Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

S-Roll said:
I sent Joe Boulos an email on Friday about whether or not he is still persuing on building the Lincoln Center. It was before the 6:00 news came on so I didn't know that Smith recommended expanding the CCCC instead of building a new one. Anyway, I asked him if he was still hoping to build the Lincoln Center and if he was trying find another way to fund it. Today he replied with: "Sean [me], one should never give up!" I don't mean to cause a new round of speculation, but I assume the project isn't completely 100% dead yet and Joe still wishes to build it when the time comes.
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interesting, thanks for sharing. even if the civic center, convention center, and hotel portions are not built, I would still like to see that high rise plopped down in that parking lot. that would be very nice.

I have heard rumors that boulos will refloat that project when the political environment is right (ie when baldacci is out) but that could be total rumor and no fact...its good the man himself has said never to give up.
 
When the hell did they bust down and clear out the Sportsman's Grill building? That was fast.

Drove down to Providence yesterday to go to a wedding at Providence College. Saw some pretty ghetto neighborhoods on the way. That big road leading into the city isn't elevated like most other highways going into New England cities (Portland, Boston, Worcester...).
WIsh I could have gone to the center of the city. What's the deal with Pawtucket? Looked pretty big. Was that just the mill area of Prov back in the day?
 
ever seen that movie that is sorta like a bronx tale only it takes place in pawtucket? its called like outside providence or something like that. When I went to providence for the first time all i remember was trash on the highway and a sleezy arcade. However I have since learned that the city has nice and then not so nice areas.


whats the sportsmans grill?
 
It's that , or was that two story building that has been vacant for years. Almost across from the Maine Med garage on Congress st. Looks like they are going to take down the building next to it so that is a decent sized amount of land. I'm guessing Maine Med already has something planned for that. Sucks that on the same side street is that new druggie/homeless/crazy whatever million dollar building under construction.
 
grittys457 said:
It's that , or was that two story building that has been vacant for years. Almost across from the Maine Med garage on Congress st. Looks like they are going to take down the building next to it so that is a decent sized amount of land. I'm guessing Maine Med already has something planned for that. Sucks that on the same side street is that new druggie/homeless/crazy whatever million dollar building under construction.
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there is a lot just before the skybridge on congress on the left as you are heading away from st johns and up the hill toward latina bodega/walker terrace area that is under construction with bulldozers and steam shovels there etc...my mom works at MMC and says it is supposed to be a new building for the hosp....there is also some new building under const between congress and hadlock field, its like 2-3 stories, is that the homelss building you mean? they are putting siding up on the AAA building expansion first floor now on marg way. they are supposed to be renaiming marg way "bayside avenue."
 
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I guarantee that in the next three years there will be plans to construct at least a 15-story building in portland, probably in bayside along the interstate.
 
How is that Kimbal (?) project -the condos with the glass front- coming? That looks like a cool project.
 
smutty - kimball court condos are practically done, just working on the outside a bbit more it looks like.


gritty's wrote:

"The whole project is called Riverwalk. The condos closest to the water are called The Longfellow.

Patrick, you gotta take a pic of the new Merrill Auditorium signage(marquis?) at night. Saw it for the first time tonight and it looked very "city" like. Too bad you only see it going down that side street or real quick driving down Congress..."


explain to me better where it is and ill take a pic tomorrow or even tonight maybe. is it on that short side street that leads to the back of city hall where the chestnut street condos are being built?
 
That would be the correct location. Looks plain at daytime though. Letters are back lit at night.
 
we should seriously develop this shiz...but first, a never ending debate...

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Thanks for all the pics Patrick! I'm living in Washington, DC now so this is my only way to keep up on development back in Portland. If you do get a chance to snap a picture of that Merrill Auditorium signage that would be great, I used to work there so I'd be interested to see what it looks like. Also, any new pics of Walker Terrace? I used to live right there on Walker Street so that project interests me as well. I'll be up over the July 4th weekend so I'll have to check these projects out in person.

There's a lot of construction going on down here in DC, but because of strict height limits most of it is 10 stories and under. Still, there are probably 15 or 20 building cranes on the DC skyline at any given time. Lots of condos, office buildings, museums. I'll take some pics and post them soon.
 
Hey, welcome to the forum Max. Could you tell me why D.C. has such strict height restrictions? Is it because of security concerns, or just because they want the Capitol and monuments to stand out? I lived down in Alexandria and interned in Rosslyn for a few months, and loved it down there (except for the traffic, a few minor crime issues). I definitely wouldn't mind moving back to an area like Adams Morgan.
 
Hey welcome back, max! Walker terrace is almsot completed, and renting units for this october..they are even well into the brick exterior application...the newest pics i have of it are about a month or two old, but ill post some anyway.



actually just looked and cant find them on my online host, so looks like ill be taking some new ones!
 
Hey Smutty - actually I used to post on this forum as MaxScraper but when the site went down and came back up my login info was lost so I reverted to just Max.

Anyhow, Washington has had the height limits in effect since 1899, though it was intended by early city planners to be a low, broad city with open light, pierced by domes and monuments, much like a European city. Here is an article that will explain it very well:

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2004/02/16/focus5.html

It is kind of weird to be in Washington and look across the Potomac River to Arlington, VA and see what looks to be a real city. That neighborhood Rosslyn that you mentioned is where most of the taller buildings are located, with the two tallest topping out at about 30 stories. Rosslyn actually has quite a nice little skyline when viewed from the waterfront in Georgetown. Not much going on over there though, especially at night, it's mainly just offices and it's dead after 6pm.
 
Max said:
Hey Smutty - actually I used to post on this forum as MaxScraper but when the site went down and came back up my login info was lost so I reverted to just Max.

Anyhow, Washington has had the height limits in effect since 1899, though it was intended by early city planners to be a low, broad city with open light, pierced by domes and monuments, much like a European city. Here is an article that will explain it very well:

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2004/02/16/focus5.html

It is kind of weird to be in Washington and look across the Potomac River to Arlington, VA and see what looks to be a real city. That neighborhood Rosslyn that you mentioned is where most of the taller buildings are located, with the two tallest topping out at about 30 stories. Rosslyn actually has quite a nice little skyline when viewed from the waterfront in Georgetown. Not much going on over there though, especially at night, it's mainly just offices and it's dead after 6pm.
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arlington is a town in which i applied to law school...aside from being close to DC one of the major reasons was the skyline. im such a strange person haha.
 
Hey max, Interesting article. I'm not sure how I feel about the height restrictions. On the one hand, it's great that the Capitol and monuments have remained a focal point of the city, and the lack of any skycrapers really makes Washington stand out among the other major American cities. However, a lot of the office buildings downtown are kind of sprawling and boxy and almost identical in height, which makes the streetscape less interesting, imho. Also, the whole European city idea kind of went out the window when they decided to build all those hideous 60's and 70's era government buildings.
 
i kind of like the height restriction, simply because as you said it makes DC stand out amongst other major american cities...that way at least it also doesnt have to worry about comparing poorly to a place like NYC or LA because its not even trying. but sometimes i wish there would be a huge building there, so i guess i need to think about it a bit more.
 
Hey Patrick, kind of off topic question, but is the UMaine Law School in Orono? Also, how does Orono stack up as a college town? Lots to do, or not so much? Nice looking town, or not so nice? I think it's the only town in New England with the flagship state school that I havent been to.
 
Not to steal the whole question from you Pat, but....


Maine's only law school is in Portland is somehow part of USM.

Since I go to the University of Maine (which is in Orono), I can say that it seems to stack up okay as a college town. It is definitely the only thing that the town has going for it. It is a great resource for students and the community alike and both are very dependent on each other. There really isn't anything to do outside of school, even in Bangor which is a 15 minute car ride away. The actual town of Orono is okay looking, I would compare it to Saco or Westbrook's down-towns. It's not really worth going out of your way to visit though.
 
No, as corey mentioned, UMaine Law is not in Orono, but in Portland. It was founded in part by a family friend of mine (now deceased) named Ed Godfrey, and it is an administrative unit of the University of Southern Maine, though not really part of it. It is NOT usm law, as some people refer to it as, even though it is right across the street from usm portland. It is in a nice circular 8-story building just before parkside and downtown portland, about a mile from where i grew up and am staying for the summer, in deering.
 
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