Brady's Portland waterfront hotel gets Planning Board nod

Courtesy / Fathom Cos. A rendering of the planned Canopy by Hilton, being built by Fathom Cos. on the corner of Commercial and Center streets in Portland. It's one of three new hotels expected to open on the peninsula in 2021.nt hotel that got the green light this week from the Portland Planning Board.

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By Renee Cordes

The Portland Planning Board on Tuesday gave a unanimous green light to a planned waterfront hotel being developed by Jim Brady’s Fathom Cos.

The future Canopy by Hilton, to be located at 1 Center St., near Commercial Street, will feature the city’s first indoor-outdoor rooftop bar and restaurant overlooking Casco Bay.

Following Tuesday’s approval, Brady told Mainebiz the next milestones will be submission of a building permit this fall and breaking ground, which is expected in October.

Earlier in the week he said the 135-room facility is slated to open for the 2021 summer season. The hotel will include 2,000 square feet of meeting and function space.

Fathom Cos. is partnering on the project with the Canopy by Hilton, one of 17 Hilton brands.

At the time of the announcement, Brady told Mainebiz he was impressed with the energy behind the Canopy by Hilton brand, which he had gotten to know from visiting most of the Canopy hotels in the U.S.

While he didn’t say what other brands had been in consideration, he said the team decided to go with Canopy because of its focus on local neighborhoods, tying into arts and food and the local cultural scene — which they felt was a “good fit for the Portland marketplace.”

Brady, best known for turning an Art Deco-era newspaper building into Portland’s elegant Press Hotel, was a 2017 Mainebiz Next honoree for his role in developing the city’s eastern waterfront.

Fathom Management LLC, which operates the Press Hotel, will manage the new Canopy by Hilton.

The plan comes amid a wave of hotel development in Maine’s largest city.

Other projects include a 155-room Aloft Hotel being developed by Norwich Partners LLC at the former Rufus Deering Lumber Co. site and a 148-room Portland Hotel at Thompson’s Point, which will be under the Marriott banner.