PORTLAND, Maine — Thursday's windy conditions almost put a pause on a day for celebration at the corner of Federal and Temple Streets in downtown Portland.
“It’s pretty amazing, and it was actually a little emotional for me, I will say," Catherine Culley of Redfern Properties said.
Redfern Properties and Landry French Construction, as well as the hundreds of Maine construction workers, have been building a new 18-floor apartment building for nearly a year.
Standing 190 feet tall, the building is set to be the tallest in the state.
“Being a Maine-based company and doing the tallest building in Maine makes this project even more special for us," Landry French Construction CEO Kevin French said. “We have a lot more work to do and we’re just rolling up our sleeves and getting it done.”
The building will be home to 263 apartment units, including 27 workforce units. Tenants will have access to a gym, workspace, and a sky lounge on the top floor.
Jonathan Culley, the managing partner of Redfern Properties, said more and more people have moved to Maine and Portland since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. He added people will continue to come to Maine in the future as they escape areas of intense climate change in other parts of the country.
“In-migration to Maine and to Portland, in particular, is going to continue and it’s really going to put a squeeze on our housing market," he added.
Jonathan said his company is currently working on adding 500 units of housing to the market, including this project.
Dan Brennan is the director of MaineHousing and said all development is "good development" as our state is still in a housing crisis.
“We have the largest pipeline of multi-family projects in our portfolio than we’ve ever had," Brennan added. “There are thousands of units in the works.”
The project in Portland is a private undertaking, while MaineHousing tackles construction on the public end. Brennan said both sides of the industry need to continue their partnership to help all Maine communities.
Regardless of how the project is financed, problems are sure to arise during construction. For the tallest building in Maine, Catherine Culley said one issue was getting on the electric grid.
“Because it is a fully electrified building, [there are] no fossil fuels in the building for heating or cooling," she added.
Construction will continue for at least the next year and developers predict the building will open next fall. The build will employ 250 construction workers in the process.