Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

[Matt68]

Wow ! Way to go Portland - way better than an abandoned factory. Great pictures as always Corey - Thanks

Matt

 

[Corey]

There's a lot of stuff in the most recent city council meeting materials. I noticed some renderings for the housing proposal at 66-68 High Street. This is at the corner of Danforth and High Streets. The existing building most recently belonged to USM, and was originally a children's hospital. The proposal by Community Housing of Maine involves rehabilitating the existing building (for 20 units) and building a new addition (15 units with below-grade parking) on what is currently a fenced-in grass area.

This shows the rendering of the addition:

 

[John_French]

Funny how history comes full circle. Once that vacant lot held the Mussey Mansion which was torn down by UM in th early 1960's. That large building shown in the rendering will IMO really "close in" the intersection space.

 

[Patrick]

It would be nice if there was more interaction actually on Franklin Street, say a coffee house or something on the Northwest corner....the buildings all seem to turn their back to the street there, even though it is relatively nice.

 

[Corey]

I agree, that would have been a good addition. There's plenty of sidewalk room for more outdoor seating over there.

Sidenote - The company operating the hotel ended up purchasing three photos from me, keep your eyes peeled for advertisements for the hotel, I'm not sure where my photos will show up.

 

[cneal]

TFH, an architecture firm headquartered in the offices above Hugo's and Rabelais, is designing a small pedestrian plaza and series of storefronts for that older building's basement level, which now opens up onto the back side of this new building. Currently, it's a blank wall (it used to be underground when Jordan's was there), but they've designed a neat, cozy new public space with a staircase leading up to Franklin.

You can see an elevation rendering on the TFH website, under "On the Boards" section (I couldn't embed an image, since they use a Flash site):

http://www.tfharchitects.com/

Overall, I'm very pleasantly surprised with how well this new building has done with its street-level spaces, and this plaza in the back looks like it'll be a great bonus.

 

[Corey]

 

[Patrick]

Nice work corey thanks for the update. Pierce Atwood should be nice in that location, and hopefully the Portland North project brings in a nice mixed use development across the street on Center Street.

As for the Hampton Inn-adjacent building row, here is the rendering. What you want to do, Christian, when you can't save a picture, is hit Control>> print screen (usually labeled PrtSc on a PC) and then that copies the entire computer monitor's view, which can then be pasted into a paint document or other editing program, and cropped as desired. Just an FYI in case you locate any other neat renderings. P/S I like your ideas for re-imagining Elm and Preble streets. What rendering program have you been using to import the buses and streetlights? I have been learning to use sketch up as a planner, but the more realistic rendeirng programs I am as of yet not skilled with.

 

[Portlander]

Patrick,

Tell me more about this potential Portland North project at Commercial and Center Streets? You got me on this one!

 

[Patrick]

The Portland North project is a commuter study currently being done by the MDOT to examine the potential for using bus rapid transit or a light rail line to bring people as close to monument square as possible. The options to date I believe are a bus rapid transit stop in Monument Square or a light rail stop at the foot of Center Street, right next to the pierce atwood renovations. There is not a plan for any mixed use development at this time, but if any transit hub emerges at that location, there is plenty of open parking space to be developed in that vicinity.

Recent changes in state government's priority for planning is likely to result in this not amounting to much, but there was at one time a serious consideration for light rail to be located at a station on Center Street (and now that I googled the project I think the plan is to go with a bus instead).

 

[Portlander]

Thanks, I remember something about this in another post. Was hoping the empty lot at the corner of Center and Commercial was going to finally get developed.

 

[toddc]

I would much rather see a light rail for Portland, maybe some day. If the planning priorities have changed, and this isn't one of them, what are the priorities? Sustainable transit should be a priority.

On a side not, Im hoping that the Congress Street Bus Corridor will be the start of considering a streetcar for Congress St. If the bus priority corridor works out well, maybe some serious thought will be given to a streetcar.

 

[Patrick]

Right now planning is not a state priority, budget trimming is. The State Planning Office has been at risk of total elimination as a unit in state government, and progressive planners have resigned. The gateway 1 project, highlighted across the country as progressive integration of land use and transportation planning, has been shelved, and the priority for rail has sunk. I agree sustainable transportation should be a priority, but I'm not the governor.

Portlander--sorry to be misleading, the lot is not being developed, but I thought a new transit hub might change that.

Also, I don't know if the congress street bus corridor will actually be a separate bus only land, as the street is only one lane wide in some places. Anyone know?

 

[Corey]

Also, I don't know if the congress street bus corridor will actually be a separate bus only land, as the street is only one lane wide in some places. Anyone know?

I haven't read all the materials on the project website, but I recall that the idea was not to add bus-only areas. The idea was to actually eliminate the existing 'bus only' areas where buses currently pull over in order to avoid the congestion created by buses pulling in and out of traffic. This would improve the time it takes for buses to navigate this section of Congress and also add more space for expanding sidewalks or adding more parallel parking.

 

[cneal]

I took a look at the Congress St. plans last week at City Hall. Corey's right - the main effects will be to prohibit left-turns on Congress (so that cars and buses don't get stuck behind other vehicles waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic), and moving the bus stops from the pull-outs into the travel lanes. The traffic signals would also be coordinated with sensors on the buses, so that red lights will be synchronized with passenger pickups/dropoffs, and green lights will be synchronized with buses in motion. All this is aimed at improving buses' schedule reliability, by creating more consistency for how long it takes a bus to travel the length of Congress.

The prohibition of left turns on Congress creates some interesting possibilities and solutions. The slip lane in front of Starbucks and the museum, for instance, would be converted to sidewalk space (since cars would be prohibited from making that sharp left turn from Congress to Free). The plan also calls for reversing the one-way flow of Federal Street, and connecting it to Franklin, so that cars coming in from the north could use Federal to get to the City Center parking garage without using Congress.

This plan, as well as the Forest Avenue study, will be presented to the Transportation Committee at their June 21 meeting. I plan to go:
http://www.portlandmaine.gov/agenda/agenda.asp?agendaid=1465

 

[Patrick]

Be sure to check out this month's Portland Magazine for the article "Anatomy of a Skyline" with pretty cool pictures.

 

[Corey]

 

[Corey]

Today:

Oak Street elevator shaft:

This big photo was outside Anna's Antiques on Congress near by apartment. I might go back to see what the asking price is [EDIT - I went back to ask. It's asking price is $149. It's a nice picture and is pretty much an antique, but out of my range] . It's titled "Portland Drydock Facility 1983." It looks like it was at city hall or somewhere like that:

 

[Patrick]

Neat Corey, one city center isn't in that photo. Also, thanks for the regular updates on Oak Street.

 

[Portlander]

Other significant structures missing from the photo are One and Two Portland Square, 100 Middle Street, Back Bay Tower and the Cumberland County Courthouse addition. The 1983 date is accurate and I miss seeing the Navy destroyers moored at the Maine State Pier.