Time & Temp Building / Brown St. Parking Garage Redevelopment | Portland

[Cosakita18]

A detailed article from the PPH about the ongoing Time & Temp building redevelopment. Sounds like they are leaning towards a mix of hotel, residential and office.

Time & Temperature Building’s new owners vow to bring back Portland icon’s ‘glory days’

Chris Rhoades and Andrew Preston say they'll decide how to use the downtown building's mostly vacant office tower and submit their restoration plans to the city by February.

www.pressherald.com

It also sounds like the building's owners want to rebuild the ailing and ugly parking garage about a block away, with residential tower on top

In addition to restoring the shopping arcade and its skylight, Rhoades and Preston said they plan to demolish the adjacent, 340-space parking garage and build a new one with roughly the same capacity, while adding a residential tower on top of it...

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the garage on the corner of Brown and Cumberland? Yes?

 

[Portlander]

^ You are correct and the "word on the street" is that they are looking at 20 plus floors including the garage levels. Should be a slender, taller version of Back Bay Tower and will now give Portland three opportunities (Canal Plaza Tower) to finally exceed Franklin Towers as Maine's tallest. The third is the potential residential tower (18 floors) on Federal and Temple Street that was previously discussed in a deleted post.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

The location of that parking garage is zoned for 210 ft, right?

 

[Portlander]

Pretty sure it is and that does not include a 35 ft mechanical/ornamental cap. I always defer to Patrick when it comes to detailed Portland height limitations, but I think the 210' overlay runs the spine up to Forest Avenue.

 

[Cosakita18]

Pretty sure it is and that does not include a 35 ft mechanical/ornamental cap. I always defer to Patrick when it comes to detailed Portland height limitations, but I think the 210' overlay runs the spine up to Forest Avenue.

zoned for 190-210 feet with a 40 foot architectural cap

 

[Portlander]

Thanks Cosakita.

 

[PWMFlyer]

Plans have been submitted to the planning board, but there are no attachments as of today.

 

[Cosakita18]

Plans have been submitted to the planning board, but there are no attachments as of today.
View attachment 3357

On the application I'm seeing 181 hotel rooms and 20,000 sq. Ft of retail / commercial.

I think this application is just for 477 Congress and not the parking garage on Brown St.

 

[Max]

Looks like some preliminary plans have been filed. Looks like they are proposing mostly hotel use, with retail on the ground floors. It also looks like they're proposing a rooftop restaurant/bar.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gt9997gdz...gress - Planning Board Submission_v1.pdf?dl=0

 

[Portlander]

Interesting. Am happy that effort is going to be made to clean, repair and reappoint the limestone exterior. The brickwork on the west and south walls will be treated and painted which is visually important to the overall appearance. Also glad to see that the original cornice that was removed in 1963 for the 2 floor addition is going to be replicated. The top two floors are an improvement but definitely leave no doubt that it's a modern add on. Inside alterations are impressive with retail, ballroom, meeting spaces, restaurant and multiple bars. Appears to be an outdoor rooftop bar option that will be accessed from the indoor penthouse level bar that faces Congress Street. Also, I am curious if the mechanical space and the time/temp signage will remain as is or will there be a new digital replacement? We at least now know the actual height of the building, 146' to the roofline, 159' to the top of the mechanical level and I'm guessing another 10' to the top of the signage. This is a major undertaking which also includes 481 Congress (restaurant and hotel rooms) along with multiple structures on Preble Street. Thanks for posting this Max.

 

[MartinS]

Is it me or does it seem like the 1st floor needs to be jacked up another 10-15 feet? It just seems like 477 Congress has the most squat (and bland) 1st floor for a building that was built so long ago. Look above at 481 and 465 Congress - the first floors on both of those look pretty normal.

 

[Portlander]

I agree Martin, though I think that the extra height and elaborate detail of the 2nd and 3rd floors makes the street level look more diminutive than it actually is.

 

[MartinS]

I agree Martin, though I think that the extra height and elaborate detail of the 2nd and 3rd floors makes the street level look more diminutive than it actually is.

I just looked in my wallet. I have 12 Bucks. How much do you have Portlander? I think together we can bribe this developer to make the first floor look awesome! ;-)

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

If we do a side-by-side comparison of current to proposed, I'm not sure I'm sold on the changes to the two-floor addition at the top. I've never been a fan of the design of the addition, but these changes might swing a little too modern compared to the rest of the building and Fidelity Building next door. As Portlander mentioned, I do like the cornice addition. I also like what they're planning on doing with the interior of those two floors (and the rooftop deck).

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

Toying around with some ideas. Not sure if I like this more or less.

 

[Portlander]

Dr. StrangeHat, I think if the black horizontal bands that separate the 13th and 14th floors matched the limestone colored vertical treatment it would look much better and not as "modern". The other change I would make is to swap the 12th floor cornice with the roofline cornice. Looks off balanced and I feel the more substantial cornice should adorn the very top of the building.

 

[Portlander]

We are on the same page! You posted your new photo just as I hit reply and it's more attractive in my opinion. Now take your idea and add the tan bands with the ornamentation to the end window bays and see if you can swap the cornices for me?

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

Gettin' there...

 

[Portlander]

Thanks, wish I had your photoshop skills. Is it possible to make the lower cornice smaller to match the top one in the architect's rendering?

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

I like this a little more (doesn't align and the color is off a little, but you get the gist)