MEREDA Awards Top 6 Notable Projects of 2020

The Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA), the state’s leading organization promoting responsible real estate development, honored projects from Portland to Pittsfield to Bangor, with each receiving special recognition at MEREDA’s 2021 Virtual Spring Conference on May 20th.

Each year, MEREDA recognizes some of the state’s most “noteworthy and significant” real estate projects, completed in the previous year.  The exemplary projects from across the state, completed in 2020, not only embody MEREDA’s belief in responsible real estate development, but also exemplify best practices in the industry, contributing to Maine’s economic growth by significant investment of resources and job creation statewide.

Each of the six projects was selected in part based upon criteria including: noteworthy and significant project completed* in 2020 (*Building Occupancy Permit issued by 12 31 20), environmental sustainability, economic impact, energy efficiency, social impact, uniqueness, difficulty of development and job creation.

The recipients of MEREDA’s Top 6 Most Notable Projects of 2020 include:

• Rock Row Phase 1 Retail Center, Waterstone Properties Group (Westbrook) for envisioning a 110-acre signature mixed-use development centered around a 400-foot wide, 300-foot-deep quarry.  As envisioned, Rock Row will attract more than 6 million guests a year from across the globe —with destination retail, chef-driven dining, inviting workspaces, modern residences, world-class healthcare, hip hotels, diverse entertainment and more.  The crown jewel of Rock Row is the 26-acre Quarry, featuring a picturesque boardwalk, connected to more than 70 miles of hiking and biking trails. 

• 82 Hanover Street, Port Property Management (Portland) for the redevelopment of the Public Works facility, restoring an existing historic structure while also helping revitalize a neighborhood. Once dominated by industrial buildings and vacant lots, this project turned a dilapidated property into a vibrant urban destination. 

• Hospice of Southern Maine, Zachau Construction / SMRT (Scarborough) for creating a 100% self-sustaining building to house the HSM corporate and clinical teams, as well as, a location for training simulations, grieving services, and a large community room.  Designed to reduce their energy costs by approximately 96%, over 600 donors came together to raise $6.6 Million to date, which will go towards programs and staff instead of office facility overhead. 

• Solterra, Portland Housing Authority (Portland) for designing 58 Boyd Street in East Bayside, a mixed-income, six-story building featuring 23 efficiency, ten (10) one-bedroom, thirteen (13) two-bedroom and nine (9) three-bedroom apartments as well as a community space.  Solterra was designed to accommodate the local community’s social, physical and environmental needs, with accessibility, quality of life, durability and environmental sustainability as keystones to the design process. 

• One Merchants Plaza, Sky Villa Properties (Bangor) for having the vision to bring the 49-year-old, all concrete building (first of its kind in Bangor), back to life, revitalizing an area that desperately needed businesses for community growth. With an investment of approximately $2.2 million, the renovations created a space that utilized updated technology to provide tenants with a sustainable and energy efficient place for years to come.  The renovation of One Merchants Plaza has been one piece in a larger, ongoing process of revitalizing the business district in downtown Bangor.

• Puritan Medical COVID –Building Expansion (P2), Puritan Medical Products (Pittsfield) for converting a portion of a vacant mill building into a state-of-the-art medical device manufacturing facility in less than 10 weeks. The 48,500 square feet of renovated space now produces medical grade foam-tipped swabs for COVID-19 testing.  Puritan’s greatly increased manufacturing capacity – an additional 90 million swabs per month – has enabled an exponential increase in COVID-19 testing in America and beyond.

MEREDA congratulates its 2020 Notable Project Award Recipients and thanks its Membership for their continued commitment to responsible development in Maine.  Each project will be recognized with its own article in the Maine Real Estate Insider e-newsletter published by Mainebiz, running Summer of 2021.

For further information, please contact MEREDA’s Vice President of Operations, Shelly R. Clark at in**@de*.org.

Top Row: Rock Row Phase 1 Retail Center, Waterstone Properties Group (Westbrook), 82 Hanover Street, Port Property Management (Portland), Hospice of Southern Maine, Zachau Construction / SMRT (Scarborough) Bottom Row: Solterra, Portland Housing Authority (Portland), One Merchants Plaza, Sky Villa Properties (Bangor), Puritan Medical COVID –Building Expansion (P2), Puritan Medical Products (Pittsfield)