By Rachel Ohm
When the developers seeking to bring more than 800 apartments to Portland’s Bayside neighborhood look at the span of seven city blocks they plan to build on, they see a lot of untapped potential.
A surface-level parking lot will become a 200-unit affordable housing building. An adjacent corner will be a 10-story 85-unit apartment building. A nearby parking garage will be revitalized with the addition of ground-level retail.
And Lancaster Street, currently dotted with one- and two-story buildings and parking lots will be transformed into a walkable “woonerf” – a pedestrian-friendly “living street” that could be closed to traffic for festivals and farmers markets.
“The goal is to add to the existing community and create a vibrant mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood,” said John Laliberte, a co-developer for Tom Watson & Co., which has proposed a major redevelopment spanning from Kennebec Street to Cumberland Avenue and from Preble Street to Chestnut Street.
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