Portland cold storage plan seeks to overcome next hurdles
Rendering / Courtesy CWS Architects and Woodard & Curran
There have been some minor tweaks to the design of the planned Portland cold storage warehouse, shown in this updated rendering. The proposal heads to a Planning Board workshop on Sept. 8.
The consortium behind a planned cold-storage warehouse on Portland's waterfront is now targeting an early December construction start for the project. It heads to a Planning Board meeting next week amid concerns voiced by more than 80 area residents.
An Aug. 18 letter, addressed to Planning Board Chairman Brandon Mazer and Planning Board members with a cc to Mayor Kate Snyder and other officials, points to a "huge disconnect" between the planned warehouse size and maritime demand as well as concerns about increased traffic congestion and diesel pollution should the facility be built.
The residents, listed by name and address, also question the use of space "for more than a hundred million pounds of frozen peas and pizza, chicken nuggets and corn-dogs and not for fresh locally caught bait fish."
They also argue that approval "would make a mockery of the priorities and goals of Portland's Waterfront Development Zone," even though the consortium is not seeking any zoning changes or exemptions.
The city Planning Board workshop will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Led by Icelandic-owned Eimskip USA, the consortium for the project is confident of moving ahead and eventually getting the green light for the project, despite pandemic-related delays and arguments in the letter. The project backers say those claims are not grounded in fact.
"It's just the nature of opposition," Andy Nelson, a partner and executive vice president at Yarmouth-based Treadwell Franklin Infrastructure, told Mainebiz on Wednesday.
Treadwell Franklin is part of a consortium, which also includes U.K.-based Amber Infrastructure and Portland-based engineering firm Woodard & Curran for the future Maine International Cold Storage Facility LLC.
'Taking a lot of risk'
In early March, Treadwell Franklin Chairman and partner George Campbell put the estimated construction cost at $25 million to $38 million.
Six months later amid some delays caused by the pandemic, he told Mainebiz on Wednesday, "We may not get construction prices that are affordable ... If you've ever rehabbed a house, construction prices can sometimes scare you."
Despite that and any number of possible disruptions, he said the group is moving ahead on several fronts concurrently in terms of lining up the financing and putting out a request for proposals for construction management "very soon."
"Were taking a lot of risk by bringing everything forward on concurrent paths," he added. "All those pieces are moving along."
Noting that the city is dealing with unprecedented challenges during the pandemic and already had a "full plate" when the warehouse plan came, Nelson told Mainebiz on Wednesday that "in a perfect world, we would already be through" with the Planning Board process.
But he also said a postponement is better than a rejection, adding, "Delay and 'gone' are different things."
Consortium members are confident of getting approval, owing in part to the fact that they are not asking for any changes in zoning that added to delays of a previous plan by another company. Atlanta-based Americold abruptly abandoned that plan in June 2018.
The Maine Department of Transportation proceeded anyway, working with Eimskip and others behind the scenes to revive the plan via a new consortium.
Sewall traffic expert
At Tuesday's Planning Board workshop, consortium representatives will address traffic issues related to the planned facility via a traffic expert from Sewall Infrastrucutre, an Old Town engineering firm owned by Treadwell Franklin.
"We have a big advantage in this because you won't be able to come into that facility with freight or leave with freight without an appointment," Campbell said, "so we can manage peak flows and all that kind of thing ... We're hopeful that will satisfy the Planning Board as well."
Specifically, he said the hope is that after the workshop, the process will move on to public hearings.
Refuting the opposition letter from some residents as "noise," he also underscored that the consortium is not seeking any zoning exemptions, and the strong market need for a freezer facility, saying, "We're letting the country's best experts tell us the market."
Campbell, who has served as commissioner of transportation for both Maine and New Hampshire as well as Portland's mayor from 1997 to 1998, echoed that view.
"We're not investing in something that doesn't serve that port," he said. "That's why we're there."
Campbell also noted that disruptions to the food-supply chain during COVID shows how underserved Maine is when it comes to cold storage.
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