Boutique Hotel Wins Design Approval

Construction begins this fall on a five-story boutique hotel project on Main Street in Rockland that complements the community’s growing reputation as an art mecca—including the 60-year-old Farnsworth Art Museum and Center for Maine Contemporary Art.  Developed by Cabot Lyman of ADZ properties, the 17,000 square foot project will offer guests twenty-six rooms on four floors, organized around dramatic, two-story interior “galleries” featuring Maine artists, as well as sweeping views of Penobscot Bay.The five-story design was awarded a 2011 Smart Growth Award from Friends of Midcoast Maine, who noted that it "[sets] the standard for smart growth and investment with height and density rather than costly sprawl."  The stepped massing will create a gateway for the south end of Main Street, taking advantage of new passenger rail service just one block away.  Elevations on Main and Pleasant Street have been carefully designed to reduce scale and minimize impact on surrounding residential properties.  The first four floors on all sides will be clad with a red terra cotta tile rainscreen above local granite, while the recessed upper floor is finished with glass and matte gray aluminum to merge with the sky.Lyman Morse Boatbuilding has a developed a world-class reputation for craftsmanship and sustainability over its thirty-five-year history, and many of custom furnishings and interior finishes will be produced by the boatyard.  Sustainable features include high-efficiency exterior skin, light-shelves, green roofs and roof-mounted solar vacuum panels to supply hot water.The project fits within all zoning and planning requirements, and a similar design, planned as a mixed use commercial-office-residential project, was approved by the City in 2010.  Nonetheless, the approval process was not without challenges.  For some background on the process, you can watch athttp://www.wcsh6.com/story/news/local/2014/06/13/rockland-hotel-wins-city-approval/10458635/