Maine Public to move Portland studio, build event space at old Public Market (2024)

Maine Public Broadcasting Network announced plans on Monday to move its Portland studios downtown to the old Public Market on Cumberland Avenue, where it also will build space to host events.

The move is intended as an upgrade from the “temporary, cramped” space the nonprofit media organization has rented on Marginal Way for over a decade.

The current space houses Maine Public Radio, Maine Public Classical and much of the news operations, the network said in a statement. The move is planned for late 2025.

The locations in Bangor, Lewiston and the State House bureau in Augusta will remain open.

Maine Public purchased the building at 320 Cumberland Ave. for $20 million (or $16 million with additional leases and assets included in the deal) as part of its $31 million Building for the Future capital campaign. The organization has raised $26 million following a $5 million anonymous pledge – the largest in the network’s history.

Rick Schneider, president and CEO of Maine Public, said the current building is small, cramped and obsolete. Some of the network’s larger productions are run out of a conference room turned into a makeshift studio.

“We just don’t have great facilities,” he said on “Maine Calling,” one of the company’s radio shows. “(It’s) no knock on the property, but it wasn’t built as a broadcast studio.”

The updated space will include new studios and production facilities as well as areas for music performances, speakers, screenings and events with local partners. Schneider envisions the large fireplace in the corner being used for “fireplace sessions” with local musicians, a Maine Public-take on NPR’s popular Tiny Desk Concert series.

Adam Lee, chair of the board of trustees, said in a statement that the acquisition of the 53,655-square-foot building was a decade in the making.

“We’ve had the dream of a highly visible center with modern studios and space for the public,” Lee said. “This facility is an exciting solution and will be a transformational leap for our organization.”

MOVING DOWNTOWN

The decision to move to downtown Portland, rather than elsewhere in the state with more affordable real estate, has been a philosophical question that the organization has wrestled with throughout the property search, Schneider said.

Ultimately, it was looking for a “high visibility, prestigious location” that was well-situated to engage people at events.

He stressed that the move does not reflect a shift toward Portland-centric programming. The network will maintain a statewide focus.

Maine Public owns its two locations in Lewiston and Bangor, which house the primary television studio and broadcast transmission hub, respectively. The Augusta bureau is rented space in the State House.

Of the company’s roughly 120 employees, 40 are assigned to work in Lewiston, 40 in Portland and 30 in Bangor, a spokesperson said. Some who live in Greater Portland work in Lewiston because there is not enough space at the current office on Marginal Way.

Many people will welcome the chance to have a shorter commute, said Cory Morrissey, Maine Public’s chief business development officer. He did not say how many employees would eventually work in Portland.

The network has a hybrid work environment with a combination of in-office and remote work, though people whose jobs are tied to the studio and broadcast facilities cannot work remotely. While it’s too soon to say how that might evolve, Morrissey said the facility is primarily geared toward modern studios, collaborative workspace and a place for public engagement.

“The success of the building will be in how many people come through the facility to engage with Maine Public, not in how many people work there at any one time,” he said.

The move will make Maine Public the second media company with headquarters in downtown Portland. News Center Maine broadcasts from One Congress Square. The Portland Press Herald newsroom moved from One City Center to South Portland in 2016.

THE SECOND ATTEMPT

In 2021, Maine Public purchased another downtown Portland building and a parking lot, at 35 and 29 Commercial St., for $10.8 million. At the time, the company said it would build a five-story facility on the 34-space parking lot, then sell the other, older building.

But in the wake of the pandemic, the cost of construction escalated, Schneider said. “We could never make the numbers work.”

The organization sold the building three months after purchase, and the parking lot three years later, in June of this year.

During those three years, the demand for commercial real estate also softened and more opportunities opened up, including the former Public Market, which the organization had eyed for some time.

“We’re very excited about the potential for bringing people together in ways that celebrate the arts, foster community and advance civil society,” Schneider said. “Having Maine Public in the former Public Market will be transformational for the organization, and a positive story for the city and everyone who enjoys and relies on our programming.”

The Portland Public Market opened in October 1998. The $9 million, one-half-square-block market was financed by philanthropist Betty Noyce in an effort to revitalize the neighborhood and help local farmers, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Noyce, who died in 1996, was on the Maine Public board of trustees.

The market closed in 2006 because of financial difficulties, after which the second floor was installed and leased to corporate tenants.

Slab Sicilian Street Food is at one end of the building and will remain at that location. The other tenant, Global Payments (formerly EVO) also will stay.