The Casco | 201 Federal Street | Portland

I am indeed very leery of heights. I wouldn't mind a nice, safe, flat roof, but put me someplace where it's shaky or sloped like a typical house roof (and not even very far up), and I'm going to need to take a moment....

The building could be named The Katahdin House because that would then require another one to come along and be taller just because hubris never pays. :)
 
I'm also very cautious with heights Mark and you will not catch me getting closer than 10 feet from the edge!
 
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Now we get to look forward to the arrival and installation of the 9 foot prefab sections and the bricklayers starting on the bottom three levels. Should be a very busy month prior to the crane being removed and the arrival of cold weather.
 
It's been 53 years since Franklin Towers was built and I appreciate your optimism but I'm going to predict 8 years to completion. I also think it will happen on the Top of the Old Port lot and will top out around 230 feet at 20 floors. I'm just not confident that Tim Soley will ever pull of the Canal Plaza tower due to it being located in the middle of the historic district and I hope I'm wrong.
 
Portlander said:
Should be a very busy month prior to the crane being removed and the arrival of cold weather.
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Is the crane not used to hoist the prefab wall sections into place? How will they do it?
 
I was wondering the same thing and was told by a Landry French foreman that the crane will be used for the prefab sections and they install fairly quickly. Maybe the tower crane is used for the upper floors, they dismantle it and use a smaller crane to finish the lower exterior? We will definitely find out on Thursday! :)
 
Portlander said:
It's been 53 years since Franklin Towers was built and I appreciate your optimism but I'm going to predict 8 years to completion. I also think it will happen on the Top of the Old Port lot and will top out around 230 feet at 20 floors. I'm just not confident that Tim Soley will ever pull of the Canal Plaza tower due to it being located in the middle of the historic district and I hope I'm wrong.
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From my understanding, Soley was given an informal but fairly firm "no" from city staff when they initially asked for the zoning change back in late 2019/ early 2020. There was a broad consensus that it would have a negative impact on Exchange St. Maybe they're still moving forward with a revised or relocated design, but I have big doubts we'll ever see shovels hit the dirt for that project.

If and when 201 Federal is every surpassed in height, it will either be the Top of the Old Port or potentially the 45 Brown St. Garage site, which is also zoned for 200+ feet
 
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Tim Soley told me a few years ago that he would not be willing to downsize the tower when I asked him if he'd consider a 12-16 story compromise because of the sensitive location. He also added that due to the very small footprint anything less than his proposed floor count would not be financially feasible which makes sense. I personally believe that a building of 12 floors and 135' would be the maximum height limit allowed to get a project approved for that site.
 
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A few photos from today's topping off ceremony. Gorgeous day weather wise and many thanks to Catherine and Jonathan for their hospitality and taking the time to invite members of this forum to participate. There was an excellent catered BBQ lunch at the end of the event which was appreciated by all.
 
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