Portland Renderings

[Patrick]

Renderings?A place to keep track of the renderings

the Boulos proposal for a 17 story office tower, ten story hotel, and 10,000 seat arena in 2005

westbrook

bayside

bayside

this next image is of the building that used to sit where the key bank office tower now exists in the Old Port

Transportation potential for commercial street including new bike lanes and Amtrak extension (or light rail I'm not sure which)

there used to be a clock tower there

planned westward extension of commercial street's building stock

an urban vision for bayside

the scaled down version of Cacoulidis' south portland proposal

 

[Patrick]

Do these pictures show up alright? I linked them from facebook to avoid the hassle of uploading on imageshack.us and have more if there is interest.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

mmmm Rendering Porn *drooooooool*

 

[Patrick]

 

[palindrome]

Whats the status on these? Are they all proposed? Half built?

Keep them coming!!

 

[Patrick]

These are all the portland renderings I have spanning from the late 1980s to present. The larger ones are not being built. Some of the smaller towers (7-10 stories) have been built and many of the nicer looking condo buildings are on hold because of the economy. Most of this thread is NOT being built. Some has already been completed, and one or two are in construction right now. This is all I have for now.

 

[Lrfox]

Awesome thread! It's fun to browse through these

 

[KentXie]

Wow, there's a lot of stuff going on here. What is that Eiffel Tower like observation structure?

 

[Todd]

It would be great if these projects would go forward....these buildings all have the making of a great metropolis....and they each seem to have Maine charachter, but in this recession....im sure you guys are right...most of them are probaly being scrapped

 

[Patrick]

I'd just like to clarify something. These are NOT all current proposals. The entire thread includes EVERYTHING I have ever seen a rendering for in Portland (almost) and includes all the way back to 1988. Most of them have either been built or, more likely, not approved. The tower looking observation thing was a platform to be used as a cable car ride over the harbor from south portland into the old port in downtown. It was never even close to approved. In fact the guy who proposed it was laughed out of planning meetings. He is the same guy that now wants to build a 30 story building in town Portland (no word on that since last summer though). Portland every now and then has some bold ideas, but it is a very small community with vocal opposition groups and a small demand so projects like these, even when they come up, face uphill battles towards getting complete. Some of the more modest 10 - 12 story brick buildings are closer to what stands a real chance of getting built here, but even they are not for sure. I would have really have liked to see the brick and glass tower (17 stories) proposed for the civic center complex in 2005. That would have been neat. Mostly, I have posted these pictures because I know how much architecture fans love to look at what COULD be, and because I want other people to post any renderings that they might see (whether for portland or elsewhere). I think renderings are fascinating. You don't have to wait for the project to be done which, if you are around town when they build it, is not really exciting when its complete because you have watched things incrementally change. Its cooler to just see the picture and say wow thats what things COULD be.

 

[Lrfox]

^I know, I know... but the renderings are cool and it's a great thread idea.

 

[Corey]

It's nice to have all these in one easy-to-reference thread, thanks Patrick.

 

[ablarc]

Evidently the folks who commission these renderings are so ashamed of the parking lots they generate that they instruct the renderers to soft-pedal or disguise them. They almost never show the cars or painted lines, and often the lots fade into artful abstraction or simply voids.

The extremest example of this that I'm aware of was a land-use planning map of downtown Charlotte that showed all parking lots in green --the color that was also used for parks. If they had been truthful, the map would have been dominated by the color grey.

.

 

[Patrick]

Did you have any in particular you were referring to? Some of these developments would in fact replace HUGE parking lots, regardless of what additional parking they left behind.

 

[cneal]

Agreed, Patrick - this is a fun thread. And I think it's pretty impressive how many of these have been built. Although the more outrageous ones tend to be the ones that didn't ever happen.

Generally, that's more due to market reality than to Portland's bureaucracy or NIMBYism. NIMBYism sure doesn't help - it delayed the Waterview high-rise condo proposal (shown below) for several years. But our city's better off today without a half-empty highrise - or highrises - flooding the market with "luxury" condos. Instead we've got a stable market through this recession, and a number of smaller-scaled infill and renovation projects moving forward.

Here's an annotation of Patrick's post, to clarify for out-of-towners what's been built and what never was:

Above: Danforth Workforce housing - completed in 2009.

Below (four watercolors): Watermark/The Longfellow at Ocean Gateway Condos, on the corner of Thames and India Streets, Portland. Approved in 2007, still on hold.

Below (four black and white computer massing models): Eastern Waterfront design study. A planning exercise that informed the current zoning regulations for the neighborhood around India and Fore Streets.

Below: Knightville mixed-use, in South Portland. Condos and retail. Built 2009.

Below: Eastern Waterfront design study. A planning exercise that informed the area's current zoning regulations.

Below: Watermark/The Longfellow at Ocean Gateway Condos - approved in 2007, still on hold.

Below: John Calcoulidis's Grand Towers of Tacky, near Bug Light Park in South Portland. These renderings were released in 2000, but never with a serious proposal. As J.C. told it, the towers would have included a luxe hotel and a plastic surgery hospital! The land remains vacant to this day.

Below: Brunswick Maine Street Station, downtown Brunswick. Phase 1 (two buildings, including a future train station) completed in 2009.

Not sure what this one is...

Below: original proposal for the Village at Ocean Gate, between Middle, Newbury, and Hancock Streets, Portland. A scaled-down condo building was approved in 2006; demolition at the site occurred in 2007, and the land is still vacant with no activity today.

Below: Osher Map Library addition, Bedford St., Portland. Completed in 2008.

Below: UNE Pharmacy Building, Stevens Ave., Portland. Completed in 2009?

Below: another view of the Calcoulidis plan, which would have strung an aerial tram across the harbor from these things. Again, this proposal was never presented to Portland planners, so it can't be considered a serious one.

Below: Stroudwater Place shopping mall in Westbrook. Approved in 2008, currently "delayed," no activity on the site.

Below: Waterview Condos, Cumberland Ave., Portland. approved in 2005, never built. The site was sold to another developer to use as a parking lot earlier this year.

Below: Fore Street office building. Completed in 2008, currently the headquarters for CIEE.

Below: A second, more serious proposal for John Calcoulidis's South Portland land, called "Liberty Village". Not sure what it's status is.

Below: An early design of the Intermed office building, corner of Marginal Way and Preble Street, Portland. Built (with a better design) in 2008.

Below: Another component of John Calcoulidis's "Liberty Village" proposal; unbuilt.

 

[SHAZBAT73]

How about a thread showing the rendering and a picture from the same view? That would look cool....

I got a few more renderings to add to the collection later.

 

[Patrick]

Thanks Cneal. I really didn't want to write all that. there were a few you left out, most notably the 15 or so story black and white castle-looking high rise, which was an intermediate proposal in between the skyscrapers and the low rises proposed by Cacoulidis for the Bug Light site. These projects WERE presented at public input meetings in S. Portland, and some of the designs were submitted to the Planning Dept. in So Po. Other than that just about everything is correct, but I'm not sure about the completion of the map library addition...I was thinking that was 2009?

anyway, here are some more
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/PhotoFinalBWideLT-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/OtherSideExteriorNoTowerT-Housing.html

I also have to add that, you are right that the market realities in Portland precluded completion of some of these projects, but NIMYism here is, as elsewhere, rampant. The first thing you hear about when a project is proposed is how it will be so bad. But then you also hear people complaining about a lackluster economy. hmm. Development should almost NEVER be opposed in a city, in my opinion, but that is not to say that it should not be managed to ensure its appropriateness. Development must be managed, not opposed. Development, if done right, almost always improves a place.

I cannot agree that it is better for our city that many of these large condo projects never went through. We aren't Miami, and the level of speculative proposals here was relatively low to begin with. The housing market in Portland could be expanded drastically. Perhaps some of these projects should have been changes from luxury units to market rate apartments, but they should have been built nonetheless. Waterview was approved and scheduled for construction in the summer of 2005. somewhere I used to have a video link posted of a short video I took that summer of the house that used to sit on that site being moved to bayside in two halves, on the back of a truck down Forest Ave. Corey remembers that. It would have been perfectly suitable for the market if the building was built that year. Now, of course not. However, the project DID start off as market rate apartments before it was converted, based on market changes, to luxury units, and I think given a more relaxed regulatory environment regarding parking units and less of anticompetitive legal complaints from back bay towers and this building would have been built quickly, converting to apartments if necessary. I think many of the units in back bay tower were originally luxury units as well, and they too have similarly responded to the market the way I envision waterview to have, by transforming to apartments.

Also, Cohen got a lot of shit from local media and just about everyone who knew him. Great, who cares what this guy has done in DC, just let him build something here and forget about DC. He is a developer. Let him build. His plans for that section of cumberland ave were visionary. Instead of being skeptical about them, we should have embraced him while keeping in mind (without expressing) any skepticism based on his reputation elsewhere. His conduct in Maine was not at all like that complained of elsewhere. Also, now that we don't have half built or occupied towers, we aren't too much better off with the alternative: urban grasslands with footpaths marked across them being used for powerpay public market parking which, incidentally, is also attached to a huge parking garage.

The development attitude in this city is TERRIBLE. some of the councilors are to be commended, and many business leaders have the right idea, but I am not oblivious to the many granola eating hippies that have nothing better to do than stand in front of bulldozers, even if they are made out of cash and are aimed at a pile of shit.

http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/H1001T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/OtherSideExteriorNoTower--thumb.jpg
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0003T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0007T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0006T-Housing.html
waterview video http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/VideoJune1200T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/YMCA/Finalb0005T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/YMCA/FinalSROT-Housing.html
another video
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/VideoMassingB0525T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0005T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0001T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0008T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0009T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/ExteriorKB0011T-Housing.html
another video of waterview
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/VideoSept1200T-Housing.html
http://www.pepperchrome.com/CWS/Portland/Waterview/VideoDec1200T-Housing.html

Portland does NOT build on speculation, generally speaking, nor do I endorse speculative building. But, that said, the city could benefit tremendously from streamlining regulatory processes and encouraging a more prodevelopment attitude, I don't care what anyone says to the contrary. I have heard excuses why the land in bayside was rejected from libra, I have heard excuses about parking for waterview's delay, lawsuits about the watermark, market conditions about the maine state pier, political conspiracies etc. Uh, sure, but what about the fact that none of these things would have really mattered if the projects had received more support from the beginning...Portland's motto is: welcome to our city, where if official policies don't prohibit your project, they'll delay it until the market does. I am a bit frustrated at the pace of development here. Small scale projects get built all the time. added together they most assuredly count for more units than were contemplated in ANY or probably even ALL of these large scale projects, yet they have been built (with a few exceptions) at the urban periphery, and thus contribute to sprawl and unappealing aesthetics. Are we really that much better off that these things weren't built? There is now, and has been for a while, a trend here as elsewhere of wanting to return to urban living. perhaps if these large projects were built they would have simply substituted the supply of units for the sprawling incremental additions that have occurred in the burbs, instead of being half-occupied. part of the reason there is even demand for units in the suburbs is that it is impossible to build in portland, thus making developers turn to their next logical alternative. Build it and they will come to the city. Portland can hardly even be considered a city in the modern sense of the word, so its not like people would have to be choose brooklyn v falmouth. I have spoken with the developer of the new walmart supercenter in scarborough, who says that he, and many he knows, would NEVER attempt to build anything in Portland, becasue they know they face such an uphill battle. Welcome to portland, land of parking lots surrounded by suburban sprawl. great.

 

[Patrick]

And, as long as I'm on a rant, I'll continue with describing the way I think things should be around here...obviously this is a description of the direction in which I think we should move, not something I'm going to preach at a city council meeting.

I think every single lot in the city should be developed, and I think the market should decide what gets developed where, not zoning. There is a very important precondition for this, however. I think the city should be car free and bicycle friendly. If there were no cars allowed in the urban core, zoning would be unnecessary to achieve the sorts of buildings that "work" for cities. I say the sky is the limit in terms of height, but at the same time I don't advocate for a radiant garden city as envisioned by planners of the past, either. again, let the market decide. Dense cities are good cities (generally, assuming other basic human rights conditions, economic, educational, and infrastructure needs are met). open space? send it outside the city. There should be two forms of development: country and city, and nothing in between. I realize this is radical, but its what I think. I'm not trying to change anyone's views, I'm just spelling out what I think is the most vibrant, workable and sustainable form of built environment. Portland Oregon and surroundings come close. and since they took their name from us, we can take a few cues in land use planning back from them. Maine does have a statewide land use approach, having been a part of what planners call the second portion of the quiet revolution in land use planning, but it isn't enough. With good schools, dense development, good transportation, good jobs, diverse housing, and exciting city culture, things everywhere would be more enjoyable. Or, for those who prefer, the country would be an alternative, unscathed by human development, and close to the urban core by virtue of obliterating sprawl buffers.

 

[Patrick]

Fox Tower...old plans. from loopnet, with leasing info, so it seems like this was once a seriously contemplated project. the land on which this rendering is shown to be built is currently for sale and is part of the bayside trail corridor.

 

[SHAZBAT73]

Patrick, I've been frustrated with Portland since the 80's! You are right, the level of Nimby-izm around Portland AND Maine is insane! Anyway, on a lighter note, more renderings for all...

Graves Hill; 9 stories, 11 with garage, NOGO:

Westin Hotel complex / Jordan factory site; 10, 8 and 6 stories, NOGO:

Before the proposal got better and bigger:

Village at Ocean Gate, before it's size reduction; 6-10 stories, NOGO:

Ocean Gateway, 5 stories, more renderings, ON HOLD:

At least the garage got built:

Older proposal:

Built, though a lot smaller.....:

Chesnut Street, 8 stories, GO:

Federal Street, 4 stories, GO:

Forgot name, 5 stories, GO:

Walker Terrace, 6 stories, GO:

Pearl Street, partial success, 5 stories, GO: