We are engaging the community to create a new vision for 72 Parris St in Portland, Maine

Photo from our First Community Visioning Session on June 24, 2024

Video Created by Zack Bowen, Documenting our initial process

Co-create a community owned building

We are working on a community design process to develop a new vision and plan for the property at 72 Parris St., the former Fork Food Lab.  We are engaging residents of Bayside, organizations, and other interested parties to determine the future of the property with the goal of it eventually being owned by the community.  Justin Alfond owns the property and is supporting this community design process which is being facilitated by Jonah Fertig-Burd.  A Steering Committee of 11 people from the community has been formed to guide the process.

Updates on the Process

What has happened?

Spring 2024: Initial Outreach

Justin and Jonah met one-on-one with residents and organizations in Bayside

June 24, 2024: First Community Meeting

Over 100 people came together at 72 Parris St. to share their visions and ideas about the future of 72 Parris St. Out of this came different visions that are captured in this document.

Fall 2024: Forming the Steering Committee

We shared a request for applications for steering committee members and worked with a selection committee to choose 11 people to be on the Steering Committee

Food for All moved into the building in December of 2024 and will be using the building for the next year for an African food pantry and store while the community process unfolds and a decision is made about the future of the building.

December 10, 2024: Second Community Meeting

We held a smaller community meeting at Two Fat Cats in Bayside. We did a landscape analysis of the eight primary ideas that came out of the summer community visioning session.

What’s Next?

Winter 2025: Steering Committee Meetings

The Steering Committee meets twice a month and is researching feasibility, exploring different models for the site, and developing structures for the community to decide on what they want to happen with the building and property.

April 14, 2025: Community Priorities Meeting

At this meeting, we will share more research about each of the different visions and engage the community in prioritizing the different visions.

Meetings with Community Organizations

This spring we will meet with more community organizations to get their input into the process.

Early Summer: Fourth Community Meeting

At this meeting, the Steering Committee will present a proposal to the community about the future of the building and property and about possible forms of community ownership. Our hope is that a decision will emerge from this meeting.

Development

After the community decides on a proposal then we will move into the development phase. There will be many variables based on the vision that is chosen by the community.

Get involved

We are continuing to engage our community in bringing their voice, vision and ideas into the redevelopment of 72 Parris St. Add your contact info to get notified about our next community meeting and to receive updates.

Feel free to get in touch directly with

Jonah Fertig-Burd at jonahfertigburd@gmail.com

Justin Alfond at jalfond@gmail.com

FAQs

  • There are currently many ideas and visions, and no decision has been made about the future of the building.

  • Justin Alfond owns the building and initiated the process in collaboration with Jonah Fertig-Burd, of InterRooted. There is now a 11 person Steering Committee that is leading the process in collaboration with Justin and Jonah.

  • We are defining community primarily as people who live or work in Bayside and our interest is creating a project that meets their needs and fulfills the visions. At the same time, we recognize there is a broader community that has connections to Bayside and we are engaging them as well.

  • You can come to our next community meeting and sign up on our contact form to get updates about the project.

  • We believe that when this property is governed and owned by the community of Bayside it has so much potential to meet the needs and be an anchor for the future of the neighborhood. We hope that this will inspire property owners and developers to use new models of community development.