Update on USM Community Education Center
Given the interest in the status of the Community Education Center Project on USM’s Portland campus, we want to provide the following update, including information on the impact of recent geotechnical reports that show clay at the construction site.
A project design team, headed by EYP architects with the input of USM Building Committees, have spent much of their time to date outlining the basic design parameters of the Community Education Center’s three structures (a 500-seat lecture hall, a classroom/office building; and the 1200-space parking garage), as well as how the facilities might be arranged on USM’s Bedford Street parking lot site.
Final decisions have not been made. Design plans are, at this point, a work in progress.
The current model calls for the lecture hall, classroom building and a public plaza to face Bedford Street, with the attached parking garage running along Surrenden and the I-295 side of the Bedford Street parking lot. It’s too early to finalize the actual look of the facilities, but the architects would like the complex to reflect the traditional architectural characteristics of the city’s better known landmarks.
IMPACT OF THE GARAGE ON CAMPUS & NEIGHBORHOOD:
The design team has been sensitive to this issue and consequently is trying to come up with designs that decrease the traffic through the neighborhood and minimize the visual impact.
A current design model shows a three-story parking garage at the Bedford Street end of Surrenden that, using the natural contour of the site, expands to four stories at the lower end of Surrenden. (Bear in mind that a three-story garage has four levels of parking because the roof level is used as a parking deck; a four story garage has five levels of parking.)
The side of the garage facing Chamberlain and Washburn would feature small openings and a brick facade so that it would shield the neighborhood from lighting and more closely resemble the look of a traditional building. The garage would be set back from Surrenden to make room for an 85 to 90-car exterior parking lot on the existing grade, and for landscaping to create a buffer. Recent surveys show that the university-owned building on the site at 15 Surrenden would have to come down.
Under the current model, Surrenden Street essentially would be cut in half so that people using the garage would turn onto Surrenden from Bedford and drive directly into the garage. Chamberlain, Washburn and the bottom half of Surrenden would become a self-contained loop. The garage exit would be located on the Winslow Street side of the site.
At the request of the city, we also are exploring the closure of the Brighton Avenue spur that runs from the six-way intersection in front of the Law School building to Bedford Street. Under this plan, drivers headed toward the city on Brighton who want to get to Bedford would be directed down Deering to a new traffic light at the intersection of Deering and Bedford St. The current roadway would be restriped to allow turning lanes onto Bedford.
The city and our traffic consultants believe that closing the Brighton Ave. spur would increase the efficiency and safety of the six-way intersection and create more green space. According to studies, traffic backups at the six-way intersection and along Deering would be reduced because you would be eliminating an approach to the intersection, thereby increasing the amount of “green light time” to be divided among remaining roadways.
PROJECT SCHEDULE:
This is the most critical issue facing us in the short term. Recent geotechnical reports have revealed the existence of clay in the lower soil levels under the Bedford Street parking lot. Consequently, we have to explore a series of options to provide an adequate foundation for the parking garage. Those options include: installation of pilings; replacement of poor soils with structure fill; and installation of concrete piers. We could have some combination of the above to eliminate or minimize the number of pilings, or even decide to change the layout or location of the project. There’s little doubt that the existing site will result in a more expensive project and a longer construction schedule. In any event, we would work with the city to develop construction schedules that minimize disruptions to the neighborhood and campus.
Geotechnical engineers will be drilling additional bore holes as they finalize their recommendations. Within the month we need to decide if the current design model makes sense.
For more information, please call 780-4200 or leave a message at the construction hotline, 780-4711.
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