Portland's iconic Time and Temperature building on Congress Street has sat empty for years as a plan to convert it into a luxury hotel sputtered. Now, new developers have submitted a plan to transform the historic building into a mixed-used commercial and residential space.
The plans from Maine-based Green Mars Real Estate Co. call for a restaurant and retail space, observation deck, 136 hotel rooms and 140 small apartments.
Five of the apartments will be deeded as low-income housing, according to the developers' applications to the city of Portland.
And the developers say they'll meet Portland's inclusionary zoning requirements, which call for one-quarter of the units to meet "workforce housing" standards. Under those standards, 35 units would be rented at rates that someone earning 80% of the area median income — about $75,000 for a two-person household in Portland — could afford.
"These will not be classic luxury apartments," said Chris Marshall of GreenMars Real Estate. "They will be apartments that will be more accessible than many of the new construction items that are coming onto the market."
Marshall said he can't yet comment on what the rents for the apartments might be, but he said he recognizes the demand for affordable housing in Portland and throughout Maine.
Plans approved by the city in Jan. 2022 initially called for the Time and Temperature building to be converted to a luxury hotel. But construction never got off the ground.
Developer Nate Green said the goal is to transform the space to as many different uses as possible.
"That's why we came up with this [plan for] hospitality, long term rental, retail, commercial event space [and a] restaurant, and get a total mix to bring as many people from Portland and beyond back into this space," Green said.
The project will go to Portland's planning and historic preservation boards for consideration.
