🔒Portland soccer team to tackle zoning, permitting for stadium proposal

The Portland Hearts of Pine laid out their strategy and timeline for building a planned $50 million soccer stadium on industrial waterfront land in Maine’s largest city. “We expect the permitting process to take roughly nine months, give or take, but once you start, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Portland-based real estate developer Jonathan Culley, a founding investor in the men’s pro team along with his wife, Catherine. Culley said the couple would be actively involved in the stadium project as part owners of the Hearts, separate from their roles at Redfern Properties, their real estate company. At Cassidy Point on the southwestern edge of the Portland peninsula, the Hearts aim to break ground within 12 months, Culley said at a Tuesday press conference held at the waterfront property the Hearts are buying from Sprague Energy. Conceptual renderings by SMRT Architects and Engineers were displayed on easels against a backdrop of rusty, graffiti-covered rail freight cars and a coal pile that Sprague Energy is required to remove by 2030. “At some point, people might ask, why this isn't a good site for housing," Culley quipped as a plane roared into its approach to the jetport. Once completed, the new home of the Hearts of Pine is expected to seat 9,000 to 11,000 fans. That compares with 5,500 seats at the city-owned Fitzpatrick Stadium, which can accommodate about 6,200 fans with additional seating and food areas.

Joking about going from “coals to goals,” Hearts of Pine President Kevin Schohl said the plan will expand the supporter section and give fans even more room to “go crazy,” while preserving the energy and intimacy that have fueled the team’s initial success at the field fans call Fitzy. Along similar lines, Hearts of Pine founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson underscored that while the team is open to future expansion, it's important to get the stadium size right. "We don’t want to overbuild," he said.

Zoning, permits, public review

Current zoning does not permit a stadium, so Hearts of Pine will seek zoning map and text amendments to allow an open-air soccer stadium and complementary uses, according to Culley. If approved, the project would then require a major site plan review covering issues such as traffic, parking, utilities, stormwater and lighting. Both the zoning and site plan processes will include public hearings before the Planning Board and, in some cases, the City Council, along with required state environmental and traffic permits. A separate marine user will continue to operate the pier. Asked about parking and traffic management, Culley said the plan is to partner with nearby landowners and garages for game-day parking while encouraging fans to walk, bike or use public transit. If all goes according to plan, construction is slated to start in summer 2027, with the stadium opening in early 2029. The plan comes as the Hearts get ready to launch a pre-professional women’s team next year. “There will be a very public process about traffic and parking, and the onus will be on us to demonstrate to the regulators that we’ve created a viable plan,” Culley said. "We will approach the process with humility and an understanding that the bar is high, as it should be, for new development projects in Portland," Culley said. The project includes plans to convert an industrial building on the site into an indoor practice facility for adult and youth soccer in the winter, with potential for other uses. While that might include concerts, Schohl underscored that "we're soccer experts, we're not concert people." He also said that deciding on a name for the arena is not yet a priority.

Financing

The project will be financed primarily through private sources. Asked by Mainebiz about the funding plan, Schohl said the team is focused on finding the right mix of lenders and equity investors. “For us, it’s really about finding the right financing partners, both from the private debt and equity side,” he said, noting that there have already been “many conversations” that will continue. “There’s a lot of different ways to raise money for stadiums in sports finance,” he added, “but we want to make sure we don’t overbuild, and we don’t go beyond our means, and make sure that we’re being reasonable with the private funding that we’re putting into place here.”