Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 9 J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 9 Make your vision a reality. TALK TO A NEIGHBOR. MEMBER FDIC EQUAL HOUSING LENDER 1-800-447-4559 | bathsavings.com You have a vision to build something meaningful in the community, and we have the experience to help make it happen. Custom lending solutions are here for you — and so are we. Let's talk. Bath • Boothbay Harbor • Brunswick • Damariscotta • Falmouth • Freeport • Portland • South Portland • Yarmouth Portland gives green light to proposed Old Port hotel B y r e n e e c o r d e s P O R T L A N D — The city Planning Board gave unani- mous approval to a planned waterfront hotel being developed by Jim Brady's Fathom Cos. The planned Canopy by Hilton, to be located at 1 Center St., near Commercial Street, expects to break ground this fall. Following the July 9 approval, Brady told Mainebiz the next milestones will be submission of a building permit and a groundbreaking by October. If it sticks to that timeline, the 135-room hotel would open for the 2021 summer season. The hotel will include 2,000 square feet of meeting and function space. It will feature the city's first indoor-outdoor rooftop bar and restaurant overlooking Casco Bay. Fathom Cos. is partnering on the project with the Canopy by Hilton, one of 17 Hilton brands. At the time of the announcement, Brady told Mainebiz he was impressed with the energy behind the Canopy by Hilton brand, which he had gotten to know from visiting most of the Canopy hotels in the United States. While he didn't say what other brands had been in consideration, he said the team decided to go with Canopy because of its focus on local neighborhoods, tying into arts and food and the local cultural scene — which they felt was a "good fit for the Portland marketplace." Brady, best known for turning the Portland Press Herald's former headquarters into the Press Hotel, was a 2017 Mainebiz Next honoree for his role in developing the city's eastern waterfront. Fathom Management LLC, which operates the Press Hotel, will manage the new Canopy by Hilton. The plan comes amid a wave of hotel development in Maine's largest city. Other projects include a 155-room Aloft Hotel being developed by Norwich Partners LLC at the former Rufus Deering Lumber Co. site and a 148-room Portland Hotel at Thompson's Point, which will be under the Marriott banner. B R I E F R E N D E R I N G / C O U R T E S Y O F E A L A I N S T U D I O The hotel, with 135 guest rooms and a rooftop bar and restaurant, is expected to open by the 2021 summer season. A rendering of the rooftop restaurant and bar at the planned Canopy by Hilton in Portland.

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