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Clifton Page is a retired architect and urban planner living in Blue Hill.
The front page story in the Jan. 29 Bangor Daily News regarding the Bangor Mall is a sign that the potential redevelopment of the area is becoming a better possibility. Now is the time to start thinking about what this area might become.
Bangor is in a housing crisis. While the city expands economically and is attracting residents (including younger people and retirees who want a city environment but can no longer afford southern Maine prices), housing (of all types) appears to be one of the biggest problems facing the city today. The answer to this problem may be staring us all in the face: The Bangor Mall and adjacent properties.
As we all have seen as we drive by the Bangor Mall, this area has become a collection of massive, failed properties that seem unlikely to ever again attract the large (and small) retail entities required to survive. The area is one of a growing number of shopping malls across the country that have failed as people move to online shopping. Let’s accept that the area needs a complete rethink.
Why not make the areas between Stillwater Avenue and Hogan Road a new, mixed-use, high-density neighborhood with everything residents and workers need within walking distance? This area could offer a wide selection of housing options, retail, offices, schools and everything else that could attract people to live and work there. It is already well served by utilities and city services, which likely could be fairly easily upgraded as needed.
With the City of Bangor acting as the instigator and partner with the existing and/or new owners, offering tax benefits, multi-use zoning, permitting and master planning, this area could be developed into its full potential, creating new opportunities for residents while becoming an important tax base for the city. What’s needed is a talented urban planner to create a master plan with development guidelines. Architectural competitions could be organized for, at least, the key buildings, which could help put Bangor on the map as a place that “did things right” and is worth visiting.
There are many options for redeveloping this area. In one vision, I see Stillwater Avenue and Hogan Road turned into tree-lined boulevards with parallel, local access side roads, street trees and sidewalks serving mid-rise buildings with lower-level retail and offices, and upper-level apartments. The existing roads within the mall area could be lined with new buildings set back just enough to allow street parking, street trees and wide sidewalks. These could be townhouses, and apartment buildings, some with ground-floor retail and offices.
The massive unused parking areas could, in part, become green spaces with playing fields, parks and exercise areas overlooked by the surrounding housing and offering quality public outdoor space for the new neighborhood.
The existing mall building might be redeveloped by creating open-air courtyards bringing light and fresh air to the interior areas. New schools serving the surrounding neighborhood could be formed out of the former mall building to which all the students could safely walk from their new homes. The schools could use the surrounding green spaces for their sports and gym classes. The back part of the mall could be repurposed into light industrial use which would be well-served by existing roads and be in close proximity to I-95 while creating new employment for local residents.
Many other development options can be imagined. But the City of Bangor, with a bit of dreaming, a lot of coordination and the desire to create a modern, high-density, walkable, environmentally up-to-date neighborhood could replace the current situation between Stillwater Avenue and Hogan Road.
