Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

PortlandArch said:
There was a new building constructed recently in downtown if I remember correctly, but maybe it was low income housing?
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It was 3-4 story building housing artists apartments/condos (well, at least that was the goal) with 1st floor studio/retail space. It's in the section of downtown Main Street that I'm referring to above. Next door is an abandoned gas staion and right across the street is a discount liquor store that seems to attract the skuzziest this town has to offer (yes, skuzziest is an actual word). The discount liquor store is adjacent to the Maine Rubber plant site. If you tear down the old Maine Rubber plant and put soemthing decent there, then I think the rest of this section of the street would fall into place. There was talk about 5-6 years ago about putting two 6-7 story condo towers on the site of Sacarappa Park. I'd love to see that idea revitalized.

I grew up in Westbrook, work downtown Westbrook and own a home here now, so I do see what grittys457 is seeing and talking about. But I don't have as dire an outlook. There is a whole lot of potential here if someone would just invest in it.

For example:

(1) Tear down the old Main Rubber plant and the discount liquor store, and replace it with a mized use development that incorporates the newer building next to the discount liquor store and the building Profenno's bar/restaurant is located in.

(2) Revisit the 5-7 story residential tower idea on the site of Sacarpappa Park.

(3) Build two buildings like the artist condo/apartments mentioned above on the site of the old gas station (post environmental clean-up, which will likely take some Federal funds).

(4) Build some sort of two-level parking structure with retail or offices facing William Clarke Drive and Center Street in the parking lot behind CVS/Family Discount, in addition to filling in the gap between CVS and the building next to it (currently parking).

Plus, I love the idea presented in this article of shifting the Bridge Street bridge west, extending the boardwalk along the river and creating a small pedestrian mall in between the buildings housing Portland Pie and Frog & Turtle:

http://www.keepmecurrent.com/americ...cle_c5db64e4-e722-11e1-8b62-0019bb2963f4.html

I agree that there are parts of downtown further east on Main Street that are becoming a Skid Row of sorts (not to mention Brown Street, which has always been a Skid Row of sorts), but some investments in the core downtown area between Stroudwater Street and Saco Stree could go a long way.
 
Sorry, meant portarch. I'm just saying per capita
Da brook has almost no redeeming qualities at this
Point. I could think of reasons to visit the lew.
If I stopped working in Westbrook I would
Never step foot here again. Poor planning over
The years led to this. Your main thoroughfare cannot
Be nothing but section 8 housing. There is
No town center here. Portland would
Have to triple in population to force this to become
A desirable downtown suburb
 
And this is not a knock on Westbrook people.
It's the core of people on main street. It would
Take landlords booting out the trash
But if u don't have normal tenants to replace
Them its easier to take guaranteed gov money
 
grittys457 said:
Sorry, meant portarch. I'm just saying per capita
Da brook has almost no redeeming qualities at this
Point. I could think of reasons to visit the lew.
If I stopped working in Westbrook I would
Never step foot here again. Poor planning over
The years led to this. Your main thoroughfare cannot
Be nothing but section 8 housing. There is
No town center here. Portland would
Have to triple in population to force this to become
A desirable downtown suburb
Click to expand...

I won't say you're incorrect, but I will say Westbrook is not alone, although I wish it was. That's the state of a number of Maine downtowns today. It is really gross. And the reasons you cited may have something to do with it. Housing was built for a robust mill economy, when that ended the people with talent left, but the housing stock stayed, meaning other people moved in. When supply is too high (because of lacking employment), the prices of rent fall until an acceptable demand is generated. With lower rents, however, it is more difficult to take care of the buildings. And then there is the snowball effect of trying to enhance a place that by virtue of its slip in the economic rankings is inherently less attractive to begin with, and even more so once the low class takes over. At least you have Portland nearby. What do the other places have nearby? Imagine Westbrook in the middle of nowhere.
 
grittys457 said:
And this is not a knock on Westbrook people.
It's the core of people on main street.
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No worries. I get it. I see it too. My wife and I are always joking about it. A trip to Hannfords always generates some prime people watching opportunities and an occasional "Wesstttbroooooooookkk" side reaction/comment from one of us. I just like to wear rose-colored glasses when envisioning the future and potential for this town. I'm hoping some of pending/hopeful boom-town re-development and construction in Portland rubs off on Westbrook.
 
Do we have a Westbrook, Maine thread here? I'm fine with it here but there are some great thoughts by StrangeHat M.D. that are worth discussing which might get buried in this general Portland thread. Just an idea.

Also, Grittys, are you posting from a phone or are you typing like that on purpose? Your posts are looking like poems. I'm starting to read them line by line. I think Westbrook faces some unique challenges due to being so close to Portland but overall it seems like a typical Maine town to me as far as lack of focus and economic vitality.

August%2B2012%2BWestbrook%2BMaine%2Bpool%2Band%2Bfactory%2Bby%2Bcorey%2BTempleton.jpg
 
Well a new landlord bought a notorious infested
Building next to us, kicked everybody out, cleaned it
And started fresh by actually screening new tenants

Lol, he had a big sign out front that said "all trash
Tenants are gone , thank god"

My new hero.

It's the drugs out there now. How on earth
Can you stop it now? Schedule z is the new motto
 
Corey said:
Do we have a Westbrook, Maine thread here? I'm fine with it here but there are some great thoughts by StrangeHat M.D. that are worth discussing which might get buried in this general Portland thread. Just an idea.
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I couldn't find one, but I don't think Westbrook is big enough/important enough at this point to garner it's on thread anyway. It's like the Waltham of Portland, minus the shiny glass office complexes along the highway and the nightmarishly frustrating downtown traffic (I lived in Waltham, MA in 2008 and 2009).

Edited to add - if you guys think it's worthwhile to create a separate thread, I'll certainly do so. I have more than enough opinions to share on what I think should be done in Westbrook to make up a whole thread and then some.
 
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Just escaped back to Portland for an hour. Public market then down to Starbucks. It's like visiting a different country. Every suburb around Portland has a reason to live or visit there. I'm just not sure what Westbrook can do without the ghost of Rudy vallee coming back and investing millions into his old town

And David Marshall was in my bank now. Wanted to tell him yes on street cars but no to blocking congress square plans
 
Waltham is a pretty thriving place -- I could think of worse places to try to emulate.
 
Ron Newman said:
Waltham is a pretty thriving place -- I could think of worse places to try to emulate.
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I think the nightmarishly frustrating downtown traffic patterns soured me on it. It's definitely a thriving place from the perspective of the office parks along the 128 corridor and the Watertown and Newton boarders. Downtown Waltham itself could use some work (not just in traffic, but in some updating/redevelopment), just like Westbrook. I think they're definitely similar in that they're both old mill towns trying to thrive on their own as non-mill towns while still in the immediate shadow of a larger city. Waltham is obviously a bit further ahead on the curve than Westbrook, though, as they've almost completely shed the mill town aspect. That downtown center, though...wow...I think I aged 5 years in the year a half I lived there LOL.
 
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Really? I've always enjoyed my visits to Moody Street in Waltham. Does Westbrook have a similar strip of restaurants and bars?
 
Ron Newman said:
Really? I've always enjoyed my visits to Moody Street in Waltham. Does Westbrook have a similar strip of restaurants and bars?
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I was thinking more of Main Street/Rt 20 in Waltham as as the downtown section that needs work. Moody Street I did enjoy, especially Watch City Brewery. Westbrook has a MUCH smaller stretch of restaurants and bars (seven to be exact LOL). I think the potential is there for a larger stretch of restaurants and bars, especially if the four items I note above and the bridge reallignment would happen. Now if I only had $100 million to make it all happen...
 
Article about new zoning in India St. neighborhood this month in the Munjoy Hill Observer.

Also, I heard a rumor that one of the tenants may have backed out of Jordan's phase II, potentially jeopardizing the project. Just a rumor, and not from a very credible source.
 
"Also, I heard a rumor that one of the tenants may have backed out of Jordan's phase II, potentially jeopardizing the project. Just a rumor, and not from a very credible source. "

I can't see them stopping the project over one tenant. I'm guessing it would be the grocery store but still that's prime location and they're all permitted to go.
 
Also I'm in shock Corey hasn't posted one pic of the CCCC renovations. Homeboy is slipping. Hopefully the commercial street rats didn't steal his camera.
 
As I told the source of the rumor, that site is a question of when, or who, not if. It may be later, it may be sold, it may be a different project, but it'll get developed. That's the hottest market in the city right now. I wonder if the condos up the street messed it up at all? Who knows, but in my opinion the Jordan's site is a far superior project from a number of angles.

Is there anything to photograph at CCCC yet? Rats!
 
Well they're fenced off and digging away on the main free street entrance. At least it's started.

That would suck greatly if Phase II didn't happen cause we've all said how much we like the design. The housing in there is the most expensive part and look how fast phase one sold out. If they can count on that they should be able to feel confident enough to proceed.

I've said a hundred times but we need things downtown for people to do that aren't just duckboats and trinket shops. I was down there early this morning when cruise ship passengers were roaming around and if the stores aren't open and it's too early for lunch, there is nothing to do besides walk around. I don't know what we need but something for tourists and us to do. An aquarium would be nice but something a little less wouldn't hurt.
 
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