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March 31, 2021

171-apartment complex in Portland will be final piece of public works site transformation

A rendering of a multi-story brick building with a green courtyard and trees on oneside, storefront windwos on the ground floor on another side Courtesy / Cube3 A rendering of the planned mixed-use development for 52 Hanover St. in Portland. At right is Parris Street, at left the retail storefronts that will face a courtyard and the Lancaster Street pedestrian walkway.
By Maureen Milliken

One of the last pieces of what was once Portland's gritty Department of Public Works complex in West Bayside will be transformed after the Planning Board approved a mixed-use building with 171 apartments for the site.

Developer Tom Watson plans to build a 239,000-square-foot building that includes 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, parking for 176, and both workforce and market rate apartments on the site that now houses a one-story former city maintenance garage. Watson is the property owner, as Tom Watson & Co. LLC, and his company Port Property Management will manage the site.

He plans to break ground on the $50 million project in the fall and finish it in fall 2023. It's designed by Cube3, of Massachusetts, and Acorn Engineering, of Portland, is the project manager.

The project is the last of six public works parcels to be developed after the city sold them to five developers in 2017, and the most ambitious. Watson has also developed 82 Hanover, another of the parcels, into a mixed office and restaurant space, with a back patio area that abuts the new development.

The developers said in their application to the planning board that they "hope to create a truly mixed-use rental property" that not only significantly increases the number of rental units in the city, but also "continues on the momentum and builds on the goals of redeveloping the Bayside neighborhood into an improved, vibrant environment" for the city's residents.

The original proposal for the site was to reuse the 1982 maintenance garage as maker space, where artists and local crafters could work in the garage bays and have a place to showcase their work, Will Savage of Acorn Engineering said in the application. But that plan turned out not to work well with today's market, so the 18,000-square-foot building will be torn down for the new one, which will be from five to eight stories because of a steep grade change on the lot.

Workforce and 'missing middle'

The apartments will range from 400-square-foot "micro-units" to 1,400-square-foot townhouses, with 37 studios, 97 one-bedrooms and 36 two-bedroom.

Under the city’s Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, residential developments with 10 or more units must have a minimum 10% workforce housing — housing that's affordable to residents who make 80% or below the area median income, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or pay a fee. While the number fluctuates, in 2020, the area median income for Portland was $70,630, and 80% was $54,950. Watson plans 20 workforce units, with at least two to have more than one bedroom, to meet the requirement.

The Green New Deal ordinance passed by Portland voters in November raises the number of workforce units to 25%, but Watson's application for the project had already been submitted, so the lower number applies.

The developers said that the amount of workforce housing in the project is the "single largest aggregation of workforce units within a market rate project in the history of the city of Portland."

The other apartments will address the "missing middle" — middle-income residents who are largely shut out of Portland housing options because they don't qualify for workforce housing, but can't afford the city's high housing costs, something city officials have said they're concerned about. The developers say that providing more apartments at that income level could spur similar development in the city.

an aerial black and white shot of the west bayside area of portland with the site for 52 Hanover outlined
Courtesy / City of Portland
The site of the planned 171-apartment mixed-use development at 52 Hanover St., in Portland, is outlined with nearby amenities numbered including 1) Parris Terraces 2) Food Fork Lab 3) 82 Hanover St. 4) Bayside Bowl 5) The Public Workds maker space.

Adding to the neighborhood vibe

Some of the retail units will be across pedestrian walkway Lancaster Court from the patios of three restaurants at 82 Hanover. Banded Brewing, the Whiskey Barrel and Wilson County Barbeque, at 82 Hanover, all have outdoor seating, and Watson said that businesses at 52 Hanover will have a similar outdoor presence.

Watson told Mainebiz when he proposed the 52 Hanover project that it started with looking at that courtyard. "We could have something incredibly unique if we had a courtyard on both sides [of the walkway]," he said. "If it was just maker space and parking, it's not going to bring out the best of that."

He said the two areas will complement each other, becoming a destination space in the city.

The 52 Hanover development will include a bicycle repair and storage area for residents on the first floor. It also includes an outdoor plaza, surrounded on three sides by the building, with a swimming pool, 18 street trees and more.

The development will add to a growing vibe in the neighborhood that includes a variety of different types of business, such as Bayside Bowl bowling lanes and restaurant and Fork Food Labs, a shared kitchen and commercial food space.

It also jibes with the city's plan to improve infrastructure on nearby Kennebec Street slated to be done by September, including sidewalks on both sides of the street from Hanover to Brattle, and pedestrian lighting. The sidewalk on the north side of Kennebec Street will be part of the Bayside Trail.

When the city put the public works properties up for sale, the strategy was for small local developers to create a new community out of the industrial parcels.

Much of that development is now completed, including:

  • The Furman Block, by Szanton Co., at 178 Kennebec St., with 51 apartments for those 55 and older. It opened in January.
  • Parris Terraces, developed by Jack Soley, at 60 Parris St., with 23 workforce-priced condominiums.
  • Renovation of office space at 55 Portland St., by Ford Reiche.
  • The Public Works, maker space at 65 Hanover St., developed by Rob Barrett, who also plans a 25-unit apartment building in parking lot space on the property.

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