RESIDENTIAL - IN DEVELOPMENT

CRESCENT HEIGHTS

When the Maine Medical Center negotiated the necessary contract zone for the major expansion project that is now nearly complete, the City of Portland and West End neighborhood activists asked that the hospital limit institutional creep by divesting of various buildings that it had converted from apartments to medical offices over the years.

At the same time, expanding training and residency agreements with the UVM and Tufts medical schools are bringing more students to Maine Medical Center and driving new demand for rental apartments in the hospital's West End neighborhood.

The proposed solution is Crescent Heights, a new building that would offer medical students a convenient and reliable source of housing during residencies, and obviate the need for them to hunt for short-term leases from neighborhood landlords. Also, by housing students near the hospital and transit routes, and by making more efficient use of the hospital's new parking garage, which has a tremendous amount of excessive capacity outside of normal working hours, the project will be built without any new parking, thus minimizing its traffic impact on the neighborhood.

Crescent Heights will also offer the city's "greenest" rental housing as the city's first multi-unit building to achieve Platinum LEED certification.

FAST FACTS

Location:
25-29 Crescent St., Portland

Completion Date:
July 2010

Project Scope:
44 bedroom medical student housing

Lead Developers:
Richard Berman, Kevin Bunker

Total cost:
$4.4 million