The Former Headquarters of the Northern Burner Supply Company and its Parking Lot at 185 Washington Avenue Where Jonathan Culley Plans to Build a 326 , 7 StoryResidential  Building..

About twenty-five people attended a city required public meeting on Thursday, December 19th at the East End Community School to learn more about the development plans of Redfern Properties, for the property situated at 165 Washington Avenue on the east end of Portland.  Those attending were a mix of business owners and home owners in the area.

At the center of concern were two issues:  First, Jonathan Culley, managng partner for Redfern Properties, intends to build a 7-story building – a building whose height would block the view/and or sunlight of some of the residents on the Hill.  However, because the building height will be reduced to four stories on Washington Avenue in front of the high-end Munjoy Heights, it is expected that the  views of residents in that building will not be impacted by this development.  Interestingly, Jonathan Culley is the developer of Munjoy Heights.

Of greater concern to business owners on Washington Avenue is Culley’s plan to provide only 11 parking spaces for the planned 326 unit residential building..But there will be space for 164 bikes at the building site – have no fear!  Culley told the group that he expects the building to be mostly occupied by graduate students from overseas who are attending the Roux Institute in East Deering.  Although Culley has no agreement with Roux to house its students, this is His Dream and others Nightnare!.  Watch it unravel before it is completed  Culley addressed the concern of no parking spaces at the building for those at the meeting with:  “Students could either walk or bike” to the Roux  campus in East Deering.  That would be a long, cold journey in the middle of a Maine winter, don’t you think?

Washington Avenue has become a destination place in recent years – the new Exchnge Street of Portland. Lower rents for restaurants, breweries, gift shops and more have attracted small businesses to the area as they once flocked to Exchange Street  With that has come an increasing need for parking that is  already scarce.  With the introduction of countless vehicles to Washsington Avenue because of inadequate parking at 165 Washington Avenue, the city is demonstrating once again its well earned reputation for the disregard of smal businesses in Portland.

Construction is expected to start in June of 2025 and take two years to complete.  That aligns with the construction  timeline for the Roux Institute in East Deering.

Making this lack of parking spaces for 165 Washington Avenue acceptable to the city is the following unpublicized and little-known clarification from Kevin Kraft, Director of the city’s planning office:  “In 2020, the city council adopted regulations that eliminated parking requirements for sites within l/4 mile of public transit  The current policy is that there are no minimum parking requirements.”  kkraft@portlandmaine.gov   874-8430.  This change in parking policy was not publicized or made public as this blogger believes it should have been – another example of the city’s lack of transparency on what are unpopular policy changes within the community – renter or not.

Another duplicate meeting is expected sometime in January of 2025 because of an error in notification by the city.  Redferm developed Munjoy Heights, The Casco, The Hiawatha among others.

For more background information, please visit post herein dated December 10, 2024.