One Small Section of the Massive Tavata, a 326 Unit Apartment Building at 165 Washington Avenue That Has Caused Monumental Traffic Jams and Angered Small Businesses in the Area.  It’s Developer is the Wealthy Redfern Properties, Managed by Jonathan (Slick) Culley.

This Site at165 Washington Avenue is  the Foundation for the New High Rise Apartment on Which Construction Started in Mid-June of 2026 After a Delay Due to Trump’s Unpredictable Tariff’s, Etc..  The Building Will Have Only 11 Parking Spaces With over 100 Bike Racks – Great for Use in Maine’s Cold Winters.

Parking along Washington Avenue has become increasingly difficult in recent years because of the popularity of the area; restaurants, bars, renters and small businesses have profilerated in the area.  In many cases, lower rents are the reason for othherwise  start-ups..  Lower rents than are available to businesses on Exchange Street – a street that went from start-ups trying to get a foot in the door to corporate owned businesses.  One example: Madewell on Market Street whose parent company is J. Crew.  Make no mistake – parking on Exchange Street area is a sometimes, keep your fingers crossed, event.

But as of mid-June 2026 when the construction of Tavata, a massive, seven story apartment building began,  traffic has become  snarled and down to one lane only during the week. Worse than that  small businesses in the area have lost their parking spaces for customers to a major development company in Portland; Redfern Properties.

For Evergreen Cannabis Co., 178 Washington Avenue, owner Andy Pettengill, its owner said his business is down by 50%.  He has lost the parking spaces previously located in front of his business.  That has happened and the use of those parking spaces is now used by flaggers for the snarled traffic, construction workers on the Travata project are using them and corporate officials with the development company, Redfern Properites,  are using them.  “We had our slowest day in six years on July 22, 2026,” said Mr. Pettingill late last week.  “We are at a disadvantage because our rent is $6,500. a month.  By the way, the shaking from the drilling for the pilings has put a big crack in our wall,” he said.  “Maybe Mr. Culley would like to make up the diffrence in our lost revenue for our rent when this is over.”

Next door at the Loring Am Vet Post # 25 Commander Terry McGuinness, said that business there is down 50% as well.  There is no place for his patrons to park.  “Because of the downturn in business, we can barely make payroll,” he said late last week as well in a telephone conversation.  The valuable property with a panoramic view of the Portland waterfront is once again on the market.  “We’ve had some offers but they were too low bar for this location.”

Prior to these telephone interviews, a large apartment complex on North Street held a meeting with Jonathan (Slick) Culley, managing partner for Redfern Partners earlier last week.  The meeting was called because residents of the building were unnerved by the shaking of the building from the drilling for the pilings and the noise itself.  “He treated us like we were too dumb to understand what was going on,” said one of the building residents who attended the welll-attended meetng.  Another resident of the building who formerly lived in an earth quake area of California asked Mr. Culley if this serious shaking would affect the apartment buildng’s foundation.  “I never received an answer to that question,” she said.

Prior to the meeting at this large nearby complex, Mr. Culley emailed this blogger that he would try to be “patient” with this group of senior Hill residents.  Maybe he really meant “patronizing.”

For background information on this Redfern Properties development, please read post herein dated May 21, 2026.