USM receives $850K gift from LLBean for new student center, quad, scholarship

Courtesy / Elkus Manfredi Architects, University of Southern Maine Foundation An $850,000 gift to the University of Southern Maine Foundation from L.L.Bean includes $750,000 to support a new Career and Student Success Center. The center’s planned lobby is depicted in this rendering.

Write a Comment

By Staff

The University of Southern Maine Foundation on Thursday said it has received a gift of $850,000 from L.L.Bean Inc., including $750,000 to support a new Career and Student Success Center and green campus quad, under construction on the university’s Portland campus.

An additional $100,000 will establish an environmental science scholarship.

The center, quad and an adjacent Portland Commons residence hall are part of the university’s largest construction project ever.

The campus development project has a total price tag of $99.4 million. Funding for the project includes voter-approved general obligation bonds, University of Maine System revenue bonds and private philanthropy.

The $26.6 million Career and Student Success Center includes $19 million in funding authorized by voters as part of the $49 million 2018 Workforce Development Bond for the University of Maine System.

Capstone Development Partners is the developer; PC Construction is the general contractor; and Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects Ltd. and SMRT Architects and Engineers, of Portland, are the architects and design consultants

The center will be built to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Silver certification and will overlook an acre of green space that was previously a paved parking lot.

A topping off ceremony for the residence hall was held Thursday morning. The ceremony signifies the final structural beam lifted into place.

“This new building, with its green quad in the center, will make it easy for busy students to build outside time into their daily routines, and experience the restorative power of nature just outside their door,” Shawn Gorman, executive chairman of L.L.Bean, said during the ceremony.

The permanent endowment will be called the L.L.Bean Environmental Science scholarship.

L.L.Bean’s gift will also be recognized inside the student center with the naming of the “Double L Fireside Lounge,” a student gathering space distinguished by a two-story stone fireplace.

The gift will support the "green transformation" of the Portland campus, said USM President Glenn Cummings.

“We are so thrilled to recognize L.L.Bean’s gift in a way that honors the company’s core belief in the power of the outdoors to bring people together,” he said.

The center is slated to open in 2023. The design is a three-story building of approximately 42,000 square feet. The center will house an expanded career and employment hub and is expected to add over 750 career-ready graduates to Maine’s workforce each year.

Sustainability features of the center include the use of low-carbon technologies and green building materials such as cross-laminated timber panels, a 30-kilowatt rooftop solar photovoltaic array tied to the electric grid, and an energy-efficient building and site design.

“The new Career & Student Success Center, with its expanded Career Hub, is where USM students will engage with employers like L.L.Bean as they build their future career paths,” said Ainsley Wallace, president and CEO of the USM Foundation.

The adjacent 580-bed Portland Commons residence hall will meet Passive House sustainability standards and is on track to become the second largest Passive House university building in the country, according to a news release.

The hall will provide affordable housing for USM students and residential staff and will feature the newly named Dr. Glenn Cummings Courtyard, a half-acre, semi-private green space for studying and group gatherings.