PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 19, 2022
IDEALS has acquired 14 acres of waterfront land in Portland, the landmark home of B&M Baked Beans. The business development will offer a permanent home to the Roux Institute’s Northeastern University graduate school, but it goes well beyond that. The long-term plans include retail stores, restaurants, bars, a grocery, a hotel with up to 130 rooms, office and corporate R&D space, 650 residential units not limited to graduate student housing or visiting faculty and, eventually, 1,900 parking spaces. I do not oppose the campus, sustainably developed, with reasonable building heights and density and preserving the neighborhood and scenic Casco Bay. However, an institutional overlay zone, intended specifically for educational and health institutions, does not fit the description of IDEALS’ plan for a massive Roux campus. ~ Paul G. Rudenberg, science educator and veterinarian, Falmouth