Two Bangor natives are vying for the chance to redevelop and revive the Portland waterfront – a project the city is calling one of the largest in its history.

Kevin Mahaney, 45, president and chief executive officer of The Olympia Companies, and Tom Walsh, 79, chairman and founder of Ocean Properties Ltd., have put forth competing proposals for an extensive redevelopment of the Maine State Pier in Portland. The $90 million project will boast an upscale hotel, shops, galleries, restaurants and office space.

Mahaney is now a resident of Greenwich, Conn., and his company is based in Portland. After consulting with local architects, city leaders and a citizens focus group, he has proposed a 2-acre park; a pedestrian-scaled “village” that would have an art gallery, restaurants and museum space; and an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient hotel and office buildings.

Mahaney said this week it is the process he used to develop the project that sets it apart from Walsh’s. He hopes his project will be “accessible” and “the hub of Portland for residents and visitors.”

Walsh lives in North Hampton, N.H., and Key West, Fla., and his business is based in Delray Beach, Fla., and Portsmouth, N.H. He has teamed with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine to invest in the project, which proposes commercial facilities similar to Mahaney’s but in different locations. Walsh and Mitchell would place the hotel on land instead of on the pier, and they suggest a 300-car parking garage on the site. They also intend to start a coastal ferry service between Portland, Rockland and Bar Harbor.

Mitchell said Thursday he has known Walsh for 40 years and the two have talked about collaborating on a development project for a long time.

Walsh “is a good friend. I greatly admire him. He’s … a self-made man who’s been remarkably successful,” Mitchell said. “I think that the proposal we put forward is a sound and realistic one. It builds upon the vast experience that Tom and Ocean Properties have founded.”

Walsh could not be reached for comment, but Robert Baldacci, Ocean Properties vice president of development, said Walsh and Mitchell’s project has the parking necessary “to support these businesses.”

“We’re an experienced, capable developer who’s done projects of this size and scope all over North America,” Baldacci said.

Although they grew up a generation apart in Bangor, Mahaney and Walsh are well acquainted with each other. Mahaney’s father, Larry Mahaney, partnered with Walsh in the 1970s to open the Holiday Inn hotel on Main Street in Bangor and, later, another Holiday Inn on Odlin Road. Walsh now owns the Fairfield Inn on Odlin Road and Kevin Mahaney has owned the Holiday Inn on Odlin Road since his father’s death in 2006.

Both men have shown remarkable ambition in their careers. Walsh founded Ocean Properties, a hotel development and management company, in 1970 when he purchased five hotels in Florida. Ocean Properties is one of the largest privately held companies of its kind in the country, and it owns or operates more than 100 hotels and resorts in North America.

Eleven are in Maine, including the Harborside Hotel and Marina in Bar Harbor and the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

Mahaney left Bangor in high school to ski at the Holderness School in New Hampshire. He won an Olympic Silver Medal for sailing in 1992 and became president and CEO of The Olympia Companies in 1988. The commercial real estate development business owns and manages primarily hotel properties from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast. The company has built five buildings in Portland, including Hilton Garden Inns and Custom House Square.

Both Mahaney and Baldacci have an active interest in the Bangor waterfront. Both say they remain in touch with the city’s economic development office and are waiting to see what the city might need after the elaborate new Hollywood Slots facility is constructed.

“I think Bangor’s doing all the right things for its future,” Mahaney said.

Baldacci said his company would like the opportunity to “develop a major full-service hotel in conjunction with Bass Park” but is afraid such a facility would be unable to compete with the hotel at Hollywood Slots.

“That particular end of town can only handle one [hotel],” Baldacci said. “We felt it should support and anchor a convention center. … Meanwhile, we’ve channeled our energy with the Maine State Pier proposal.”

Mahaney and Walsh’s proposals are under review by the Portland City Council’s Community Development Committee, which will select a winner to be reviewed by the full council and planning board. The City Council has said construction will likely not begin until late 2008.