Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

PortlandArch said:
I think it's great that there is a corporate office user relocating here, but at the same time I can't help but notice that this building does not look ideally situated for reuse in the future should that tenant bail later on. It looks rather suburban. Not complaining, just cautiously supporting.

Regarding the "prime" piece of land between this and WEX, that could actually backfire and lead to pricing that's too high for anyone to be interested. Oddly the "prime" lots seem to move slower than those that are close but not right in the middle of the action (which sellers are willing to let go for more reasonable numbers). What the lot is worth today may not be what it's worth in a couple of years (the soonest anyone could monetize it), so offering at today's rate is a risky financial proposition. Hopefully something works out there though.
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It's quite boxy, although I do like the design of it. It looks very "Seaport-eque"

The land between WEX and the new SunLife building would actually look quite nice as an interim open/green space if no development materializes. It would be sort of walled-in on 3 sides by office buildings, and would break up the Thames St. frontage a bit. A good place for office employees to eat lunch (at least in the warmer months)

Now that I think about it, we are relatively close to a full build-out of the eastern waterfront. There are only a couple of sites that are open for development. Once the SunLife and 170 Fore St. offices are built, there won't be any substantial space for new office construction.
 
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Cosakita18 said:
...there won't be any substantial space for new office construction.
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I wonder if the new Munjoy South owners will try to jump in and get some office space into their eventual redevelopment of the site. Some low income apartments must be available until 2042, but that's a huge site ready for some investment.
 
Sommarnatt said:
I wonder if the new Munjoy South owners will try to jump in and get some office space into their eventual redevelopment of the site. Some low income apartments must be available until 2042, but that's a huge site ready for some investment.
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This would seem inevitable, given the development that's occurring on Munjoy South's doorsteps.
 
Would love to see the whole Munjoy South space redeveloped to be much denser, while still retaining the existing housing and adding new units. I'm always amazed that such a suburban style housing complex was built downtown but I know the area was much different back in the day.

40 Free Street progress:

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There are two places between Wex and the Portland Company site: the city parking lot, and the Jackrabbit building at 144 Fore St. where the VA is. The issue with the city parking lot is that it's parking for island residents, so eliminating that will be political hell (and I don't blame them, at least the year-rounders). 144 Fore is squeezed between Wex and the new 100 Fore building and the eastern third of the building site will be lost to the Mountfort St. extension.
 
Looks like the 263 Cumberland Ave proposal has ditched the art deco motif. Looks pretty bland to me.

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I think the art deco version and the newer version of 263 Cumberland Ave both look pretty bland, but I think the proportions/height are nice. Would be cool to have a more mixed-use vibe on Cumberland.

Hobson's Landing area from yesterday:
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Your photo really shows the transformation of the Holiday Inn, will be glad when the entire exterior is complete.
 
Portlander said:
Your photo really shows the transformation of the Holiday Inn, will be glad when the entire exterior is complete.
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I hope they resume work soon. I'm assuming they took the summer off because they didn't want to do the work during peak tourist season, but we're now into October and there's been no activity.
 
Wasn't there a huge new Portland thread in here yesterday? What happened to it?
 
markhb said:
Wasn't there a huge new Portland thread in here yesterday? What happened to it?
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The developer came to the thread and asked that it be taken down, since the conceptual renderings that were leaked were supposed to be confidential. They are very early in the process for the development and want to better control release of information to the public given the nature of the proposal and typical public reaction to such projects in Portland.
 
Good news Max, renovations to the exterior of the Holiday Inn is underway again and should be completed by spring.
 
Portlander said:
Good news Max, renovations to the exterior of the Holiday Inn is underway again and should be completed by spring.
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Woohoo! I saw a crane over there earlier and was hoping that meant they were back at it.
 
BeeLine said:
I deleted the thread at the request of Redfin, the project proposer, who had not authorized the project information to be released to the public.
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but once it was in the public (on this site) it was no longer confidential . . .
 
Construction on the corner of center and comericial getting ready to start
 

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tazzman said:
Construction on the corner of center and comericial getting ready to start
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Nice! This is the Canopy Hotel, which is really the first piece of the massive Portland Square redevelopment, though it is being separately developed. Commercial Street's building wall is expanding both to the east and west.
 
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