Portland Commons and Career and Student Success Center

• Location: Portland, ME
• Deliver Year: 2023
• Beds: 577
• Size: 218,612 sq/ft.
• Transaction Type: University Financed
• Construction Duration: 27
• Unit Type: Apartments and Suites
• Amenity Spaces:
  Café, Community Kitchen, Conference Rooms, Dining, Indoor and Outdoor Lounge, Multipurpose Room, Study Room

In January 2020, Capstone and its development team were selected to partner with the University of Southern Maine on the development of two new facilities for its Portland, Maine campus. With no student housing available on the Portland campus, and limited, proximate student-friendly off-campus housing options, USM needed to increase its capacity to house students and provide an affordable residential experience for multiple class years. The projects support USM’s goals and objectives of advancing student development, providing needed space for student activities, and strengthening its community of residential and commuter students. The Project includes a new residence hall, called Portland Commons, as well as the McGoldrick Career and Student Success Center (CSSC) located on a gateway site to the campus. Sustainability was a key goal for the Project. Portland Commons achieved Passive House certification and the CSSC achieved LEED Gold certification. The project reached financial close and broke ground on construction in March 2021 and opened in Summer 2023.

The Career and Student Success Center – The new three-story, 40,000 SF Career and Student Success Center will include a dining center, a café and pub, a large multipurpose conference room, a career center, a University bookstore, multiple student lounges, a student multi-cultural diversity center, a student affairs Center and smaller meeting rooms and study nooks.

Portland Commons Residence Hall – The new 577-bed, 217,000 SF residence hall will house upper-division undergraduate, graduate and law students. The community is designed in five and eight story wings. Amenities of the community will include a community kitchen and living room, multipurpose room, outdoor patio, President’s Sky Lounge, bike storage/repair room, conference, meeting and team rooms, study nooks and residence life offices. Outdoor features and amenities will include an interior resident courtyard, and a new Campus Quad spanning a size greater than half a football field.