Mall hopes to have theater by fall (Printed June 29, 2007)
By Ward Peck
Editor
The Maine Mall’s owner, General Growth Properties, is moving forward with a proposal to reconfigure the large retail complex to include a 14-screen, stadium-style theater, an expansion of the JC Penney store, two detached restaurants and fewer parking spaces. The theater would be built on the site currently occupied by the former Filenes Department store.
General Growth Property’s (GGP) development team, led by Al Palmer of the engineering firm Gorrill-Palmer, briefed the South Portland Planning Board on the proposal, dubbed the “Maine Mall Revitalization” at a workshop on Wednesday. The Planning Board has scheduled the approval process to begin July 24. Palmer said GGP hopes to begin the project by the fall.
The plan has already cleared several hurdles, including permits from the Maine Department of Transportation, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and approval from the South Portland Zoning Board of Appeals for the reduction in the number of parking spaces required by the city’s zoning ordinance. Joe Soule, a commercial property owner who owns the nearby Shops at Clark’s Pond, is currently appealing the parking reduction approval. The Shops at Clarks Pond was until last month the home of Regal Cinemas, the tenant of the proposed mall theater.
GGP petitioned the board of appeals for a 5.5 percent reduction on the number of required spaces based upon the concept of shared parking– that peak time for restaurants, retail shopping and theater-goers occur at different times and that parking space users are likely to combine trips to more than one establishment at the mall.
According to the ordinance, the proposed mall reconfiguration would require 5,992 parking spaces for its 914,300 square-feet of retail space, 14 restaurants and the 3,200-seat theater. GGP successfully sought to reduce that number to 5,663 spaces based upon the shared parking concept.
As currently configured, the ordinance requires 4,841 spaces, which according to Palmer, exceeded the peak demand during last year’s holiday rush by 10 percent.
Several members of the planning board expressed skepticism based upon personal experience that the mall suffers from excess parking spaces. Planning Director Tex Haeuser told the planning board that because GGP received approval from the appeals board, it conforms to the parking ordinance.
The two restaurants proposed will be constructed in a parking lot on the corner of Gorham Road and Philbrook Avenue, which separates the mall property from the Hannaford Supermarket and forms a loop around the mall.
There are currently no tenants for the proposed restaurant sites.
The plan also calls for improving stormwater management in the reconfigured parking areas in the mall’s northeast and southeast quadrants. Overall, the reconfiguration will increase the amount of impervious surface– asphalt and roof area– by almost an acre.
Editor
The Maine Mall’s owner, General Growth Properties, is moving forward with a proposal to reconfigure the large retail complex to include a 14-screen, stadium-style theater, an expansion of the JC Penney store, two detached restaurants and fewer parking spaces. The theater would be built on the site currently occupied by the former Filenes Department store.
General Growth Property’s (GGP) development team, led by Al Palmer of the engineering firm Gorrill-Palmer, briefed the South Portland Planning Board on the proposal, dubbed the “Maine Mall Revitalization” at a workshop on Wednesday. The Planning Board has scheduled the approval process to begin July 24. Palmer said GGP hopes to begin the project by the fall.
The plan has already cleared several hurdles, including permits from the Maine Department of Transportation, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and approval from the South Portland Zoning Board of Appeals for the reduction in the number of parking spaces required by the city’s zoning ordinance. Joe Soule, a commercial property owner who owns the nearby Shops at Clark’s Pond, is currently appealing the parking reduction approval. The Shops at Clarks Pond was until last month the home of Regal Cinemas, the tenant of the proposed mall theater.
GGP petitioned the board of appeals for a 5.5 percent reduction on the number of required spaces based upon the concept of shared parking– that peak time for restaurants, retail shopping and theater-goers occur at different times and that parking space users are likely to combine trips to more than one establishment at the mall.
According to the ordinance, the proposed mall reconfiguration would require 5,992 parking spaces for its 914,300 square-feet of retail space, 14 restaurants and the 3,200-seat theater. GGP successfully sought to reduce that number to 5,663 spaces based upon the shared parking concept.
As currently configured, the ordinance requires 4,841 spaces, which according to Palmer, exceeded the peak demand during last year’s holiday rush by 10 percent.
Several members of the planning board expressed skepticism based upon personal experience that the mall suffers from excess parking spaces. Planning Director Tex Haeuser told the planning board that because GGP received approval from the appeals board, it conforms to the parking ordinance.
The two restaurants proposed will be constructed in a parking lot on the corner of Gorham Road and Philbrook Avenue, which separates the mall property from the Hannaford Supermarket and forms a loop around the mall.
There are currently no tenants for the proposed restaurant sites.
The plan also calls for improving stormwater management in the reconfigured parking areas in the mall’s northeast and southeast quadrants. Overall, the reconfiguration will increase the amount of impervious surface– asphalt and roof area– by almost an acre.
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