Cardente Real Estate is pleased to announce that Confluent Development, LLC, has purchased 6.27+/- acres of commercial land at 165 Running Hill Rd & 200 Country Club Rd in South Portland, Maine. Located at the entrance to the subdivision, the property was purchased for $2,603,443 on January 27, 2020 from Running Hill Real Estate Development, LLC. This transaction was brokered by Cardente Real Estate and Jeffrey Hyman of Colliers International.

Landmark Payne Elwell House Sells in Yarmouth, Maine

Cardente Real Estate is pleased to announce that sale of the Payne Elwell House located at 162 Main Street in Yarmouth, Maine. Consisting of 3,891 +/- square feet of commercial space with onsite parking, this multi-tenanted investment property sold for $450,000 on October 2, 2019.   This transaction was brokered on behalf of the Seller, One Kenwood, LLC by Matthew Cardente of Cardente Real Estate and on behalf of the Buyer, 162, LLC, by Charlie Craig of the Dunham Group.

Cardente Real Estate is pleased to announce that The Morrison Center has purchased 31 Central Street located in Westbrook, Maine. Consisting of a 3,300 +/- square foot office building, the property was bought  from Double Agents, LLC for $570,000 on September 20, 2019. This transaction was brokered on behalf of the Buyer by Greg Perry of Cardente Real Estate and on behalf of the Seller by Justin Lamontagne of NAI Dunham Group.

Cardente Real Estate is pleased to announce that All-American family, LLC purchased the 24,150 +/- square foot retail center  located at 1041 Brighton Avenue in Portland, Maine from 1041 Brighton Ave., LLC  for  $2,991,443 on July 16, 2019. This transaction was brokered on behalf of the Purchaser by Greg Perry of Cardente Real Estate and on behalf of the Seller by Charles Day of Porta & Co.

We are pleased to offer for sale by auction the Time & Temperature Building located at 477 Congress Street in Portland, Maine.

Upcoming Pre-Auction Showing Dates

Thursday, September 6th - 12 PM - 3 PM

Friday, September 7th - 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Wednesday, September 12th - 12 PM - 3 PM

Thursday, September 13th - 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Please contact us if you plan to attend so we can put you in the calendar for the time and date of your choice. More showing dates for later in September to be announced. As a reminder, the real estate auction starts on October 9th, 2018. For additional information regarding the auction and registration, please see below.

Cardente Real Estate Brokers $1.1M Sale of Restaurant Property in Portland, Maine

Cardente Real Estate has arranged the sale of a restaurant property located at 476 Stevens Ave. in Portland. Rock Properties sold the property to 476 Stevens Ave LLC for $1.1 million. Siano’s Pizzeria formerly occupied the 4,091-square-foot restaurant building. Cheri Bonawitz of Cardente Real Estate represented the seller, while Mike Anderson of Malone Commercial Brokers represented the buyer in the deal. 

A historic building on Bangor's Main Street was sold for nearly $1.9 million last week to a Colorado developer.

Greg Perry, tournament organizer, is proud to announce that more than $12,000 was raised to benefit The Morrison Center at the 3rd Annual MCAR Charity Golf Tournament on September 19 at Prouts Neck Country Club. The Morrison Center provides comprehensive programming, individualized supports, and employment services for people of all ages with disabilities. This year's Cardente Real Estate team included (pictured left to right):
Mark Sandler, Cheri Bonawitz, Michael Cobb and Kirk Mullen (of The Rowley Agency).
A huge THANK YOU to all players, sponsors and volunteers!

Growth spurs The Morrison Center's expansion in Wells

PHOTO COURTESY THE MORRISON CENTER

The Morrison Center, a nonprofit whose mission is to help people of all ages with disabilities, has purchased an office building at 2250 Post Road in Wells for $300,000 to facilitate its expansion.

BANGOR, Maine — A longtime Broad Street sporting goods store converted into luxury apartments has been sold to an out-of-state developer for $3.12 million.

The 18 luxury units at 28 Broad St. were sold by 28 Broad St. LLC to another limited liability corporation, New Hampshire-based Broad Street LLC, on Jan. 13, said Michael Cobb, a broker at Cardente Real Estate of Portland.

Friday’s closing capped 6½ months of negotiations, Cobb said Wednesday.

“It is an out-of-state investor who was interested. He liked the tenant mix and income ratios coming in from that. That’s where the number [sale price] comes from,” Cobb said. “On this type of property, in Bangor, I haven’t seen any other properties sell for this kind of price point.”

MEREDA conference highlights 'worker gap'

COURTESY / MEREDA

Cover of the latest MEREDA Index, a biannual economic indicator measuring the health of Maine's real estate sector.

Four acres of land with significant development potential near Portland’s downtown could be available for sale by the end of the year, according to the city’s economic development director.

Greg Mitchell said city officials will likely choose a real estate broker in the coming weeks for land used by the city’s Public Works Department in Bayside, launching a process that could alter the course of one of Portland’s long-struggling neighborhoods. The only restrictions placed on the sale would be the current zoning, Mitchell said, and the city is open to selling all of the land to one buyer, or selling it by the parcel.

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Given the property’s location and zoning, which permits a wide range of uses, Mitchell expects that some sort of mixed-use development – including residential, office, retail and possibly a fitness center – could replace the current industrial-scale uses.

“I think this is an opportunity of a lifetime,” Mitchell said. “I think it would have a dramatic impact on spurring more investment in that area. Four acres is quite a piece of real estate in a downtown area. The redevelopment of that area could have a dramatic impact on setting a direction in an area.”

Moving Public Works out of Bayside has been a goal of the city since the 1990s. After toying with potentially moving the department out to Riverside Street, among other options, the city in 2013 began securing a 13-acre site at 212 and 250 Canco Road, an industrial area in the geographic center of the city.

Over the last year, the city focused more attention on the Bayside neighborhood, which is home to a multitude of social service groups, including the homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Last summer, the city directed more police attention to the area to deal with unruly behavior and made more of an effort to pick up litter, sweep the streets and rebuild sidewalks. It also has begun to rethink the way the city provides emergency food and shelter.

Given that the “midtown” project, including more than 400 apartments, has stalled and is possibly being revised again, residents in Bayside hope that the city’s effort to sell and redevelop the public works properties will go more smoothly, said Bayside Neighborhood Association President Steve Hirshon. He noted that after five years of planning for the midtown development, no shovel has hit the ground.

Hirshon suggested that residents are cautiously optimistic about the future.

“We understand there’s a lot of potential for development in the neighborhood, and obviously that’s exciting, but there’s the issue of: How do you maintain a neighborhood that managed to survive the fire of 1866?” Hirshon said, referring to the fire that destroyed a third of the city’s downtown area. “I think we’d like to maintain a semblance of what we have, and at the same time, welcome whatever new comes along.”

The estimated cost for relocating the Public Works Department is $15.5 million, with about $8.4 million already appropriated. On Monday, the City Council allocated $1 million from the recent sale of 3½ acres of land on Somerset Street to Federated Cos. for the midtown project toward upgrading facilities at Canco Road, leaving about $7 million in remaining costs.

Mitchell said most of the public works operations, except for its fleet services at 44 Hanover St., have been moved to Canco Road. Administrative offices at 55 Portland St. will remain for now, but that building may be put on the market at a later date.

Moving fleet services would require a new building at Canco Road, so that would not occur until funding is secured, either through a bond or using revenue from the sale of the land, or a combination.

The city expects to open bids from potential real estate brokers Tuesday, Mitchell said. “I would expect we would make decisions quickly in hiring a broker,” he said.

The city is looking to immediately list four properties and may list an additional three properties, all of which are scattered throughout the area generally bordered by Portland, Alder and Kennebec streets and Forest Avenue, according to a request for proposals for commercial real state brokers. The properties to be listed are 56 Parris St.; 82 Hanover St.-158 Kennebec St.; 65 Hanover St.-52 Alder St.; and 44 Hanover St.

The properties are split between two business zones, which in some cases allow for 105-foot-tall buildings. Two parcels – a nearly 1.3-acre site at 82 Hanover St. and a nearly 1-acre site at 44 Hanover St. – could potentially be combined, according to the RFP, which also contemplates extending Somerset Street to Hanover Street and realigning Kennebec Street to Forest Avenue. Other properties, namely 55 Portland St., 178 Kennebec St., and 181 Forest Ave., may also be put up for sale.

Mitchell said he suspects that existing brick buildings could be renovated and incorporated into any new development plan, while open lots and a metal shed at 44 Hanover St., which houses fleet services, could be remade from scratch.

Mitchell declined to say how much he believed the city could get for the property, other than to say it could be a “significant” amount.

He said the real estate market is strong, the property is close to downtown, and there is already development going on in Bayside, including the new Chipotle and Bangor Savings Bank locations on Marginal Way, the expansion of Bayside Bowl on Alder Street and the conversion of the Schlotterbeck & Foss building on Portland Street into market-rate housing consisting of a mix of 56 studio and one-bedroom apartments.

“I feel there is a very high level of interest,” Mitchell said. “We’re continuing to see development in Bayside and we’re in the center of that.”

PORTLAND — A gung-ho cleaning service, Green Clean Maine, has been skyrocketing since its founding in 2007.

That's why founder and CEO Joe Walsh decided to buy larger quarters to house the business.

Walsh purchased the 4,768-square-foot, three-level office building at 583 Warren Ave. in Portland, just west of the Maine Turnpike/I-95 overpass, from Casey & Paige LLC for $425,000. The deal closed Sept. 16.

Amenities include 25 onsite parking spaces plus a two-bay garage and deck. Walsh was represented by Matthew Cardente and Mark Sandler of Cardente Real Estate. Mark Malone of Malone Commercial Real Estate represented the seller.

"Joe and I had been searching for properties over the past year," said Sandler. "This property fit perfectly into our mix of an owner/user investment property. Joe has the option to use a portion of the property to grow other aspects of his business or lease it out for extra income."

Reached by phone after attending the Goldman Sachs "10,000 Small Businesses" program in Boston, Walsh said the new space is about six times larger than the current leased space.

"We're moving out of an 800-square-foot space. It's tiny," he said. "I can't even believe we've been there that long."

The new building and grounds will allow for continued growth. That includes space for equipment for the field staff, supplies like low-moisture mop systems, high-performance commercial backpack vacuums, all-natural handmade cleaning formulas, cleaning trays, microfiber cloths, cotton cloths for glass, terrycloth mops for floors and microfiber dusters to get up high and down low.

There's now also more space for the growing administrative and customer service office staff and a laundry plant with washers and dryers. The crew launders 1,500 to 2,000 cleaning cloths per day, a production line where the company produces cleaning supplies and will eventually package them for consumer sales. Outside is a fleet of environmentally friendly electric hybrid or fuel-efficient vehicles.

The building is about 40 years old and in good shape, requiring minimal renovations such as paint and carpeting.

"It was already laid out in a way that, when I walked in I knew it would be great for us," said Walsh.

The move was planned for Oct 22-23.

Non-toxic cleaners can't keep up with demand

Walsh's entrée into cleaning services was a surprising turn from his previous career as an advertising salesman for the Sunrise Guide, a Westbrook-based publication about healthy and sustainable resources. He was approaching environmentally friendly residential cleaning services about advertising.

"Everyone I talked with who was doing it in a nontoxic way said they couldn't advertise because they already couldn't keep up with demand," he recalled.

The popularity of the service and the promise of good money meshed with his personal predilection for a clean and tidy home. He received a $5,000 grant from the Libra Future Fund and got his first client, a friend with a condo, in October 2007. He hired his first employee in January 2008. Now he has 30 employees and, he said, the company is the largest residential cleaning service in Maine, with about 400 subscribers, from Saco to Freeport, who register for an average of 3.5 to 4 years, with the average client signing up for bi-weekly service.

Recently, he was a finalist in the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development's "Top Gun" program, developing a vision for the company's future. Plans include additional services such as helping homeowners with other aspects of their lives, such as dog-walking, carpet-washing and concierge services.

Walsh plans to expand the commercial cleaning side. And he plans to increase production of natural cleaning supplies, which use baking soda, vinegar, essential oils and other plant-based ingredients. Customers often ask to buy his supplies, so he's developed product labels and is finalizing packaging for sales.

"This building will make room to add divisions and service lines as we grow," he said.

Also, the property is over two acres, so there's enough land and buffer to add at least another 5,000 square feet of space.

"That's part of the property's appeal as well," he said.

So why does he like to clean?

"I'm a little bit of a perfectionist," he said. "It's the satisfaction you get from making something just right, starting off with something dirty or chaotic and making it clean and neat. But what I didn't like was the chemical part. I was interested in creating an environmental benefit and making money at the same time."

Editor's note: Green Clean Maine cleans the Mainebiz offices.

UMaine trustees launch initiative to create $150M graduate center

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The University of Maine System's trustees in a special meeting on Sunday unanimously approved the first phase of a $15 million fund-raising effort for an ambitious $150 million plan to create a new graduate center for business, law and public policy in Portland.

The resolution approved by the trustees doesn't fully commit the University of Maine System to the $150 million capital investment that would be required to fulfill the business plan for the proposed Maine Center, which calls for a new $93.6 million building and a $45 million endowment. At this point, it simply authorizes UMaine Chancellor James Page to seek additional funding from private foundations and other funding sources, including the Harold Alfond Foundation, which contributed more than $2 million to the planning process that led to the development of the business plan.

"The Maine Center plan is aspirational, exemplifying our 'One University' commitment to move our state forward with innovative programing and stronger engagement with Maine's business, legal and community leaders," Page said in a statement announcing the initiative.

Maine Center CEO Eliot Cutler, an unsuccessful Independent candidate in Maine's 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial races and a founding partner of the environmental law firm Cutler & Stanfield LLP, led the 18-month assessment of UMaine's graduate programs that culminated in the graduate center's business plan. That effort included the establishment of a 100-member advisory board, discussions with faculty and more than 400 meetings in town halls, board rooms, law offices, judicial buildings and college campuses.

"The willingness of so many people inside and outside the university to engage with us shows how necessary everyone recognizes these changes and reforms are for the rebirth and growth of Maine's economy," Cutler said in a statement. "By breaking down the walls and silos in graduate programs that already are vanishing from the real world of work, the Maine Center will breed the kinds of collaborative, relationship-building, analytic and communications skills that are increasingly valued by Maine and national employers."

Why now?

The proposed Maine Center will bring under one roof in Portland the UMaine system's single, merged MBA program, the Maine Law School and the Muskie School of Public Service with its graduate programs in public health and public policy and management. It also calls for a conference center and an incubator/accelerator and would house the Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy.

The business plan explicitly states that the initiative is in response to the needs of Maine businesses for workers with higher-level skills: "Increasing numbers of jobs in the new economy require a higher level of educational attainment, and the levels of bachelor, graduate and professional degree attainment in Maine are substantially below the national median."

"In this time of global connectivity and competition the professional education provided by our public universities must be irrevocably linked to the firms, businesses and organizations that are creating opportunity across our state and building our economy," Sam Collins, chairman of the UMaine System board of trustees, said in a statement.

The business plan also seeks to turn around recent trends of declining enrollments among all the graduate programs in the UMaine System, in part due to increased in-state competition: "The growth rates for MBA degrees conferred by Husson University, Thomas College and the UMaine System institutions for the period 2002 to 2014 illustrate a considerable loss of market share for the University of Maine and University of Southern Maine," the business plan states.

Next steps

Stage 1 of the plan will begin in January 2017 and will carry a timeline of two to three years to meet fund-raising milestones. It also calls for the UMaine and USM MBA programs to be integrated by the fall of 2017; the establishment of the Maine Center Ventures; and development of new programs designed to meet the business plan's objectives. The UMaine universities will also continue to support the business, public policy and legal professional graduate programs at current funding levels of approximately $3.2 million annually.

Once Stage 1 benchmarks have been met, Stage 2 envisions consulting with foundation partners, Maine's professional community, the universities and the UMaine board to make sure the financial support and essential programs are in place to proceed with building a new $93.6 million Maine Center facility in Portland.

If all goes according to the business plan's timetable, the Maine Center building would open in 2021. It is expected to achieve a 600-student enrollment in its graduate programs by 2024.

"The center will host a score of executive education and certificate programs and will be financially self-supporting," the business plan states. "By the middle of the following decade [i.e. 2035], the $150 million capital investment in the center will be returning billions of dollars in direct and indirect benefits to Maine communities."

BRUNSWICK

The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority held its annual open house and picnic Wednesday night, providing the public a chance to talk with MRRA officials and get to know a little more about the base redevelopment.

The event drew members of the public and tenants as well as town officials, offering them a chance to speak with MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque and take a guided tour via Maine Bus Rentals.

The event was catered by New Beet Market, with owner Nate Wildes touting the many Maine-made and in-house creations.

Maine-made red hot dogs, Maine-grown corn on the cob, black bean burgers and pulled pork sandwiches with Maine-grown pork were served along with an array of salad sides. Even the buns used were locally baked, according to Wildes.

“The exciting thing about (Brunswick) Landing is everybody’s growing together,” Wildes said. “The Landing is doing a good job of working together and grow.”

MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque talks with Town Council Chairwoman Sarah Brayman at the annual MRRA open house and picnic. DOUGLAS MCINTIRE / THE TIMES RECORD Wildes said Brunswick Landing has become a very “complementary community” where everyone is working in each other’s best interest by branding and marketing the area as “a cool place to come.”

“Every day we get people in the restaurant who say, ‘I haven’t been out here since it was an active Navy base — I can’t believe how much has changed,’” Wildes said.

Douglas Cardente is one of the developers at Brunswick Landing. He purchased the American Bureau of Shipping building on Leavitt Drive. The property was once part of the Navy Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape school program.

“It’s a new building and I think one of the best ones out here,” Cardente said.

Besides ABS, Cardente said Harpswell Coastal Academy is moving in from its former location in the same building as Seeds of Independence. Cardente said that since the building was formerly used for educational purposes, it’s a natural fit for HCA.

Cardente said that with his purchase, there came an additional 12 acres that he may develop down the road into office buildings.

“(Levesque) has been a great promoter of this area and even tonight, he just wants to make sure that every base is covered in terms of letting everyone know what’s here and what’s available,” Cardente said.

Levesque said the event has drawn in mostly members of the community, curious about MRRA and how the former base is being developed.

“It’s really just to open the place up to the community and let them know what’s going on — a lot of people don’t know,” Levesque said.

To get word out, Levesque said they sent out mass mailings and put notices in the newspapers.

Levesque said it gives MRRA a chance to dispel misinformation that people might hear. One story Levesque tries to set straight is the misconception that the town isn’t receiving property taxes from the former base. The home page of the MRRA website notes more than $2.5 million in taxes paid to the town.

Brunswick Downtown Association Director Deb King was also present at the event. King said that besides MRRA, there are many businesses at Brunswick Landing who are part of the association.

“We are really excited about the growth out here,” King said.

King said the BDA has a definite interest outside of the immediate downtown area and will continue reaching out to tenants as they arrive, such as Wayfair.

“I’m absolutely thrilled with the efforts of MRRA and the accomplishments — as everyone knows, they’ve far surpassed the expectations at an award winning pace,” King said — something that bodes well for the entire community.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Duffy's Tavern and Grill of Kennebunk paid $1.7 million for a site it had been leasing in Old Orchard Beach.

The deal gives Duffy's a second location and visibility on a road that is populated by numerous campgrounds and is also the road most visitors use as they exit Interstate 295 to go into Old Orchard Beach. Duffy's offers American comfort food and pub fare.

Located at 168 Saco Ave., the 5.2-acre property also includes a 1,904-square-foot, two-unit apartment building and a 2,552-square-foot, single-family home. The transaction, which closed July 20, was brokered by Mark Sandler of Cardente Real Estate, who represented the sellers, brothers Michael and Gregory Mezoian.

David "Duffy" Cluff, representing himself, paid $1.7 million for the property.

The Duffy's in Old Orchard Beach had operated under a lease arrangement since June 15, 2015. Cluff signed a purchase and sale agreement with the Mezoians in May 2015, then worked on nailing down a financing package.

"We did a lease with the owner so we could get it up and running while we were waiting for the financing package, working with our local bank and the Small Business Administration," Cluff said, speaking by phone.

He invested $200,000 in a complete modernization of the dining room, including adding a new bar.

"The restaurant was dated," he said. "It needed to be brought up-to-date with a little TLC."

Prior to Duffy's taking over a year ago, it was the Captain's Galley Restaurant.

The Old Orchard Beach site was attractive, he said, because of its high-traffic location and the fact that the second location — a restaurant and connected banquet center totaling 11,749 square feet — is larger than the original Duffy's and better suited to larger events. The function space in Duffy's Kennebunk seats 50; Duffy's in Old Orchard Beach seats up to 200.

"We're doing weddings, bridal showers, anniversary parties — and that's what I was looking for," he said.

He plans to rent out the two-unit apartment building and house.

Cluff came into the restaurant business as a second career. He was with the Kennebunk Fire Department for 25 years, retiring as assistant fire chief. He enjoys cooking, so in 2008, he and a partner, Shawn Spencer, started Duffy's in the Lafayette Center on Main Street in Kennebunk.

"Then I decided to open a second restaurant. And that's enough restaurants," he laughed.

In actuality, there's not much in the way of retirement in this second career. He cooks five or six nights per week, and both restaurants are year-round. Plus there's been the work of getting the second restaurant going.

"I often think back to my fire department days and think, 'Well, I thought I was busy then, but I'm really busy now,'" he said.

The OOB property was originally a motor lodge with cottages, said Sandler. The Mezoian brothers' grandfather bought in 1954, and the family built the cabins and motor lodge. The brothers started a small restaurant, the Captain's Galley, in 1987, and kept enlarging it. In 1995, they dismantled the cabins and filled in the pool.

Sandler, the broker, knew the Mezoian brothers from when he owned and operated a food distribution company, Biddeford-based Sandler Brothers. Three years ago, he got out of the business and went into commercial real estate. In January 2015, when the Mezoians decided to close the restaurant in order to focus on residential development, they turned to Sandler to market the property.

YARMOUTH — In 1975, Paul and Annamarie Trusiani purchased 585 Congress St., a mixed-use building in downtown Portland where they owned Paul's Food Center.

With the passing of Paul last September, the Trusiani family made a difficult decision to sell the property.

Enter Michael Cardente of Cardente Real Estate, who found a buyer for 585 Congress St., and then found for Annemarie Trusiani, now in her 80s and known as Momma T, a 1031 exchange property — a 13,800-square-foot retail strip center at 374 U.S. Route 1 in Yarmouth — for $1.9 million, in a deal that closed June 15. The latter property will allow Trusiani to defer capital gains taxes otherwise due on the Congress Street property — and, it's conveniently near her home.

"Mike did an amazing job in creating this opportunity for my mother," said Trusiani's son, Paul "Buzzy" Trusiani. "It was in everyone's interest to sell the Congress Street property. The way Mike was able to do that and then follow up and find another property for my mother was great."

The Yarmouth property was not on the market, said Cardente. But the seller, Fogg Farm LLC, decided to take advantage of the market's low capitalization rate and move on, Cardente said.

The strip center includes two buildings and dates to 1979. The property was perfect for Trusiani for a number of reasons, the broker said. She lives nearby and was looking for a stable investment. The center is located at the southern gateway to Yarmouth with convenient access to Interstate 295. It's extremely well-maintained and has excellent signage and visibility, and plenty of on-site parking, Cardente said.

Buzzy Trusiani agrees the purchase works well for his mother: It's low-maintenance with existing tenants and will provide a diversified base of income.

"We have a wonderful Chinese food restaurant that we greatly enjoy, a yoga studio, mortgage broker, hair salon, nail salon, model train store, Casco Bay Home Care, which provides services for people requiring care in their homes — it's a wide-ranging group of people serving the community," said Buzzy Trusiani.

Other tenants include Funeral Alternatives, Music Together of Greater Portland and Impawsible Impressions Dog Salon.

Cardente will manage the property with Trusiani's assistance.

The Yarmouth property consists of a dozen units ranging from 700 square feet to 12,000 square feet, and is almost fully tenanted, with one unit currently available.

"What's nice is the diversity and scale of the property," said Trusiani. "It's an inviting place for smaller businesses to get established in a small community like Yarmouth. One of the reasons we're excited about being part of the Yarmouth community is that we've lived in Cumberland and Falmouth all our lives, so we're familiar with Yarmouth. And we're excited about Yarmouth's future."

PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --

The city of Portland hosted a bus tour of Portland's east bayside neighborhood on Thursday.

The city is trying to figure out how to distribute $200,000 in federal grant money in the neighborhood.

The money will help people who own and want to redevelop brownfield sights figure out how to do that.

East Bayside was selected as one of twenty neighborhoods in the country to get the money.

It was full of heavy industry for around a hundred years.

Some businesses owners hope they receive the grant money to continue their existing development projects.

“It will hopefully allow us to do some additional planning and try to overcome some of the obstacles that are preventing development,” said Michael Cardente, a property owner interested getting some help from the grant.

City leaders say the process of getting the sites and neighborhood fully revitalized will take time.

“We have a lot of obstacles in terms of the way it was laid out and in terms of pollutants in the ground,” said Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling. “This was really a chance for people to understand what some of those pieces are that are obstacles but also to see there are some interesting and exciting developments and ways people have turned, perhaps, some of the problems down here into real opportunities.”

Thursday's bus tour was the beginning of the process of selecting properties to invest in.

Other steps will include official city approval and community workshops.

PORTLAND — A historic building at 11 Brown St. in Maine's most populous city is on track in its conversion to luxury condominiums.

Portland developer Jack Soley paid $950,000 for the turn-of-the-century building in late 2015 as part of his mission to preserve the city's historic buildings and leverage the condo market. The site will include a ground-floor restaurant, just as the building had until the closure of Margarita's a year ago.

On May 25, Soley finalized the sale of the basement and first floor to Phelps Craig, owner of the BRGR Bar in Portsmouth, N.H. She plans her second BRGR Bar for the Portland location.

In the meantime, Soley and his nephew Dan Soley been investing approximately $1 million to redevelop the second, third and fourth floors into luxury condominiums — two units on the second floor and one 2,400-square-foot unit each on the third and fourth floors.

Since the 1930s, the top two floors had been used for storage. The building is part of what's known as the Eastman Block. Eastman Bros. & Bancroft, a major dry-goods retailer established in 1865, owned several buildings near the intersection of Brown and Congress streets, according to the Maine Historical Society, though it's not clear what the exact use of this particular building had been. The store closed in the Great Depression.

"Eastman" is inscribed in granite on the front of the building and the condos will be called the Eastman Block Condominiums.

"We're fairly far along in our conversion," said Soley. "We just started putting up sheetrock. In early July we'll start installing the final plumbing fixtures, the kitchens, flooring and finishes. We hope to be complete in late July."

The renovation will highlight the building's historic feel and features. The top three floors have ceiling heights of at least 12 feet, which will be preserved. The original huge, rough-hewn floor joists will be visible and the original hardwood flooring is being refinished.

"We'll keep the same large window openings that were originally designed with the building," said Soley. "Once that's all done, it will have a feeling almost like a New York loft space, which will be very unusual for the Portland area. These are unique units that will have lots of historic charm, tremendous ceiling height, huge windows, and a distinctly loft feeling."

The restaurant space has its own place in the city's history. It once housed the HuShang restaurant, which opened in 1979 and was one of the first restaurants to help transform Portland into a foodie destination. HuShang, known as the restaurant that introduced Portland to authentic Chinese food., closed in 1986. Afterward, Margaritas was there for 18 years, closing in August 2015.

BRGR Bar set to open in fall

In a deal that closed May 25, Soley sold the basement and first floor to Craig, who is the midst of design and renovation for her second BRGR Bar. Jessamyn Mackey and Peter Harrington of Malone Commercial Brokers represented Soley in the transaction. Michael Rogers of Maine Real Estate Network represented Craig.

Craig has been in the restaurant business in Portsmouth since 2003. Her previous restaurants included Green Monkey, serving eclectic cuisine, and Brazo, a Latin American restaurant. She sold both of those to start BRGR Bar in 2014.

"I decided to expand the BRGR Bar concept up north," Craig said. "It's behind the Civic Center and near the Asylum [music venue] and right off Congress Street, so the location is great."

Craig expects to invest $400,000 in the build-out and hopes to be open by October or November. She'll split her time between the two restaurants.

"We're excited to do business in Portland," she said.

It is our pleasure to announce and congratulate this year's 2016 REALTOR of the Year: Greg Perry of Cardente Real Estate.

Greg has been a REALTOR since 2006 and currently serves as a Director on the Maine Commercial Association Board of Directors & NECPE Board of Directors on which he has served in both capacities since 2013. In 2015, Greg spearheaded the 1st Annual MCAR Charity Golf Tournament which raised over $6,600 for Morrison Center.

NORWAY — Three commercial buildings totaling 6,000 square feet are viewed as having great redevelopment potential given their location on 1.49 acres in a commercial area on the primary thoroughfare running through this Oxford County town.

The buyer, 57 Main Street Norway LLC, is a commercial real estate investor based in Portland that buys, rehabs and leases space, typically to national companies, said Michael Cardente of Cardente Real Estate, who represented the buyer.

In a deal that closed May 23, the buyer purchased 57 Main St. from Business Real Estate LLC for $430,000. Kevin Fletcher of Malone Commercial Brokers represented the seller.

"What's different about this is that, because the Portland real estate market is so saturated, a lot of developers are looking to other markets in Maine for their investments," said Cardente.

Developers are attracted to Norway for its proximity to the Oxford Casino and the Oxford Plains Speedway as well as some revitalization initiatives downtown.

"Norway is a very vibrant community. So the focus is on looking for opportunities in other communities in Maine" beyond Portland, Cardente said.

The buildings were originally put on the market to lease, not to sell.

"We reached out to them about four months ago, and asked if they would consider selling it," said Cardente. "I think it had been available for lease for a while, so when somebody offered to purchase it, the owner said, 'I'll take it.'"

The owner had taken good care of the property. The three buildings, an assortment of concrete, glass and wood structures, are a former quick lube, an automotive self-wash with hoses, and an automotive touchless wash. The oldest dates back to perhaps the late 1980s, and the newest to about 10 years ago.

The property has gone through several owners over the years, but has likely been used for automotive purposes since the first building went up, said Cardente. It's near a Hannaford store and VIP, as well as smaller retail and service ventures.

PORTLAND (WGME) -- Portland's most iconic building, is now in foreclosure.

Facing low occupancy and years of neglect, the downtown landmark is seized by the bank. The Time & Temperature building is 92 years old this year and tenants say, that is in desperate need of a little TLC.

Attorney Joe Lewis and engineer Robert Bowker, who have offices on the tenth floor, say previous owners have neglected the building. And it cost them. Several businesses have moved out. "It's staggering to me that we're in such a bad place with such a great building," says Joe Lewis, attorney

"It's a beautiful old building. It's just unfortunate to see people leaving and the building just kind of going into disrepair," says Robert Bowker, engineer. Chris Roberts owns one of a handful of shops on the ground floor. He says back in it's hey day this was Maine's first indoor mall, even before anyone heard of the word mall. Now, this iconic building is in foreclosure as Wells Fargo takes possession. "You're seeing people leave, but you're not seeing anything new come back in. It gets a little unsettling after awhile," says Chris Roberts of High and Tight. Some of the tenants, say foreclosure may not be the worst thing. They're hoping Wells Fargo puts some money into the Time and Temperature Building so they can find a buyer, and that that buyer will put even more money into the building to restore it to its former greatness." "It's kind of like this hidden gem in Portland. And there's so much potential I would love to see it just kind of thriving again," says Mary Zarate of Z Fabrics "I would love to see an anchor store go into the corner space when the radio station leaves and it fills the whole building up with businesses," says Leigh Slaughter of The Bead Hound. All it takes, they say, is the right buyer for those dreams come true.

"It's an important landmark building for Portland. And frankly, there's good bones to this building. So it would be wonderful if somebody would dress it up and really take care of it," says Lewis.

South Portland eyes West End development project

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PORTLAND — In 2011, Freeport developer Kenn Guimond, who runs The Guimond Group, took on the renovation of a building of historical significance but in derelict condition.

Located in the Congress Street Historical District, which is also part of Portland's Arts District, the renovation of 660-662 Congress St. turned out to be much longer and more complicated than he anticipated.

"I was contacted by a local broker who thought it would be an interesting project for me — and believe me, it was interesting," he said. This was Guimond's first historical preservation project in a portfolio, spanning about 40 years, that includes mainly residential and commercial development in the Portland-to-Freeport region. "It's hard to make the dollars work, but the satisfaction is off the charts."

The building, finished in 1886, is known as the George S. Hunt block, named after a Portland businessman who owned the Forest City Sugar Refining Co. on Commercial Street in Portland, according to the Maine Historical Society. In the 1870s or so, according to Guimond, Hunt bought a derelict tenement building at the current site, had it razed, and hired Francis Fassett, a preeminent Portland architect of the time who worked in the Victorian High Gothic and Queen Anne styles. Fassett designed the current Queen Anne building, with features typical of the style that include brick-relief columns and pediments, a slate roof and bay windows. Hunt lived next-door to the building. Storefronts were added in 1912 and 1950. The building is also distinguished by its triangular shape.

The building was subsequently owned by a number of people, said Guimond. Its last commercial tenant, on the ground floor, was an antique store. Previously, Kenneth Aherne's Tailor Shop occupied the space. The upper two stories were always residences. Originally designed as one unit per floor, the residential space was divided several times into smaller spaces over a 30-to-40-year period.

After several years of vacancy, Roxanne Quimby, the philanthropist and Burt's Bees founder, bought the building in 2009. She planned an artist studio and gallery space, according to a 2011 Portland Press Herald story, but in 2010 the interior was severely damaged by fire. Quimby eventually put the building up for sale.

"So by the time it got to my sphere, it was damaged both by disrepair and by the fire," Guimond said.

Guimond hired Present Architecture of New York City to design and oversee the restoration. His son, Andre Guimond, is a principal in the firm, which got its start around the same time Kenn Guimond bought the building, making this one of the firm's first projects.

Due to unexpected structural problems, the expected 18-month project took four years.

"It wasn't until we got our engineer in the building that we found it in much greater disrepair than we thought, and it would take pretty much a complete restructuring of the interior," Kenn Guimond said.

Interior structural components failed to meet modern engineering codes, yet couldn't be stripped out wholesale or the building's brick shell could have been compromised. Instead, supporting structures such as beams and joists were replaced and surfaces releveled in a section-by-section surgical approach.

Since there are no images of the original interior, Present Architecture designed a contemporary look, with open spaces, white walls and ceilings and little trim. Removal of a roof-to-foundation chimney provided flexibility for the floor plan. Innovative lighting includes custom-designed skylights and LED fixtures tucked into ceiling coffers for a wash of soft illumination into living spaces. A shared stairwell features custom metal balusters and white oak treads. All systems were replaced.

The exterior was sound but needed work, including a new slate roof, new copper gutters, mortar replacement and new windows that honored the original design.

Renovation to the historic building had its challenge, said Andre Guimond. Non-historic downspouts had to be replaced. The team discovered roof-to-ground pockets, to accommodate historic downspouts, hidden inside the brick walls.

"It's not easy to do, because you're sluicing cold rain water through the inside of your walls," said Andre. "But we thought it would be great way to restore the building to its original look and clean up the façade, so we incorporated that."

They ran into other surprises. For example, a new water line for sprinkler systems had to cross Congress Street, which meant closing the street. The closure took longer than anticipated when street crews found, first, cobblestone paving down one layer, which had to be dug up. Then they found old trolley lines down a further layer, which had to be cut.

All together, 7,600 square feet now comprise one high-end apartment on each of the two upper floors, commercial space on the ground floor and a brick-and-stone space below the sidewalk level that could be useful for the commercial tenant.

The purchase price was in the mid-$200,000s, and renovation cost over $2 million. Guimond supplied 60% of the financing and received bank financing for the rest, with federal and state tax credits available for designated historic structures offsetting costs.

Guimond recently began marketing the spaces; the first residential tenant was slated to move in late April. Like the majority of other Guimond Group design and build projects, this will be kept in the portfolio.

"To us, it's a piece of history, not just another commercial project," said Kenn Guimond. "It means a lot to me. I've been in the business 40 years, and done all sorts of custom homes and office buildings. But this has been the hardest project I've ever done, because it was such a delicate process and we wanted to respect the integrity of the original design. We want to preserve this building in such a way that it should be here for another 140 years."

Four communities receive $15.2M for wastewater infrastructure upgrades

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New 500,000-square-foot shopping center proposed for Westbrook

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Mixed-use five-story building proposed for Gorham’s town center

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Possible propane depot move a big step for Thompson’s Point

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Recent sales heat up Lewiston-Auburn retail market

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LEWISTON-AUBURN — As rising stars among Maine's metropolitan areas, twin cities Lewiston and Auburn are a great place to invest.

That's the outlook of Dan Boutin, a commercial real estate investor who, under the name 675 Main Street LLC, bought two shopping centers — the 32,000-square-foot Marketplace Mall located at 675 Main St. in Lewiston, and the 12,000-square-foot Taylor Brook Mall, at 14 Millett Drive in Auburn.

Malone Commercial Brokers said the Marketplace Mall sold for $2 million, while the Taylor Brook Mall sold for $800,000. Both deals closed March 9.

Malone Commercial Brokers' Kevin Fletcher represented the seller, Marketplace Investment Group LLC, of which Fletcher is a partner. Frank O'Connor of NAI/The Dunham Group represented Boutin, the buyer.

Boutin, who has been in real estate investment for 35 years, owns other properties in the area. These include shopping centers at 120 Center St. in Auburn and 1567 Lisbon St. in Lewiston, as well as a 114-unit mobile home park in Sabbatus. One of his companies, Oak Hill Management, manages the properties.

"I like retail and income-producing properties. And I like Lewiston-Auburn because there's a lot of growth," said Boutin, who was born and raised in the area and so also feels a personal attachment to his investments. "Portland is difficult — the vacancy rate is so low and the price of land has reached such an unrealistic amount. But Lewiston-Auburn has a lot of upside. Everything is up and coming in Lewiston-Auburn, and you want to be part of it."

The two one-story strip centers were never actually on the market. Kevin Fletcher, one of the four partners who owned the properties, said he was aware that Boutin was on the lookout for this type of commercial property, and the partners felt the timing was right to sell, so he simply called Boutin's broker. The selling partners had owned the Marketplace Mall for eight years, and the Taylor Brook Mall for seven years.

Both shopping centers date to the mid-1980s and are deemed by both seller and buyer to be in good shape. Both centers are in well-traveled areas.

The Marketplace Mall is on Main Street and has proven to be "a great neighborhood center," Fletcher said. There are currently 16 tenants, including a mix of hair salons, a Chinese restaurant, chiropractor and offices, all anchored by a Sam's Italian Restaurant, one of a chain in Maine. There is currently a 600-square-foot vacant space.

The Taylor Brook Mall has nine tenants and about 1,600 square feet of vacant space.

Boutin said he'll clean up the properties, make sure the signs and landscaping look nice, check out the systems to ensure they're all operational, and the like.

"I'm there to help out the tenants," he said. "The buck stops here."

PORTLAND — Officials from five suburban towns joined their Portland colleagues Wednesday to discuss how to expand housing in the region.

“I think the headline is the same as in any town: New development is incredibly wrenching,” Cape Elizabeth Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said during the forum at the University of Southern Maine.

The discussion, hosted by the Portland City Council Housing Committee, was also attended by officials from Scarborough, South Portland, Falmouth and Westbrook, including South Portland City Councilor Linda Cohen; Assistant City Manager and Economic Development Director Josh Reny; South Portland Housing Authority Executive Director Mike Halsey; Scarborough Senior Planner Jay Chace, and Scarborough Town Councilor Will Rowan.

Portland City Councilor Jill Duson, the committee chairwoman, organized the regional forum. It was moderated by Caroline Paras, community and economic planner at the Greater Portland Council of Governments.

The forum was opened with a presentation of local housing markets compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The analysis established that demand will continue to grow in the marketing area including Cumberland, Sagadahoc and York counties.

Meeting the projected demand for an estimated 4,000 housing units for purchase and 2,000 for rent in the next three years will be daunting; HUD estimated 850 sales units and 450 rental units were under construction in the affected areas as of Oct. 1, 2015.

Chace said Scarborough added about 8,000 housing units in the last 20 years, but almost all were single-family units. He said there is more acceptance of rental units as the town tries to develop along its highly traveled corridors and reduce reliance on vehicles.

Cohen said South Portland has keyed in on increasing population density in the areas of Mill Creek and near the Maine Mall to encourage mixed-use development that adds to the housing stock.

Increased density can also support local businesses, but Reny noted it is not a citywide approach.

“It is an issue that is place-sensitive,” he said. “What we know is, people love the city and value the neighborhoods.”

Critical to the success of adding housing is the quality of the development and how it fits into existing areas, O’Meara said.

“I’ve spent a lot of time putting design standards into Cape Elizabeth regulations, because if it doesn’t look ugly, it is easier to accept,” she said.

Officials agreed more regional forums are needed, and discussed the possibility of site walks to show what has worked in the communities, but did not schedule any new joint meetings.

Tyler Technologies looks to nearly double jobs with Yarmouth expansion

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Portland balancing between staying true to its roots and development

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Portland's hot — a city where life is good, a place where people want to live, work and play.

That's backed up by several southern Maine forecasts at the Maine Real Estate & Development Association's annual conference last month showing the city's real estate metrics in 2015 to be exceptionally strong: downtown Class A vacancies at 4.52%, the lowest in seven years; retail, 3.6% vacancy rate compared to 12.6% nationally; multi-unit residential, 1,134 new apartments in the pipeline and 269 units under construction.

And it certainly doesn't hurt that Portland regularly gets mentioned in national "top city" rankings for its abundance of award-winning restaurants, as a great place to raise a family and for having a lively arts scene that's appealing to empty nesters and millennials.

But two high-profile projects — the $85 million Midtown mixed-use complex in the Bayside area and the proposed redevelopment of the historic Portland Co. complex at 58 Fore St. — respectively triggered a court challenge and a citywide referendum by residents objecting to their scale and impact. Although neither derailment effort succeeded, there's ample evidence Portland is experiencing some growing pains as architects, developers, municipal officials and residents struggle to find common ground on the city's growth challenges and potential solutions.

"How we change matters, lack of trust will defeat us," architect Patrick Costin, who founded Canal 5 Studio in 2011 and is the newly installed president of the Portland Society of Architecture, said in a recent talk at the Portland Museum of Art. Signaling the PSA's intent to take a proactive role in that debate, he adds: "We can follow our fears or be proactive and work together — face to face, not just on Facebook — to craft solutions that will elevate Portland to new heights as a place to live, work and raise a family."

Strong demand for housing

Brit Vitalius of Vitalius Real Estate Group, a speaker at the MEREDA conference, cited four Portland projects that will add at least 710 rental units in the next year or two:

• Redfern Properties, with an eight-story, 139-unit apartment complex under construction at the site of the former Joe's Smoke Shop on Congress Street and a 53-apartment project in East Bayside at 89 Anderson St., 192 units total.

• Schlotterbeck & Foss's 55-unit project using historic tax credits at 117 Preble St.

• J.B. Brown's 63-unit El Rayo project at 101 York St.

• Miami-based Federated Cos.' long-delayed mixed-use Midtown project with 400 or more apartment units, reported as being "back on track" last October after the developer agreed to reduce the scope of the project.

"We are attractive to the rest of the world, but it seems we've particularly got a connection with Brooklyn," Vitalius quipped. But the larger point he was making is that it's not only an influx of out-of-state young urban professionals driving the boom in Portland's multi-unit housing market, it's also retiring baby boomers and young families choosing urban life over the suburbs.

That gives Redfern Properties' co-owner Jonathan Culley some confidence the $25 million investment will pay off for his company and other investors involved in the 667 Congress St. apartment complex under construction near Longfellow Square.

"We know there's demand for apartments in Portland, that's well documented," Culley says. "The $64,000 question is, 'How deep is the market for rents of up to $2.50 per square foot' [i.e., ranging from $1,375 to $1,625 for apartments 550-to-650 square feet]? New construction is expensive. Costs have risen 10% in the last two years. We've got to get premium rents to justify the higher costs."

The answer to that rent affordability question, he readily admits, is tied to an issue highlighted by new Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling: Job creation.

In simple terms, Redfern and other market-rate apartment developers need "people to have incomes to support the rent" they'd pay to live downtown, Culley says. That's why he's keenly attuned to the increasingly tight Class A office market in Portland and what that might mean in relation to the city's goals of attracting highly paid professional jobs. "We haven't seen a new office project downtown in many, many years," he says. "I'd love to see more office growth happening downtown, with 1,000 well-paying jobs. That's one of the ways we address the housing affordability problem."

Culley, a Portland native whose resume includes a stint as a senior associate of the venture capital arm of the Boeing Co. in Seattle, returned to Maine and co-founded Redfern with his wife, Catherine, in 2005. He says they came back to Maine largely for the same lifestyle reasons he's counting on to fill his two apartment projects now under construction. By the time the 139-apartment project at 667 Congress St. is completed in the spring of 2017, he and his wife will have built or renovated 300 housing units in Portland in the last decade.

"I'd like to think we've done our part," he says, agreeing with Vitalius that the appeal of living downtown within walking distance of many amenities cuts across all generations. "There are absolutely demographic trends supporting urban development. These are real trends. That's why we are making such a big bet on urban housing. These are very healthy social trends."

City takes fresh look at growth

Jeff Levine, director of Portland's Planning and Urban Development Department, says more than 1,100 units of housing were approved by the city's planning board by the end of 2015, with Redfern Properties accounting for 192 of the 269 units now under construction.

He's been in his post for three-and-a-half years, having previously worked as director of planning and community development for a greater Boston community, and says most of his planning career has been in cities between 50,000 and 100,000 in population. "Portland is the most exciting place I've worked in so far," he says. "I think it's been 'full steam ahead' since the day I got here."

Levine says it's understandable that, as the pace and scale of projects in the Portland peninsula started picking up in recent years, it has triggered fears that the city's unique qualities were at risk of being lost. "Change worries people," he says.

It isn't just the mixed-use Midtown and Portland Co. proposals triggering such concerns. A recent proposal by retailer CVS to raze five buildings in the mid-300 block of Forest Avenue sparked a public outcry over the loss of the neighborhood's historic ambience.

The recent surge of hotel, mixed-use and multi-unit housing projects, he says, has spurred the city to take a fresh look at its comprehensive plan, a long-range, goal-setting document with some sections that are more than 20 years old. That plan set a goal of adding 15,000 residents by 2030, an almost 25% increase over the current population of 66,700. In addition to conducting an online survey of residents to gauge their views on housing densities, protecting historic properties and what the city's role should be in guiding private development, Levine says the city has been taking a closer look at specific neighborhoods, such as India Street, Forest Avenue and East Bayside.

"It's really great when you develop a plan and you are patient and you watch it unfold in time," he adds, pointing to the Ocean Gateway complex near the Maine State Pier on the eastern end and the expansion of the International Marine Terminal on the western end as projects fulfilling visions laid out in earlier city plans. Likewise, he says, the proposed mixed-use development of the Portland Co. carries forward many of the ideas spelled out in the city's 2004 Eastern Waterfront Master Plan.

"It's not carved in stone," he says, noting that every plan represents a vision tied to a particular moment in time, which can and should be tweaked if present conditions change some of the assumptions of the original plan. "It's a balancing act for us."

Finding the 'right fit'

Alan Kuniholm, a principal of PDT Architects, takes the long view when pondering Portland's growth challenges. He recalls the "huge controversy" accompanying the construction of One City Center when he arrived in Portland in 1984, noting that the 13-story office building is now an iconic financial center, home of Bank of America's Maine headquarters, and an anchor of the city's Congress Square mixed-use district.

"Look how far we've come," he says. "We're at the crossroads for so many things."

Kuniholm, who stepped down as president of Portland Society for Architecture at its Jan. 27 annual meeting, shares the view of his successor, Patrick Costin, that the nonprofit group of architects, engineers, landscape architects and design professionals can play an important role in helping the city chart its future and manage change successfully. It's why the organization invited the world-renowned Boston-based architect Moshe Safdie to deliver the keynote lecture in the public portion of its annual meeting.

"He really focuses on the relationship people have to their built environment," Kuniholm says of Safdie, whose portfolio over five decades includes the $8 billion Marina Bay Sands integrated resort in Singapore (2011) and the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Ark. (2011). "I think that's really important and lends itself to the growing pains we might be going through right now."

In an engaging slide lecture featuring a number of case studies from his wide-ranging portfolio of completed projects, Safdie told the audience at the Portland Museum of Art that questions about density, the relationship between old and new and the traditional conflict between the "market knows best" notion of development and the community's efforts to guide that growth through zoning regulations are all vitally important.

"I want my buildings to take root and look as if they've always been there," he says, explaining in his writings that the challenge is to find a way "to blend the future and the past."

Among the life lessons he conveyed both visually and in stories about some of his more challenging projects, Safdie shared key ideas he hoped would prove useful as Portland engages the challenge of growth:

• Pay attention to the problem of scale.

• Pay attention to the connection between a building and the larger infrastructure.

• Preserve the roots, the essence of place, but resist forces that insist on sameness.

• Create a space for human interaction, discover the modern equivalent of the piazza, bazaar, agora.

• Preserve the ritual of public life. It's what enhances the identity of a community.

It boils down to "fitness," which Safdie says relates to the way all forms in nature strive to achieve a perfect fulfillment of their intended function. It's no different, he says, for architects, developers and planners responding to the changing needs of a community. Safdie says Portland's challenge going forward will be to create buildings that "resonate" both culturally and spatially to its "essential" needs and qualities.

A much needed makeover for five-way-intersection in Portland

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PORTLAND – Fine-dining veterans Dana Street and Sam Hayward hope the seafood-house-and-more opens by summer, as the pier's revitalization continues. Prominent local restaurateurs Dana Street and Sam Hayward have signed the lease on space for a planned New England-style seafood restaurant on Maine Wharf, which they hope to have open by the beginning of summer, Street said Wednesday.

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PORTLAND – One calls for 63 market rate units at High and York streets; the other would add 150 units of senior housing on Ocean Avenue. Developers are hoping to break ground on two projects within the next year that would add more than 200 units of housing and bring more than $36 million of new construction to Maine’s largest city.

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PORTLAND – The developer of the long-delayed “midtown” project in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood has applied for $4.3 million in tax credits from a state program that has been a target of criticism from regulators and legislators.

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PORTLAND – The secret got out sometime about a decade ago, it seems, and the rest of the world is now well aware that life is good in Portland, Maine.

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PORTLAND – The charm of the place and the genuinely friendly staff compensate for any shortcomings. “Bistros are all about the Bs,” a restaurateur once told me. “The bar, the buzz and the braise.”

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PORTLAND – Those opposed to an ordinance protecting city views fear unintended economic impacts. Supporters say it will preserve treasured resources.

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PORTLAND – The 7,200-square-foot building will contain offices, a branch and drive-thru on Marginal Way. Bangor Savings Bank has begun construction on a $2 million, solar-powered office building and retail branch on Marginal Way in Portland.

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PORTLAND – Sarah Sausville Celebrates first year as "In House" Architectural Designer at Cardente Real Estate & Cardente Construction.

PORTLAND – Open a mere month on Market Street, the full-fledged Parisian cafe complete with sleek gold chairs, marble tables, imported tins of fish and wine, is like a trip down the Champs Elysees minus the accents and cigarette smoke.

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PORTLAND – We are pleased to announce that Mark Sandler has joined the commercial brokerage team at Cardente Real Estate.

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PORTLAND – Portland, Denver, San Diego… blah blah blah. Whenever a discussion of America’s best beer cities starts up, people simply trot out the same old cities over and over.

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PORTLAND – Developer Chris Thompson calls Cellardoor ‘a perfect fit’ for the site on the Fore River in Portland.

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PORTLAND – The company plans to add 15 permanent jobs when the $6 million facility is complete. Portland-based Mac Air Group will begin construction Thursday on a $6 million facility that will allow the company to serve its growing number of international and domestic aviation clients.

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PORTLAND – The city wants to eliminate the divided highway in the middle of its downtown – along Spring and Middle streets – and spur investment. City crews began knocking down the raised center median on Middle and Spring streets this week in the first step of a plan to undo some of the damage caused by a 1970s-era urban-renewal project.

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PORTLAND — For Lois and Dan Porta, opening a second Lois' Natural Marketplace isn't simply an expansion of enterprise, it's a culmination of lifestyle.

The new space, at the corner of India and Middle streets, sandwiched between Two Fat Cats Bakery and Micucci's Grocery Co., is approximately 2,300 square feet and is scheduled to open May 19.

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