The Casco | 201 Federal Street | Portland

[Corey]

Big fan of how this building pops up over Post Office Park
The Casco 201 Federal Street from Post Office Park by Corey Templeton, on Flickr

The Casco 201 Federal Street from Congress Street by Corey Templeton, on Flickr

The Casco 201 Federal Street from Federal Street by Corey Templeton, on Flickr

 

[Portcity75]

This of when projects like Federal street and midtown are proposed here a people comment and complain that we’re gonna become Bostom .
Saw this today and made me laugh how ridiculous those people are and how truly tiny our buildings are and always will be even if we jump to to 25-30 story range . It would take an act of God to get one of the small building to the side built here . Either of those would dwarf our skyline and it’s not NYC it’s Oklahoma

Oklahoma City wants to steal New York's thunder with new tallest skyscraper in US

Plans for a 1,907-foot Oklahoma City skyscraper have got some folks wondering whether it could really be true

www.usatoday.com

 

[Seanflynn78]

Amazing pics Corey!

When a rural state such as Maine draws wealth to the urban areas from other parts of the north east there tends to be resistance for buildings higher than 6 stories. Plus the zoning board/local elected officials wants to make sure no one has a blocked view of Casco bay/bayside. The Casco is in a great location - the bulk of complaints were not validated and rightfully so. Hopefully we see a few more 15 or story buildings constructed in the next few years in the forest city. Redfern- please buy the Midtown land and get something built there- I know the flooding down there is an issue. But you guys have done a great job getting residential projects completed- the correct way.

 

[Portlander]

Oklahoma City is the 20th largest city in the US and already has an 844' tower to it's credit and is taller than anything in Denver, Indianapolis, Columbus, Fort Worth, San Jose, Jacksonville, San Diego, San Antonio and Phoenix which are all larger cities. The Devon Tower is also 54' higher than Boston's tallest building. Time will tell whether the 1907' height ever gets built in OKC but the odds are pretty high that something substantial will eventually be built on that parcel. As far as Portland goes, we're punching above our weight when compared to other cities of similar size across the country. With 15 buildings that currently exceed 125' in the downtown area and a few more proposed, I think we're doing quite well for a city of only 70,000.

 

[DZH22]

Oklahoma City is the 20th largest city in the US and already has an 844' tower to it's credit and is taller than anything in Denver, Indianapolis, Columbus, Fort Worth, San Jose, Jacksonville, San Diego, San Antonio and Phoenix which are all larger cities. The Devon Tower is also 54' higher than Boston's tallest building. Time will tell whether the 1907' height ever gets built in OKC but the odds are pretty high that something substantial will eventually be built on that parcel. As far as Portland goes, we're punching above our weight when compared to other cities of similar size across the country. With 15 buildings that currently exceed 125' in the downtown area and a few more proposed, I think we're doing quite well for a city of only 70,000.

It's the 42nd biggest metro. The city itself is 621 square miles which skews it towards looking "bigger." Portland metro is 103rd in the US.

Also, Devon looks ridiculous compared to the rest of the skyline. Basically 25 years without even adding a 200' building, then building Devon. Without Devon, OKC's skyline doesn't even measure up to Hartford.

 

[Portlander]

The BOK Park Plaza was finished in 2017 at 433'. I get your point DHZ, the Devon Energy Center does stick out like a sore thumb but so did the Traveler's Tower in Hartford and the Custom House Tower in Boston when they were completed. OKC does have two classic skyscrapers that were built in 1931, the First National Center and City Place which put the city on the map. I actually think both skylines are a toss up with OKC having 6 towers (not counting Devon) exceeding 390' and Hartford with 4 and both cities have the same number of 300 footers with 8. Hartford has only added one tower (Hartford 21) in the last 25 years.

Photo credit: Bill Cobb

 

[DZH22]

.....and both cities have the same number of 300 footers with 8.

Hartford has 10.

 

[DZH22]

The BOK Park Plaza was finished in 2017 at 433'. I get your point DHZ, the Devon Energy Center does stick out like a sore thumb but so did the Traveler's Tower in Hartford and the Custom House Tower in Boston when they were completed.

The BOK was built 5 years after Devon, and even that is now 7 years ago. We also have real cities up here instead of just a few out-of-context highrises. Oklahoma City is missing the "city" portion outside of a scant few square blocks. I don't understand how anybody could defend a place like this proposing a supertall, let alone a tower like Devon. Devon dominates the rest of the place and this is more than twice as tall! It's never going to happen anyway. Nobody with the kind of money they'd be marketing to is going to want to live in OKC.

Compare these to aerials of any northeast city, including Portland. What a joke.

Scissortail Lower Park (2 of 26) by Tony Gaeddert, on Flickr

Droning (12 of 41) by Tony Gaeddert, on Flickr

 

[Portlander]

So just to be clear DZH, if this tower had been built in 1987 would you have have been just as critical with Hartford's "too tall and looks ridiculous compared to the rest of the skyline" viewpoint as you are now with Oklahoma City? I have a feeling your civic pride would have taken over and you'd spin the narrative in a positive light which is totally understandable. Not sure what your beef is with OKC, I've been there recently and it has become a growing, vibrant and friendly urban center that does not roll up the sidewalks after 5 PM. Will the supertall ever materialize in its current form, probably not but something tall will be constructed there eventually. I respect Hartford and have always had positive comments about the city in its archBoston thread and still feel that it has the best skyline for any city under 150K in population. Albany is another "smaller" city with an impressive skyline even if you are not a fan of the massive Empire State Plaza which also sticks out like a sore thumb! Respect.

 

[DZH22]

So just to be clear DZH, if this tower had been built in 1987 would you have have been just as critical with Hartford's "too tall and looks ridiculous compared to the rest of the skyline" viewpoint as you are now with Oklahoma City? I have a feeling your civic pride would have taken over and you'd spin the narrative in a positive light which is totally understandable. Not sure what your beef is with OKC, I've been there recently and it has become a growing, vibrant and friendly urban center that does not roll up the sidewalks after 5 PM. Will the supertall ever materialize in its current form, probably not but something tall will be constructed there eventually. I respect Hartford and have always had positive comments about the city in its archBoston thread and still feel that it has the best skyline for any city under 150K in population. Albany is another "smaller" city with an impressive skyline even if you are not a fan of the massive Empire State Plaza which also sticks out like a sore thumb! Respect.

First of all there would have been 4 buildings in Hartford over 700', 2 of them over 800'. Those were the plans. The building you posted would have been part of a massive building boom before a recession killed them all. However, Hartford WAS building, including their current tallest. On the other hand, OKC didn't build a single building over 200' for 25 years and then suddenly threw up an 844'.

Secondly, this current proposal is more than twice as tall as Devon. How many cities do you know of where the tallest building is more than twice as tall as the 2nd tallest building, which itself is more than twice as tall as what would be the 6th tallest building? I can think of a few with single large towers, like Saint Petersburg, but nothing quite like this and that's a massive (albeit mostly lowrise) city. Nothing wrong with Albany and Empire State Plaza is amazing. I was there a few months ago for one of my all time favorite walks. Even that is nothing like this scale. Plus did you know that it borders one of the country's greatest rowhouse neighborhoods? OKC downtown borders dirt lots and empty space.

However, honestly, I shouldn't be the one on the defense here. Anybody who wants to justify the below as appropriate should be the ones on the defense. JFC. The Albany analogy doesn't compute when looking at the chart below. Really, NOTHING computes about it. It would be like saying Portland's next building should be taller than the Hancock.

EDIT - Here's Albany. ESB is a bit out of scale, but this does NOT bolster your argument whatsoever.

 

[markhb]

Re: the Mohawk / Eastman / Livingston / Stuyvesant towers, are those downtown, or are they dorms out at SUNYA (or Albany State, or whatever they call themselves now)?

@Redfern , any new word on the signage going up on The Casco?

 

[Portlander]

Mark, they are located on the University at Albany campus which is around 4 miles northwest of downtown.

 

[markhb]

Mark, they are located on the University at Albany campus which is around 4 miles northwest of downtown.

Thanks. I know the Capitol District well enough (well enough that I still mourn the demise of Holmes & Watson in Troy), but I didn't get out to that campus area more than once or twice.

 

[DZH22]

You didn't answer my question, would you have been as hard on Hartford as you are with OKC if the 878 footer had been built? I lived Hartford's building boom with family that lived on the outskirts in the 80's and am very aware of all of the proposed towers that never materialized. We are both IN agreement that the Legends Tower is extraordinarily too tall for OKC and will probably never materialize at its proposed height. You can add all of the renderings you want, but if the Cutter Financial Center had been built it would be around the same heigh disparity that you dislike about the Devon tower when compared to its current second tallest. I said that Albany's skyline is impressive for a "smaller" city and the Empire State Plaza sticks out like a sore thumb due to it being 200' feet taller than the State Office Building, its an opinion not an argument.

I did answer it, in that Hartford was going to have 4 buildings over 700' and 2 of them over 800'. Cutter wouldn't have stood out like Devon because the whole skyline was supposed to explode, and it was just 1 of 4 (of what I know of) dominant buildings that were supposed to happen. The current tallest was part of that same boom, while the bigger ones eventually all failed to materialize. In fact, that recession is a major part of what ruined the city, as they tore down a lot of the historical fabric to build these towers that instead got canceled. Devon, on the other hand, was not part of a boom, and instead was built in complete isolation when nothing had happened there for over 2 decades. Plus, again, Northeast cities already had dense cities and then built taller in the core. OKC skipped the "dense city" part and just added a few highrises in the middle of nowhere, and still lacks anything remotely urban today outside of a couple blocks.

Also I was born in the early 1980's. If anything seeing those buildings under construction would probably be among my first memories, such as seeing 1 International Place under construction from a school bus on a field trip. I was too young to get angry about it because I didn't have any stats or real reference points yet. I didn't become stats oriented until around middle school, and didn't have comprehensive access to them until I found some good internet sites in college.

If Boston proposed a 1900' building I would say it looks ridiculous and shouldn't happen, and I am potentially the biggest Boston homer on the planet. If Boston proposed a 1250' building (ie same height as ESB) I'd say it looks ridiculous and shouldn't happen. I do desperately want to see 800' by North Station, 900' in Kendall, and 950' on either the Kings Parking Garage or Hynes Convention Center sites. If the FAA wasn't involved I'd be happy to see it break 1000', but too much further would significantly minimize the rest of the existing skyline. That's a global powerhouse city I'm talking about here too, not some dusty outpost with a couple tall buildings.

 

[Portlander]

How about a view from the top of the mechanical penthouse to get this thread back on track.

 

[Portlander]

Photo credit: The Dunham Group

 

[Redfern]

View attachment 47234
Photo credit: The Dunham Group

This is a great photo but of course all I see are the portapotties!

 

[Redfern]

Nice photo and I wonder if Catherine is still responsible for the electric bill?

Did I answer this? Yes! We are! ~ C

 

[Redfern]

Couple of updates:
LF trying to get City through Feb 6th for CO. It’s aggressive. State is working on certifying elevators right now. Still have some work outside obviously. I’m going through “punching” each unit pretty much every day for 3 hours or so through March 15th. I’ll check on signage update today for install. Our first move in is scheduled for January 20th. Really hope Landry French pulls this off! But even more exciting - might need to start a new thread here!!!!! Stay tuned!!!! ~ C

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

But even more exciting - might need to start a new thread here!!!!! Stay tuned!!!! ~ C