Thank you to Sara Donnelly for taking a close look at my proposal for the city-owned lot at Danforth and High streets. (See “Love Thy Neighbor, Or Else.”)
This plan does in fact tie together many elements into a progressive and unique project that seems to be without precedent in Maine and, as far as I can tell, anywhere else. It is “experimental” in that there are no other examples to rely on for past performance.
Be assured that as a developer, I try my best to mitigate the risk of the “experimental” unknown and to assure the future success with careful market research and planning.
In any condominium development there comes a time when the developer hands over the “association” to the unit owners. From this point forward the success of the condominium community relies on the involvement of the owners and the quality of the condo documents that they rely on.
As a developer, it is my job to to lay a foundation for success by recognizing unique circumstances and their possible consequences and addressing them with care in the condo docs.
I need to set up mechanisms to address problems as they arise as well as ways to tailor the documents as needed so the owners have flexibility in the future. I have done this in the past developing artist live/work space and found the communities to be quite successful and places where people want to live.
When this project is built, it can succeed with a combination of careful planning by me as the developer and earnest involvement in the community by the owners. The success of this project is a reflection on me and in the trust the city has given me to pursue new development models.
I certainly will not become a “distant founding father” after the last sale.
Peter Bass
Random Orbit, Inc.
Portland
