Maine Real Estate News

Maybe we now have a path forward! On Monday night the Portland city council, in a 7-2 vote, decided to open talks with Ocean Properties on a $160 million proposal to build a hotel, office and park complex on and around the aging pier.

The vote came nearly two months after the city ended talks with The Olympia Cos., the Portland company that originally was awarded bargaining rights for the pier after a contentious competition with Ocean Properties that ended in December 2007.

The decision means the long-running effort to trade lease and development rights at the pier for an estimated $18 million worth of repairs have entered a new phase. And like many of the turning points in the 2½-year saga, Monday’s vote came after more than an hour of contentious debate. For the most part, the small group of dissenters were local residents who urged the council to give the public a chance to brainstorm the new direction for the pier. As correctly pointed out by Donna Carr, an Ocean Properties supporter and former city councilor, this project has been vetted extensively by the public. Since its inception there have been numerous meetings and public workshops. The primary reason we are two years in the planning process is politics - not a true debate about what is best for the city.

The only two councilors to oppose the new round of negotiations were David Marshall and Kevin Donoghue.

Ocean Properties’ last proposal called for a hotel, offices and an underground parking garage on land adjacent to the pier. It would put additional parking, maritime storage and retail space – as well as a park – on the pier itself. The proposal also had plans for a coastal ferry service and a fixed pier at the Ocean Gateway terminal that could serve the world’s largest cruise ships.

It is our hope that in the negotiation process the pier final design will be reviewed, tweaked and completed in a way that takes advantage of this prime Portland real estate for the long term.