Construction of a seven story apartment building at 165 Washington Avenue on the east end of Portland is expected to begin on or about June 15, 2026, according to  information received earlier this month from Jonathan Culley, managing partner of Redfern Properties.  Construction of Tavata will begin following the demolition of the former Northern Burner building that remains on the property, although it has been empty for years.

Construction of the building was to have begun last spring.  However, it was delayed until this year because of the “erratic and unpredictable economic” policies of the Trump adminisration Culley, managing partner said last March 5th in an email to this blogger.

Since that time, no changes have been made to the construction plans.  It is still expected to be a 325 unit apartment building with no parking spaces for residents at the edge of a major shopping district on the east end of Portland. Rather, there will be 11 parking spaces to be used for “pick-ups, drop-offs, etc” accordig to Culley.  The city does not require parking spaces when a development is in close proximity to a bus stop which this development is.

The original intent of Tavata was to provide housing for students from overseas coming to Maine to attend the Roux Institute.  However, the intent now is to house “downtown workforce and students,” according to Culley.  Reports that there has beeen a downturn in the number of immigrants traveling to the US, often those on student visas, may be a factor in the shift of intent that currently exists for Tavata’s housing population.  The downturn is largley because of Corrupt Trump’s war on immigrants and the often illegal deployment of immigrants.

At one time, the Loring Am Vet post 25 directly across the street was considering the sale of its property.   That was because of the disruption of a parking agreement between some of the vet center members and the Northern Burner property owners.  It is not known at this time where that consideration stands.

In any event, construction is expected to take 24 months to complete.  The constriction firm is Penobscot General Contractors.  Some views on Munjoy Hill will be obscured by the construction of this 7-story building, although Munjoy Heights views are not expected to be affected by this construction.  Redfern has developed numerous other buildings in Portland including Munjoy Heights, The Casco, The Hiawatha, 89 Anderson, West  End Place and others.

For background information on this project, please visit posts herein dated March 5, 2025 and December 9, 2024.