Roux Institute Campus Development | Portland

I don't think views are going to be at issue; shadows, maybe.
 
The neighborhood is also located next to a very busy section of 295, so
 
Extensive and complete. A nicely worked document. I do think the long-term plan with 4,500 students needs to be moved up. I simply can't tell you how many podunk towns I've been to across the U.S. with universities that have double or triple the student body populations of this (including UMO). Roux is the future of tech education in Maine. Tech is the future of the world. Just do it.
 
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New article on Roux in Mainebiz today. Nearby residents should have virtually no say in this. It's too important a project for Portland and Maine to compromise on. And regarding increased traffic, it will be minimal as students will primarily be from out of state and the country, so most won't have cars. A shuttle boat to the waterfront will also make things better in this regard. Yes, some staff will have cars and commute daily (students won't), but it's a small price to pay for a transformational educational and technology center to ensure Maine has better jobs and a thriving economy in the future. By the time this is built to completion, many of these residents won't even be alive, or somewhere else in a retirement home.
https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/ro...od-concerns-about-proposed-campus-in-portland
 
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TC_zoid said:
Nearby residents should have virtually no say in this. It's too important a project for Portland and Maine to compromise on.
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Someone needs to regularly remind people that things change - see also the recent fight in East Bayside over noise complaints, even over the indoor entertainment at Urban Farm Fermentory. They now have a 10p outdoor curfew, 11p indoor curfew on music. I get the outdoor curfew, but indoors? Come on people, you live in a city. If you want complete and utter silence move to a rural community. I feel like some people complain when any little thing is out of the ordinary - and I'm guilty of this too. I've definitely caught myself grumbling about Maine State Pier concerts only to catch myself and say, wait, it's a different noise but it is really that loud? No. Is my reaction reasonable? No! Same with a 10% increase in traffic, a shadow for part of the day, whatever it is. We live in a community and things change.
 
nomc said:
Someone needs to regularly remind people that things change - see also the recent fight in East Bayside over noise complaints, even over the indoor entertainment at Urban Farm Fermentory. They now have a 10p outdoor curfew, 11p indoor curfew on music. I get the outdoor curfew, but indoors? Come on people, you live in a city. If you want complete and utter silence move to a rural community. I feel like some people complain when any little thing is out of the ordinary - and I'm guilty of this too. I've definitely caught myself grumbling about Maine State Pier concerts only to catch myself and say, wait, it's a different noise but it is really that loud? No. Is my reaction reasonable? No! Same with a 10% increase in traffic, a shadow for part of the day, whatever it is. We live in a community and things change.
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Agree. I see in the article one neighbor categorizing the area as a “quiet part of Portland,” which is at best disputable given that the neighborhood is bisected by an interstate highway, a pair of elevated on & off ramps, a commercial boat yard and a former food-processing plant.

The Roux Institute needs to establish a critical scale immediately to put a stake in the ground that Portland is the next tech- & business-incubation destination. Likewise, the City of Portland (council, mayor, business and academic communities) needs to signal this as well with a big embrace that fosters that concept.

Equally important remains this question: Is this the best and only location, or is there another central location that might serve as well or even better?

For example: Would Top of the Port, with its high-spine visibility and all its adjacencies — City Hall, Congress & Franklin streets, multiple existing transit lines, walkable to and from the East End, Bayside, Old Port and all the housing, restaurants and hotels they offer — was that site considered (or others)? If so, what were the challenges? If not, should it be?

But if the East Deering site is indeed best then let’s make way. Because Portland needs this. Maine needs this. Students and businesses need this. It would be an engine for possibilities.
 
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GIL said:
Agree. I see in the article one neighbor categorizing the area as a “quiet part of Portland,” which is at best disputable given that the neighborhood is bisected by an interstate highway, a pair of elevated on & off ramps, a commercial boat yard and a former food-processing plant.

The Roux Institute needs to establish a critical scale immediately to put a stake in the ground that Portland is the next tech- & business-incubation destination. Likewise, the City of Portland (council, mayor, business and academic communities) needs to signal this as well with a big embrace that fosters that concept.

Equally important remains this question: Is this the best and only location, or is there another central location that might serve as well or even better?

For example: Would Top of the Port, with its high-spine visibility and all its adjacencies — City Hall, Congress & Franklin streets, multiple existing transit lines, walkable to and from the East End, Bayside, Old Port and all the housing, restaurants and hotels they offer — was that site considered (or others)? If so, what were the challenges? If not, should it be?

But if the East Deering site is indeed best then let’s make way. Because Portland needs this. Maine needs this. Students and businesses need this. It would be an engine for possibilities.
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So ... when B&M was in it's heyday (before the operations became much smaller), how many employees were commuting to work in the factory?
How many shifts did they have?
In addition to rail and truck deliveries and load pickups?
When the factory was first built, did the neighbors balk and complain - or did they accept this as progress?

Perhaps not as much as Roux may inevitably see once there is a Hotel, Retail, and all that. But many many decades have passed since then, so you have to have perspective that the population increases and times/demands change.

The I:295 Corridor is busy as hell, which creates a ton of traffic. I don't see how this development will vastly impact what is already occurring. The neighbors experience will virtually be the same.
 
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GIL said:
Equally important remains this question: Is this the best and only location, or is there another central location that might serve as well or even better?

For example: Would Top of the Port, with its high-spine visibility and all its adjacencies — City Hall, Congress & Franklin streets, multiple existing transit lines, walkable to and from the East End, Bayside, Old Port and all the housing, restaurants and hotels they offer — was that site considered (or others)? If so, what were the challenges? If not, should it be?

But if the East Deering site is indeed best then let’s make way. Because Portland needs this. Maine needs this. Students and businesses need this. It would be an engine for possibilities.
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I think the ship has sailed on the question of the campus location. I would have preferred to see them develop the Top of the Old Port lot, it's the center of the peninsula and makes the most sense in terms of visibility and accessibility. Supposedly they looked at it but it didn't work out for whatever reasons. I'm assuming they paid in full for the B&M campus site and they've already invested a bunch of money in a master development vision, so it's probably full steam ahead at that location.
 
According to this article they made offers on four other properties before settling on this location. It's a bit hard to believe with the size of their coffers they weren't able to make one of their preferred locations work. I think they are going to get a lot of pushback from neighbors (they already are). Also a PR consultant could have advised them that saying the site was their "fifth choice" is probably not a good way to ingratiate yourself with neighbors...

portlandphoenix.me

Roux developers were skeptical about B&M property in Portland | The Portland Phoenix

portlandphoenix.me portlandphoenix.me
 
Pity it couldn't have been Top of the Old Port. It really isn't a good look to say this site was, essentially, a last resort. "Please let us build here, regardless!" Unless they don't really care about the neighborhood and are confident the city will do whatever it takes to make it happen.
 
My fantasy location would be the swath of waterfront land between Saltwater Grille and Bug Light Park. True, it would be quite the challenge to get the pipeline company to sell its "beauty" (two of the tanks are abandoned), but if so, wow. A glass top boat could shuttle students to Ocean Gateway, and the beautiful modern towers would visually anchor that corner in stunning fashion, not unlike the way the Sydney Opera House does for that gorgeous city. I know, I know, this is Maine.
 
So if people think Roux/Developers aren't being fully transparent and have a backup plan what would that be? Pull out of Maine entirely?

Top of the Old Port, Bayside, Portland Square, Thompson's Point would all be good. I can't imagine they'd be interested in Rock Row or The Downs.

I think this development belongs IN PORTLAND. Not some pop-up campus out near Unum or something.
 
I think the directive from Mr. Roux was to use his $100 million gift to open a school in Maine, and specifically in Portland, so I don't think there's any concern about them locating elsewhere. And at this point it's hard to imagine them pulling out of this location. I never saw a purchase price but I'm sure the former B&M owners have already cashed the check. And they've probably spent big bucks already on the preliminary plans for this site. I would be stunned if they pulled up stakes at this site and located elsewhere.
 
Not an incredibly exciting HPB meeting last night, but they did vote 5-0 to designate the cannery building as a landmark with the codfish building determined to be non-contributing. Landmark designation extends the normal 100' on the east side, but only 25' on the west and includes the pier with the codfish building that will be demolished. Appendix B of Thornton Tomasetti's report has lots of photos of existing conditions of the site - the underside of the pier is shocking. They note that one pier "has been necked down from an original dimension of 48” x 48” to a current dimension of approximately 10” x 10”" and goes on to say, "Our evaluation of the remaining concrete section indicates the capacity of the pier at column line C10 to be significantly lower than required and presents a very high risk of a sudden partial structural collapse."

One other interesting tid bit - Chuck Hewitt mentioned they are reserving a strip of land next to 295 and the off ramp for potential future direct access to the site.
 
Can I ask what makes the cannery such a landmark? It's not any more interesting than the Noyes Self Storage building on Kennebec. I'd trade this building for one of the historic train stations any day.
 
DanielPWM19 said:
Can I ask what makes the cannery such a landmark? It's not any more interesting than the Noyes Self Storage building on Kennebec. I'd trade this building for one of the historic train stations any day.
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And, this building was never accessed or even close to the public as it was an isolated area owned by a private company. It's ridiculous to make this anything worth saving. But the city always has someone who needs
to "contribute."
 
Had to know this was coming. Reducing the overall square footage by 27%. Reducing overall max building height from 210 ft. to 170 ft. Limit the planned hotel to eight stories and cut the retail space by 60%.
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