By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

Developer Andrew Ingalls and his team appeared before the South
Portland Planning Board last week with a new name and modifications
aimed at attracting retail businesses to the four-story office
condominium building slated to be built in the city’s Knightville
neighborhood.

On Sept. 11, the planning board voted 5-0 (members Judy Carpenter and
Craig Babbidge were absent) to approve the final site plan for 100
Waterman, previously named Fore River Office Park.  

“100 Waterman sounds stronger,” Ingalls said. “It doesn’t pigeonhole
the site. I think it sort of cleans it up from a marketing perspective
as well.”

A June 4 vote by the city council to include the 90-100 Waterman Drive
parcel in the Knightville Design District and the Village Commercial
zoning district, paved the way for Ingalls to take advantage of the
districts’ 50-foot height limit and minimum front yard setbacks. While
Knightville residents favored a three-story building to Ingalls’
proposed 31,668-square-foot four-story design, Ingalls said the taller
building had the potential to revitalize the neighborhood with retail
and possibly a restaurant.

As part of the approval, Ingalls will provide condominium documents
with stipulations reserving the potential for first floor retail and
restaurant space.

“There’s quite a bit of vacancy now in the Mill Creek area,” Ingalls
said. “As a commercial broker – I’ve been talking with a lot of those
people and what we hear most often is traffic – ‘We need people.’”

While Ingalls has said a strictly retail development wouldn’t be
profitable in the area because of the low traffic flow, he said a mix
of retail with businesses such as insurance companies and doctors’
offices would make the building more of a destination.

While not making any changes to the project’s design, Ingalls said a
modification has been made to install a grease trap for potential
restaurant use on the north side of the building. The plans also
reflected the designation of three marked parking spaces for delivery
trucks, a response to the board’s earlier concern about loading areas.

Planning Director Tex Haeuser said staff was also recommending trash
pickup on the site be limited to the hours of 7 a.m. through 9 p.m.
Monday through Friday.

“This is a mixed use area and the noise from a dumpster is a common
complaint we get from commercial projects in residential neighborhoods.”

In order to encourage pedestrian traffic to the site, crosswalks were
added to the two entrances located on B and C Street. Sidewalk
connections were also added on the Waterman Drive side of the building
with the intent of making a connection to the sidewalks that will be
constructed as part of Waterman Drive improvements now underway.

Shawn Frank of Sebago Technics said there had been some discussion
about burying the electric wires currently running along the back of
the site. However, a site visit with a Central Maine Power (CMP)
representative determined the wires were not only serving the existing
Beale Street Barbecue restaurant, but also “completing the circuit for
the whole peninsula.”

Planning Board Chairman Rob Schreiber said he was pleased with the
team’s intent to make 100 Waterman an environmentally sustainable site,
although it is not required to meet Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design or LEED certification, which is considered the
benchmark for environmentally sustainable building design. Prior to the
council’s June vote on the zoning change, Schreiber proposed an
amendment to require any building taller than 45-feet and fronting
Waterman Drive to receive LEED certification. That amendment failed due
to concern it would create a conditional zone.

Overall the planning board said it was happy with the modifications to the site.  

“This is so exciting to think that we are going to have – a very
innovative and beautiful building in what I call the gateway to South
Portland and we’re going to look in my estimation, a whole lot better
than the other side of the river,” said Carol Thorne.

During the preliminary review in August, board member Don Russell said
Ingalls had “backtracked” from a guarantee of retail on the first floor
of the building, but said, he was pleased with the modifications to
“support the original expressed intent.”

“My faith and hope says that if there’s any team, any project that can
break through that all daunting, ‘What the market will bear’ – this is
the team,” he said, referencing Ingalls’ earlier statement the market
will ultimately determine the building’s tenants.