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July 21, 2009

Wharf hotel project on hold

By Jackie Farwell

A Portland developer has suspended plans for a $40 million luxury hotel project on a Commercial Street wharf.

Eric Cianchette, owner of the Maine Wharf and Portland Regency Hotel, has put the five-story hotel, restaurant and banquet project on hold as the city considers a number of waterfront zoning amendments, his attorney, Joe Stevens of Perkins Olson, told Mainebiz. "He's decided to ask that it not be processed at this time," Stevens says of the application. "He's not completely abandoning the concept of the idea."

Stevens submitted a letter to the city earlier this month notifying officials of the decision. Cianchette had applied for a change in a 1993 city ordinance that restricts hotel and other development on the waterfront. Those regulations were waived in 2006 to allow development of the city-owned Maine State Pier, a move that has prompted a number of private wharf owners to seek the same development rights.

Cianchette's proposed amendment won't move forward, but other amendments related to the waterfront central zone are scheduled come before the planning board later this summer or in early fall, according to Bill Needelman, senior city planner. Cianchette will likely reevaluate his project once the City Council issues a decision on the changes, Stevens says.

Cianchette's plans, unveiled in January, also included a $10 million reconstruction of the pier and called for the first level of the Maine Wharf to be reserved for marine use.

Reader comments

From Alfred Padula (Tue 7/21/2009 3:39 PM)

I am very puzzled by the interest of various hoteliers to lose their shirts. We already know that Commercial Street floods during North Easters and that the Condo pier garage has flooded. Hotel wanabees should check NRCM's maps on the potential for global warming inspired flooding. Sam Merrill, environmentalist at the Muskie Center, is doing an extensive study of the coast using GPS data etc to indicate future flood areas.

Only the city council, anxious for ANY revenue, is enthusiastic about building on the Bay.
 

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