Visitors to the Portland Arts District now have a new parking option available to them. The new Arts District Garage opened in late summer, bringing 300 new parking spots to the area. Owned and developed by Gardner Real Estate and Anew Development, the garage provides parking options for tenants of nearby buildings as well as for the public.
Platz Associates of Auburn designed the garage, and AlliedCook completed the construction of it in a year, transforming a former surface parking lot into a new open concept, exposed steel structure. The exposed architectural steel provided design flexibility and brings a lighter feel to the structure.
The all-steel structure also includes decorative metals to enhance its appearance, helping it to become an attractive part of the city and not just another parking garage.
While we love working on projects in Portland, building in the city does come with challenges. As an older city, the streets are narrow and we’re often building around historic structures. The growing popularity of Portland also means we’re dealing with automobile and pedestrian traffic as we move materials and construction vehicles in and out of and around a site.
For the Arts District Garage project in particular, we had to move large tractor-trailer loads of steel and concrete through the city, and do so safely and efficiently. To do this, we had a staff of flaggers to help direct traffic and also had to close some lanes of traffic as our vehicles made their way through. We’re grateful for everyone’s patience as this happened!
And, because this is Maine after all, we dealt with frigid temperatures as we worked through the winter to complete the project. During the winter, we completed important stages of the garage construction including placing concrete slabs in the structure.
At AlliedCook we take pride in a job well done, and we’re proud to have been able to complete the Arts District Garage project in a year and contribute yet another impressive – and functional – structure to the growing city of Portland.
To see the project and others like it click here.
