Council OKs pier project

PORTLAND – The City Council has ended its deadlock over a pair of bids to redevelop the Maine State Pier.

A new council seated after the November election voted 5-3 Monday night in favor of Portland’s Olympia Cos., led by its president and CEO, Kevin Mahaney.

Olympia was competing with Ocean Properties Ltd. of Portsmouth, N.H., which was led by Vice President of Development Bob Baldacci, brother of Gov. John Baldacci, and Thomas Walsh, the company’s chairman and founder. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine teamed with Ocean Properties to invest in the project proposal.

“The Olympia Companies takes seriously the confidence endowed to it by [the] Portland City Council and looks forward to the opportunity to work with the City Council and the citizens of Portland to realize a special vision for Maine State Pier,” Mahaney said Tuesday.

Mahaney said he looks forward to comment from local residents so that the pier serves their interests. He said he hopes the pier will become “a signature jewel for Portland.”

“On behalf of Tom Walsh and Senator Mitchell and Ocean Properties, we want to extend the very best to the city and to Olympia Companies. We wish them the very best,” Baldacci said Tuesday.

Mahaney, Baldacci and Walsh are all Bangor natives.

The project had been in limbo since September, when the City Council deadlocked on the two proposals. Both developers had proposals for a hotel, office building and other amenities, in addition to pier space for cruise ships.

The council’s vote sets the stage for the city manager to negotiate with Olympia about the terms of a lease on the pier property, which will be subject to approval by the council.

Councilors opposed to Olympia’s bid said Ocean Properties, which has $1 billion in assets and offered to put up $100 million in escrow, has greater financial resources and more marine experience.

Olympia’s backers said the company has a superior approach to the design process and developed stronger community support.

The Olympia plan includes a hotel and a “village” of shops and restaurants on the pier, and a public park and an office building on adjacent land.

The Ocean Properties version had the hotel and the office building on the land, and more marine uses on the pier.

By a 7-1 vote, the council included in the project a deep-water berth for the world’s largest cruise ships, to be built at the end of the Ocean Gateway pier now under construction.

Chris O’Neil, a lobbyist for the Portland Community Chamber, said he was elated that after 10 months of debate following the submission of the competing bids, the council had finally come to a decision.

“You can criticize. You can praise it,” he told the council. “It has been a bizarre process.”

BDN staff writer Anne Ravana contributed to this report.