Portland's Franklin Street redesign

DanielPWM19 said:
Haha ... NO ... that is a hot mess. Is that a prior iteration of that location?
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LOL... only a year later. Yup! The two roads exiting at the top are St. John and Valley, the one to the left is the old Veterans' Bridge (which was directly next and parallel to the existing railroad bridge), lower left is the Cassidy Point road connector with the hated RR overpass, going towards bottom right is the squiggly connector to Commercial St., straight off to the right is Danforth (with a flyover directly to and from the bridge; it was actually signed as the route to downtown for many years), and the building with a curbcut directly on the circle is what is, the last I heard, the Sweetser building (known back then as One Gateway Circle). Note that traffic coming off the bridge couldn't access St. John St.; Route 1 Northbound followed Valley St. to Park Avenue.

As far as the Franklin St. project goes, I personally wish it would be abandoned. I have no desire to see it de-expressway-ified.
 
I'm fine with overall layout of Franklin Street but would like to see sidewalks added, Federal Street reconnected, modern lighting, improved landscaping and an illuminated PORTLAND sculpture in the center median as you head up the hill from Marginal Way.
 
Portlander said:
I'm fine with overall layout of Franklin Street but would like to see sidewalks added, Federal Street reconnected, modern lighting, improved landscaping and an illuminated PORTLAND sculpture in the center median as you head up the hill from Marginal Way.
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I like your idea. Here is some inspiration.... (And maybe add the "Cross Insurance" logo at the bottom so that they will pay for it.)

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I like this one TC and maybe elevated a little higher so it can be seen by vehicles on Interstate 295!
 
As a proud Portland native, I feel compelled to observe that Lewiston and Bangor have such nice signs as a service to those who arrive there and say, "Are you sure this is it?"

Franklin would indeed be a great place for a cool sign (assuming we can't have the tunnel to Middle St.). The few nice welcome signs the city has (I think there are three, and Franklin does have one) aren't bad, but they don't stand out.
 
Their main complaint was that it is not grandiose enough, could not be seen from a plane and were hoping for something similar to the HOLLYWOOD sign. I liked the verse "it looks like they got these letters from Toys R Us!
 
If you had a tunnel it would free up so much space for development, still give easy access to Cumberland, Congress, etc, allow connectivity with streets that are currently cut off, allow for awesome signage at the entries of the tunnel, bring more public green space and walkability to the neighborhoods and so many other benefits. Did this quickly to visualize what the overhead layout of the tunneled Franklin would look like!!
 

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Was the original design supposed to have a tunnel feature, aka where the green space is? An expressway from commercial to 295. local traffic would utilize the current roads.
 
As an Architect who has spend most of his career working in arenas and event facilities across North America, I have always viewed the large empty parking between Congress and Cumberland at Franklin as a perfect location for a modern combined arena and convention center. Portland needs a new arena to get back to the AHL and attract the touring entertainment that's not quite big enough for TD Garden in Boston. Today those tours go to Manchester and other locations. I've seen numerous proposals or suggestions that Portland also needs some sort of convention center to attract other business related events to the area. and now we have a proposal for a new 3,300 seat music hall in the same area. Why not package all of these ideas in one building at the heart of the gateway to the city. The realignment of Franklin would only add to the potential of this new development. AHL Hockey, large music events, business conventions. Seems like a win win. And the existing arena can be removed to make room for other new development to expend the city centers core.

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Another idea is yes, another renovation for the civic center, aka Cross Insurance Arena. Check out how Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis has changed with its new iterations (since 1999). CIA has more room if utilizing some of Spring Street. The roof should be raised, but not too much. Gainbridge kind of blasted out some sections of seating to make standing area bars and club seating with their most recent renovation. I've done some recent consulting work for the Pacers, so I know it all quite well. And, and it is key, the current CIA location could utilize the Holiday Inn better by perhaps getting them to build a smaller footprint tower next door (150 rooms with a more hip concept, like the new Moxy will be at Thompson's Point) and a covered walkbridge to CIA. That would result in nearly 400 rooms for conventions. As things are now, the renovated Holiday Inn "By the Bay" is the best convention space location in all of Maine and NH with sufficient garage parking to one side and behind and across the street, 240 renovated rooms, a renovated ballroom and break out rooms, a spruced-up bar and restaurant, and 24/7 concierge. And when the expansive parking lot diagonally opposite CIA gets developed, perhaps that build could also have a related function along with a covered walkbridge. There are a variety of options with the CIA location. Also, the NW corner of the building (on the roof) could become a vertical bar with open sightlines to the arena. Just add a massive screen/s like Circa (though half the size) in Vegas (I can create massive screens at one-tenth the usual cost). It's a destination in itself. Lastly, or maybe not, you have the cool design of Aura next door of which has also been used for smaller corporate gatherings and live music, of course.
 
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Archarte said:
As an Architect who has spend most of his career working in arenas and event facilities across North America, I have always viewed the large empty parking between Congress and Cumberland at Franklin as a perfect location for a modern combined arena and convention center.
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Some previous proposals during the past few decades that never materialized and the one on the left included an 80,000 sf convention center. I've been waiting half a century for that prime downtown lot to be developed! :)
 
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