The city of Portland is selling six adjacent parcels in the Bayside neighborhood totaling about 4.1 acres, touting the properties as a great opportunity for urban redevelopment.
The properties for sale include land used by the city’s Public Works Department, which has been partially relocated to a 13-acre site at 212 and 250 Canco Road, an industrial area in the geographic center of the city. Proceeds from the sale would help finance the completion of the department’s relocation.
The six parcels include 56 Parris St., 178 Kennebec St., 82 Hanover St./158 Kennebec St., 65 Hanover St./52 Alder St., 44 Hanover St. with additional frontage on Parris and Lancaster streets, and 55 Portland St., with additional frontage on Hanover and Parris streets. Excluding the 55 Portland St. property, which doesn’t have an assessed value listed on the city assessor’s website, the properties are valued at $8.2 million, according to city records. Half of the lots contain existing structures that could be repurposed or torn down for redevelopment.
Portland has hired commercial real estate firm CBRE|The Boulos Co. to market and broker the land sale. Portland-based Boulos is marketing the parcels as available for either bulk or individual purchase.
City Councilor David Brenerman said the properties are being offered for sale without any restrictions, aside from zoning rules, on what the buyer can do with them. However, he said Portland has recommended uses for certain parcels, and that the city reserves the right to turn down bidders whose plans don’t meet its overall objectives for the area.
“We have the option not to sell to the highest bidder,” said Brenerman, who chairs the city’s Economic Development Committee. “The committee can reject any of the bids that the Boulos Co. brings to us.”
Brenerman said the ideal use for the parcels would be a mix of residential, commercial and parking. An undesirable use would be industrial, he said.
City officials are remaining tight-lipped on the properties’ estimated market value. Brenerman said they don’t want to create any limitations on what bidders might offer.
The properties are split between two business zones, which in some cases allow for 105-foot-tall buildings. Two adjacent 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 into a single parcel that would make up more than half the total land for sale. The 44 Hanover St. parcel is the current site of the city’s Fleet Services operation, which plans to relocate to Canco Road.
Brenerman said he believes that now is a good time to offer the properties for sale in order to get the best value.
The parcels are close to downtown, and there has been other recent redevelopment 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.
“It’s a good time to sell these, I think,” Brenerman said.
J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:
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