw presentations on each proposal this week and is expected to resume its review on July 11, said Ethan Boxer-Macomber, Portland's housing and community development program manager.

City staffers ranked each proposal, giving the one from Bass the top score, followed by PROP and Habitat. However, each developer offered to make whatever changes were necessary for a better score, so the proposals are pretty much in a dead heat, Cloutier said.

Habitat offered $200,000 for the lot, which measures less than one-fifth of an acre and is assessed for property tax purposes at a value of $168,800, according to city records.

The Habitat proposal calls for a five-story, 12-unit condominium building with as many as 15 ground-level parking spaces. Eight of the units would be for low- and moderate-income buyers and priced from $125,000 to $225,000. Four top-floor, townhouse-style units would be market priced at $375,000.

PROP offered $175,000 for the lot. The Portland-based social service agency wants to build a four-story, 20-unit apartment building with 20 ground-level parking spaces. The one-bedroom apartments would be 600 to 700 square feet and would be rented to low-income seniors, according to PROP's proposal.

Random Orbit Inc., the company owned by Bass, offered $150,000 for the lot. He wants to build a four-story, 27-unit building with condominiums ranging from 480 to 777 square feet and priced at $125,000 to $185,000. It would would include 15 ground-level parking spaces that would sell for $10,000 to $15,000 each, according to the proposal.

Two spaces may be designated for shared vehicles, picking up on a trend in other U.S. cities where residents own or lease cars communally, Cloutier said.

City zoning requires at least one space per apartment. On-street parking is scarce throughout downtown Portland. If residents of the Bass building couldn't afford to buy a space, Cloutier said, he would want them to show proof of off-street parking elsewhere or sign an agreement not to have a car.
 
From thebollard.com

Cianbro deal won't slow Ocean Terminal re-use
News last week that Maine-based construction company Cianbro has landed a deal to help convert two sulfur tankers into supply vessels at the Portland Ocean Terminal hasn't changed the city's intention to find a new, more lucrative use for the marine industrial facility.

City Manager Joe Gray said Cianbro will pay the city about $130,000 to use the publicly owned terminal during work on the ships, which is expected to last until late next year. The city received about $1 million in annual rent from Cianbro when it worked on two oil rigs at the facility several years ago, but some of that rent was exchanged for structural work the company performed on the terminal and pier beneath.

In the two years since the rig project, neither Cianbro nor the city ? in many cases working together ? has been able to land another sizeable marine construction project. Earlier this year, Gray directed the council's Community Development Committee (CDC) to begin exploring other uses for the site. And as The Bollard reported earlier this spring, private developers have been eyeing the property for a luxury hotel and other non-marine uses. [See "Ex-mayor, Gov's brother push waterfront hotel project."]

The CDC held a preliminary meeting to discuss potential re-uses last month, and will take up the topic again at its June 14 meeting. The full council will hold a workshop on the subject prior to its June 19 meeting.

Gray said even with the new Cianbro deal, the city is projected to lose over $600,000 in unrealized revenue from the terminal this year, making the decision to go forward with re-uses a no-brainer.

Captain Jeff Monroe, the city's Director of Ports and Transportation, agreed with Gray's bleak assessment of the site's potential for future marine industrial use. He called the Cianbro deal "a rarity," and added, "I'm not real hopeful this is going to be a steady source of business for us."
 
Well, I thought the decision to build an already-paid-for arena on free land was a no-brainer, too.

anyways, from the pressherald.com

Portland: Zone change would allow non-marine uses at state pier
PORTLAND ? Godfrey Wood, head of the Portland Regional Chamber, is drumming up public support for a zoning change that would allow mixed-use commercial redevelopment of the Maine State Pier.

The Planning Board will consider the proposal today during a 3:30 p.m. workshop in Room 209 of City Hall. Wood said the proposal would allow mixed-used development but preserve opportunity for marine industrial uses.

No formal proposal has been submitted to the city, but several developers have expressed interest in the site for office, hotel and/or retail projects, said Councilor James Cloutier, chairman of the council's community development committee. The committee will discuss the future of the Maine State Pier at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Room 209.

The pier and its 100,000-square-foot metal warehouse were used in the recent past by Cianbro Corp. and Bath Iron Works.
 
Those piers would be awesome for some hotels/ condos/ restaurants- with water on one side, city on the other. They should definitely relax the zoning there a bit.
 
The prohibitive zoning is relatively new. It was only in the early 1990s (1991 i believe) the city voted to say no non-marine development could take place on the industrial section of the waterfront. It was basically a vocal minority of hippies. now the city has no choice because it is stuck in a position where it could appease the hippies, but it would lose tons of money, or it could go ahead and do what a majority of non-voting citizens would likely approve of anyway and make money. as the article said, thats a no brainer.

And I agree with you about the water/city wedge for restaurants. currently Ri-Ra Portland is one of my favorite restaurants because on the second floor they are right on the water and it glistens at night with ferries taking off and arriving. window seats look out directly into the atlantic, it is beautiful. and there is a pretty lively bar on the first floor. they have a fire going upstairs on rainy days. terrific and i reccommend it to you next time you're up for a random visit.

hopefully something goes up on that damn pier!
 
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