Apartments planned for former USM dorm
Photo/CBRE/The Boulos Co.
Portland Hall, a former University of Southern Maine dormitory on Congress Street, will soon be renovated into apartments.
The University of Southern Maine has shed its last remaining dormitory in Portland and a local developer stands ready to breathe new life into the building.
Bayside Maine LLC recently purchased the former Portland Hall at 645 Congress St. for $2.2 million, with plans to convert the main six-story facility to about 60 market-rate apartments, according to Greg Shinberg, a Bayside Maine LLC owner. The property, owned by the University of Maine System since 1989, went on the market in April with an original asking price of $3 million, according to Charles Day of CBRE / The Boulos Co., which brokered the deal. The system closed the 280-bed dorm in July and consolidated all student housing to its Gorham campus, including a 296-bed dorm that opened there last year.
"We really needed to focus our residence program in a fashion that was going to be more cost-effective," Craig Hutchinson, vice president of student and university life at USM, told Mainebiz.
Student fees never fully supported Portland Hall's operating budget, which was subsidized through the residential life program, he said. That and the recent availability of other housing options in Portland made the sale a smart move, Hutchinson said. Only a small number of Portland Hall's residents, which also included Maine College of Art and Southern Maine Community College students, were displaced, he said. Many graduated, went to Gorham or moved to the 100-unit Bayside Village Student Apartments on Marginal Way, which opened in time for the fall semester, Hutchinson said.
As a condition of the system's 1989 purchase agreement, which was arranged through a bond issue, proceeds from the October sale will be used to upgrade existing dormitories, he said.
Portland Hall, situated on 1.7 acres in the heart of downtown, originally was constructed in 1884 and operated for more than 20 years as a hotel. Two additions were added in 1964 and 1969, which Bayside Maine LLC plans to demolish to make room for a 112-space parking lot, Shinberg said. The developers hope to have the apartments, some of which will be set aside as affordable units, ready for fall 2009. The plan, pending planning board approval, also includes replacing the façade and locating a couple of retailers on the first floor.
The 132,000-square-foot property's main draw was, of course, location, location, location, Shinberg said. "We're looking for apartments as an investment right now," he said. A planning board workshop on Bayside Maine's plan has been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 20.
Now that the University of Southern Maine has unloaded Portland Hall, it is looking at the possibilty of selling its other major property on the Portland peninsula at 68 High St., which currently houses administrative offices.
"When you look at the economic condtions out there, we feel we'd be shortsighted not to take a look at the viability of that property as far as the university goes," Bob Caswell, director of public affairs at USM, told Mainebiz today. "But we have not reached a decision on what to do with the building. Do we keep it? Do we sell it? We don't know, but it is under discussion."
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments