Portland Square Redevelopment | Portland

PWMFlyer

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Redevelopment? As in replacing One and Two?
 
This project is an addition which will finally build out 3 and 4 Portland Square to Cotton Street on the western boundary. Will initially start out as a 1000+ space 6 level garage with two towers (10 total combined floors) added as office demand is meet. There were numerous renderings of the proposal on the previous Portland "New Construction" thread.
 
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This project is an addition which will finally built out 3 and 4 Portland Square to Cotton Street on the western boundary. Will initially start out as a 1000+ space 6 level garage with two towers (10 total combined floors) added as office demand is meet. There were numerous renderings of the proposal on the previous Portland "New Construction" thread.
OK, I knew about that, I just saw "redevelopment" and was perplexed. Thanks!
 
Looks like some pretty major changes have been made to at least the "upper" portion of the Portland Square proposal. Now there is an 8-story building running the length of Spring Street, and a smaller parking garage separate from that building running down to Fore Street. So they've done away with the "offices on top of parking garage idea" that was in the earlier design. The project loses a little height in this regard but overall I think this is a better proposal.

There's not much in the way of renderings in these materials for the Planning Board but I'll paste them below. Unfortunately the site maps included in these docs are very low-res / distorted so it's hard to make out the changes on them.


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An attractive and well integrated look for Portland. However, it should be double the size in square footage (thus, taller). Here's why: Portland will continue to be a prime city of destination to live and work. As youth opt out of the "family program/life", they--along with immigrants--will continue to stream into a city like Portland. It's where the more interesting lifestyle and jobs will be. If available land is not maximized for space to match demand, prices will continue to soar. It's why San Francisco is unaffordable to most for housing. They won't build anything of note. Of course, if you are a current land owner in Portland you want this scenario, to maximize your profit to sell or rent. I predict that in 10 years Portland will be as expensive as Boston and Manhattan to live and work. The city and its residents think that they are keeping the charm of Portland, and to a degree they are (superficially), but crazy demand with little supply results in unaffordability--residential or office. There is no way around this. I would insist that the developer add ten floors (office and market rate rental housing).
 
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Nice, it's a more attractive stand alone building and I like the design of the upper levels. The previous renderings had too much of an emphasis on the parking garage with office space stuck on top at a later date. Looks to be very close to the height of One Portland Square due to the appearance of taller floors.
 
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A full view of the modified master plan:

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Overall, a big step in the right direction in terms of design and massing. Looks like a a bit less parking and more office space overall. I think the building looks great, and it will be a hot commodity with it's 14-foot ceilings. This seems like the kind of building the Roux Institute could call home.

I can't tell if phase 1 of this project is just the garage or the garage and office building. Anyone know??
 
It is the garage and office building which is officially Phase 2 with the Canopy Hotel project being Phase 1.
 
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It is the garage and office building which is officially Phase 2 with the Canopy Hotel project being Phase 1.

Great to hear. I wouldn't be surprised if they already have a tenant lined up. This new design has substantially more office space. I doubt they would have changed it so dramatically without reason.

Between this project, the MEMIC lot, and the future 10-story residential building across Spring St. This section of the city is going to look very different in 5 years time.
 
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What 10 story residential building across from Spring Street are you talking about?
 
What 10 story residential building across from Spring Street are you talking about?

The developers of 40 Free at. own all of that parcel between Free and Spring. They plan to develop the spring Street parcel up to maximum allowable zoning height (about 10 stories) it was mentioned in passing in a PPH article.
 
Thanks, knew they owned the entire parcel but was not aware they may follow up the current 6 story project with a more substantial one. Am pleased to see this area of downtown finally getting some attention after all of the new development in the eastern end of town.
 
I would really love to see this built, although I wish Portland would start building higher. These are great lots for taller buildings. Having worked at One Portland Square and walking past these parking lots for decades ... it'll be amazing to see this finally developed. I wish the Cotton Street development was built, but the 2008 recession killed it. Would have been gorgeous.
 

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