Rock Row (née The Ridge, née Dirigo Plaza) | Westbrook, ME

Color me skeptical....But they weren't even able to find tenants for the much smaller office space closer to Market Basket....165,000 SF of office is a hard sell in 2025. Particularly in this kind of suburban location.

Unless Rock Row has some kind of handshake deal with a prospective tenant.
 
They also make the point that this building will have a Portland address (since it's just east of the city limits). I'm not sure what that gets them aside from higher taxes, but whatever.

From their Instagram post:

Key Highlights to 100 Quarry Drive:
✅ Up to 165,000 sq. ft. of Class A office space
✅ A 305-space attached parking garage for employees
✅ Stunning views of a 250-ft natural rock quarry right outside your window
✅ Immediate access to two I-95 exits (exits 47 and 48) within 0.5 miles, providing unparalleled connectivity
Ready to make your move? Learn more at https://rockrow.com/offices​

Click to expand...
 
IMG_0408.jpeg
IMG_0409.jpeg

It’s a pretty solid looking building… it’s just depressing waiting around for Rock Row. Really disappointing development because they are over promising and under delivering. Just look at that 10 story tower, while in the earlier stages of the idea, still much more attractive than this flat 6 floor rectangle. Looks like there was so much more life in the earlier renderings. Now it just seems lifeless and all for profit, as cheap as they can be. No originality. The original look of this building would have been pretty prominent along the TPK too! This one may peak over the trees.
Very sad waiting around for the Rock Row crew to do anything besides the medical center and some tents in the last 3 years.
 
Obviously the pandemic is a big part of it; they launched Market Basket in 2020 IIRC, and trying to push ahead in that climate when one of your biggest attractions was/is going to be a beer hall just wasn't going to be conducive to anything. And now, what's the market for a 6-story building compared to a 10-story building? This isn't the 80's when many of the banks were still locally controlled and pre-Provident Unum was putting one of its profit centers into any building in town big enough to have an elevator.
 
Rock Row reminds me of the Simpson Episode where they try to sell Springfield on the Monorail. In the end, it doesn't happen...
1738205862178.png
 

Attachments

  • 1738205728085.png
    1738205728085.png
    2.7 MB · Views: 20
The biggest thing isn’t the height, though it would be nice to have that 10 story building, it’s just the soul and life in this design is way less than it was in previous ideas. The entire development is lifeless and has been a disappointment. You all know I try to stay positive and do so on every other project… Rock Row is just sad
 
The only way that more office space gets built here is with a giant healthcare related anchor tenant. I can see the residential buildings, yes. The reason why healthcare works is because of the constant visitations by the public, of whom are covered for their outpatient treatments. So, if you build it, they will come. They have to. The only other tenant I could see here is a Chinese company with a tech-related product that is actually, ostensibly, spying.
 
I like the wood floors... looks cozy in here. A better design idea for those dealing with cancer. And it's all free. Good job, McDreamy.


Screenshot 2025-03-07 075827.png
Screenshot 2025-03-07 075726.png
 
Last edited:
So, looking at the original ideas of this project to then having the only thing started and finished in the last 3 years being an average looking medical campus, this development has been a massive disappointment.
Wasn’t housing proposed like 2 years ago? This can’t be a true, successful mixed use development without housing. How about using the new TOD zoning and revitalizing the rail heading straight through the property and adding 1000+ new housing units along the rail… I know the existing businesses at Rock Row would be thrilled! (Here’s a look at my ideal light rail system on 90% existing rail if anyone was wondering)😂
IMG_1950.jpeg

IMG_1951.jpeg

I’m getting way ahead of myself, sorry!
It’s really sad that the conversion of rail (the blue line on my ideal light rail map of Portland) to pedestrian trails was actually approved today or recently… what a waste of money. That rail line has so much potential to link east Deering, the Roux (5,000 students in next 10 years ish) and the growing suburbs along the coast to Downtown. I think they will greatly regret ripping rail to put down… gravel.
ANYWAY, what the heck’s going on at Rock Row??
 
Hard to believe that they messed this up so much. Had they concentrated on residential to begin with....they would have been marketing the units in the heart of a Southern Maine residential real estate boom. Now we have wars, tariffs & a very cloudy economic future and Rock Row has already become "meh".
 
I don't know why they're pushing an office building so hard. Personally, I have no interest in the residential component; I have a house in Portland, I'm not moving to an apartment in Westbrook. But I do spend a decent amount of money on the stores they have there now and eagerly await the movie theater and the fancy Italian restaurant.
 
Not a great look when the first thing on your sell list is 'a Portland address'
 
nomc said:
Not a great look when the first thing on your sell list is 'a Portland address'
Click to expand...
Yeah. It seems they went out of their way to get that parcel just over the line for that reason. It's not like you can reach it directly from Portland without walking the tracks (I refuse to countenance the alternative; it's a good way to get killed).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top