Cianbro Helps Reshape Portland’s Waterfront

Roux Institute lounge and kitchen areas

100 Fore Street parking garage

BUILDING MARKET

n By Scott Tompkins

For the past several years, Portland, Maine has enjoyed a vigorous economic recovery as the city buzzes with construction activity spurred by low interest rates, tax credits, and sustained consumer demand. Cianbro continued to play an integral part of that recovery in 2020, with two major projects in the booming waterfront district: 100 Fore Street and the Canopy Hotel.

The 100 Fore Street project comprises 84,000 square feet of office space on the top two levels and three lower levels of structured parking or up to 543 vehicles. As with its companion project, the nearby WEX Global Corporate Headquarters completed in 2019, Cianbro has once again partnered with Archetype Architects to design 100 Fore Street’s core and shell and SMRT to design the building’s interior.

In addition to constructing the office building and pedestal parking garage, Cianbro was engaged to fit out administrative space for WEX and academic space for the Roux Institute at Northeastern University.

Located in the heart of Commercial Street in Portland’s Old Port district, the six-story, 104,551-square-foot Canopy Hotel features 135 guest rooms, a restaurant and bar, and a rooftop lounge overlooking Casco Bay. The hotel is composed entirely of high-end materials and finishes including millwork, flooring, furnishings, HVAC, lighting, and brick exterior with decorative black-framed glazing.

Both projects have surmounted significant challenges, including extremely tight urban sites; the logistics

of coordinating material deliveries in the heart of Maine’s largest city; and perhaps the most challenging aspect - placing work in the midst of a global pandemic. With up to 150 workers on each site daily, the teams at Canopy Hotel as well as 100 Fore Street resolved to keep the projects safe and operational by closely following Cianbro’s COVID-19 Exposure Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Plan put in place companywide at the onset of the pandemic.

“We leveraged our safety professional’s expertise, installed running hot water handwashing stations, and established a point of entry check station for all team members and trade partners entering the site,” said Canopy Hotel Project Manager Todd Desmarais. “Face masks are a requirement for entering the project and must be worn at all times when six-foot distancing isn’t possible.”

Other COVID-related complications arose at both sites including workforce shortfalls and compromised material supply chains. Add to that coordinating out-of-state subcontractors and tight sites with little to no laydown area, and the Portland projects faced their share of adversity.

Whenever possible, both projects instituted Lean practices such as pull planning and material storage on wheels to keep the jobs operating efficiently. Trade partner teams were brought in a month or two ahead of schedule to identify long-lead items and develop positive workflow sequences, thus creating efficiencies and reducing the prospect of rework. Just-in-time delivery, however, suffered from supply chain issues and necessitated that some materials be ordered in bulk when available and stockpiled by trade in

Collaborative space for Roux Institute students

designated “parking spaces” on each floor throughout the buildings.

“We faced these challenges head-on as a team and reassured everyone ‘We’re all in this together’ both on and off the job site,” said 100 Fore Street Project Superintendent Spencer Seiferth. “This collective sense of purpose fostered a certain camaraderie, enabling the team to pull together to complete common goals and produce a finished project we’re all proud of…including the owner.”

Construction phase of Canopy Hotel