In order to preserve its working waterfront, the City of Portland, ME, must balance the pressures of urban redevelopment in the city's thriving Old Port district with the needs of the fishermen who have worked there for centuries.
Custom House Wharf, which extends 450 feet from Commercial Street into Portland Harbor, is an artifact of that era. With its sagging fish shacks, funky odors and dilapidated buildings, it's the kind of place tourists judge to be authentic and quaint, if not a little scary.
But change could be coming. Custom House Wharf is part of the central waterfront zone, the collection of 16 wharves and piers closest to the Old Port. A city task force is looking at the area's infrastructure needs and determining whether Portland should overhaul the restrictive zoning rules adopted in 1992 to block the creep of high-end condominiums and trendy restaurants into the working waterfront.
Read the full story: Gritty Waterfront in Flux?
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One Hundred Miles
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
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