Portland's skyline may one day look quite different. The city's planning board Tuesday night gave the green light to a 30-story tower proposed for the Old Port.
If built, the tower would be the tallest, by far, in Maine and in northern New England.
The plans call for 73 condos, an 88-room hotel, retail and a publicly accessible observation area at the top. The building would stand twice as tall as Portland's well-known Time and Temperature building.
The project, known as Old Port Square, has earned mixed reactions from Portland residents and businesses over the last six months or so. On one hand, some have said the project meets the city's goals of developing on Portland's underutilized surface lots and creating an active urban center.
"We think it will bring some new life into the Old Port, and the development and growth will be something that will bring Portland to a new economic level in terms of retail," Angela Foddrill, who owns three businesses in the Old Port, said during Tuesday night's meeting.
Others, however, have said the building is too tall and out of place, and questioned whether the project will serve as a community benefit and address Portland's most pressing affordability challenges.
"It's a slap in the face to Portland residents who are struggling with rent and rising prices at the grocery store," said Portland resident Paulo Correia. "And I also think it's a slap in the face to the homeless community."
The developers, East Brown Cow Management Company, have indicated they will pay a fee to the city in lieu of providing income-restricted affordable housing on site to comply with Portland's inclusionary zoning requirements.
On Tuesday night, planning board members acknowledged that the tower may be polarizing for some of the city's residents.
"The presentation in some ways helps make it blend in to what hopefully will be, over the next 20 years, an area that will be fertile for additional high rises in the areas that the city has targeted through ReCode and the comprehensive planning process," said planning board member David Silk. "I do get the reaction, and the reaction that it will alter Portland's skyline. Will it be different than what we're all used to? Yes, it will be."
The project serves as the first major test of Portland's new height allowances, which the city approved last year under a process known as ReCode. The goal, city planners have said, is to build up in certain parts of downtown and allow for more urban density, paving the way for more people and more economic activity on a smaller physical footprint.
Now that the project has planning board approval, developers must still secure financing and building permits for the Old Port Square tower.
