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February 25, 2021

Portland will consider zoning change for planned building that would be city's tallest

downtown portland, looking up temple street, with tall building rendered in background Courtesy / Redfern Properties A rendering, looking up Temple Street in Portland, shows the proposed 18-story apartment building, in the background at right, surrounded by other downtown structures.
By William Hall

Plans to build Maine’s tallest building may get closer to leaving the ground when the Portland City Council next week takes up a proposed zoning change.

The 18-story, 190-foot-tall apartment building in the city’s downtown would require zoning amendments to allow the top 40 feet to be used for offices, residences or other purposes. Current rules allow a structure of that height, but only permit the top to be an “architectural cap,” containing mechanical equipment or to enhance design.

The high-rise, at 200 Federal St. and occupying most of the block bordering Congress, Temple and Exchange streets, would have 265 market-rate apartments, ground-floor commercial space and 180,000 square feet of space overall.

Redfern Properties, a Portland-based development group behind the project, in January obtained unanimous approval for the zoning amendments from the Portland Planning Board. The changes now require a green light from the council, which meets virtually Monday at 5 p.m. for a first reading. Meeting information is available here.

The project also requires approval by the city’s Historic Preservation Board, which is scheduled to meet Wednesday. In addition, a site plan approval from the Planning Board is required for the project to advance toward groundbreaking and construction later this year.

While there’s been much public attention to the need for affordable housing in Portland, Redfern principal Jonathan Culley on Wednesday said the project is part of a comprehensive solution that opens up housing city-wide.

“We feel it fits a community need,” he told Mainebiz. “All the progressive planning models show we need more people living in city centers. We need housing at all levels.”

If built as planned, the new structure would rise 15 feet higher than Portland’s tallest building, Franklin Towers. Measured by usable space, 200 Federal St. would also be the tallest in the state.

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3 Comments

Anonymous
November 16, 2021
Portland is beginning to look like Hartford. People go to Paris and Rome because they are cities that remain on a human scale. There is plenty of land available off this tiny historic peninsula to build horizontally rather than vertically accommodating the same number of people. What a shame the character of the city is again up for sale to the fast Eddie developers who are out of town with bags of cash as fast as they can throw up these shoddy pieces of architecture. Shame belongs to the people who allow this to continue. Where would Paris, Vienna, and Sienna be today if they had fallen to these short sighted committees.
Anonymous
February 28, 2021
No building is supposed to be built higher than the Immaculate Conception Cathedral. That is why Portland is present buildings are at the height that they are. This project should not be given the green light.
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