Tuesday, June 9, 2009

645 Congress


Formerly a University of Southern Maine dormitory (and a hotel of some sort before that), the building at 645 is slated to become a great looking development mixing retail and residential aspects.

Here are a few shots as it stands today:


Also note that the trash all over the place is from tearing this section down

Check out the development's site here: http://www.645congress.com/ for some renderings of what the project will look like when it is finished in Fall 2009.




3 comments:

  1. Yes, this opened as the Columbia Hotel about 100 years ago, the original location of WGAN Radio in the 30s.

    Later, it was the Portlander, with an outdoor pool on Congress St.

    In the 70s, it was The Executive Inn, home of the large, then popular disco "Park Avenue."

    The renovations look promising, and a big improvement on the student ghetto which has occupied the site, recently...but often these type of urban re-dos end up as elderly and Section 8 housing, while the city really needs more middle-class inhabitants.

    Time will tell...

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Hi,I have an The Columbia Hotel's
    Old Stationery.
    I hope you'll like it.

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GszFkM8B2OA/SlFBFogzhtI/AAAAAAAADPQ/DhYNe_qy8qg/s1600-h/colombia+hotel.jpg

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