The Miracle on Congress Street

Quietly, over the past year or two, Congress Street's "New" Arts District has transformed from one of the city's most challenged neighborhoods into an economic success story.

The quarter-mile section of Congress between High Street and State Street, long considered by some as the "weakest" part of the downtown, is shedding that image bit by bit as entrepreneurs find new uses for vacant storefronts, often with innovative business models.

Meanwhile, private investors have poured millions into several historic buildings, including the former Columbia Hotel, the Baxter Building and the former Zinnia's antique store at 660 Congress.

In the past year alone, a comic book store, a used book store and a cryptozoology museum have opened alongside Joe's Smoke Shop, Enterprise Records and an Oriental grocery. The neighborhood now boasts an eclectic mix of bars and restaurants, a coffee shop, art studios and has fewer "for lease" signs than Old Port hot-spots like Exchange and Fore streets.

Yet while the Old Port shopping and entertainment districts have been hit hard by the Great Recession, upper Congress Street has thrived almost in spite of it.

"This neighborhood is the new thing," said Tristan Gallagher, owner of Funbox Monster Emporium, a vintage toy store that opened about a year ago. "I feel like the Old Port is for tourists and that this neighborhood is the place for Portlanders."

Funbox shares a retail space with Coast City Comics, which two of Gallagher's friends opened at the same time. The businesses split rent, utilities and even Internet to cut costs. And because both attract a similar customer, they share marketing and promotions costs too.

Prior to launching, owners of both stores sensed the neighborhood was loaded with untapped potential. Gerald Von Stoddard, co-owner of Coast City Comics, said many people still don't realize how many new shops have opened between Park and State streets. "We're trying to get more interest," he said. "It's like, 'Hey people, go past Coffee By Design, there is cool stuff going on."

The Green Hand is another new neighborhood business that's sharing space to make ends meet. Owner Michelle Souliere opened the bookstore a month ago inside the International Cryptozoology Museum after getting laid off from her job at University of Southern Maine.

"I got laid off, and I decided to make my own job, and it's the one I've always wanted," she said.

Inside the Green Hand, thousands of books don the shelves in front while museum exhibits featuring Bigfoot and other strange phenomena reside in the back. The arrangement allows both businesses to save money on rent and utilities and draw a wider customer base than either would as a standalone.

"The economy is causing interesting changes in the ways that people think about things," she said. "One thing that seems to be working is to combine resources to move forward."

Those four businesses, along with Strange Maine and Enterprise Records, have joined together to market that section of Congress Street as the "New" Arts District. Fliers have been printed that essentially position the neighborhood as the anti-Old Port.

"From vintage to collectibles to the wonderful world of Bigfoot, you'll find it all on upper Congress Street in Downtown Portland, Maine," the brochure reads.

But retail alone hasn't jump started upper Congress. In the past 15 months, the city passed an arts district tax credit and designated Congress Street as a historic district -- both policies that built on existing momentum in the neighborhood. Councilor Dave Marshall, whose district includes upper Congress, said those measures sent a message "that the city was going to be investing in the Arts District."

"That particular block between Longfellow Square and High Street has been the weakest portion of downtown for some time now, so having the city step in with this type of investment really helped people realize the city is serious about improving these portions of downtown," he said.

Nick Noyes, head librarian at Maine Historical Society, said upper Congress began declining in the 1960s when the Lafayette and Columbia hotels shut down. Through the years, clothiers and fur shops that dotted that section of Congress closed as well, and years later an historic church near present-day Joe's Smoke Shop was demolished.

What was once a downtown hub changed course almost overnight. "From the 1960s onward, it didn't amount to much," Noyes said of that neighborhood, which he remembered as having a fine men's wear store during his childhood. Noyes said recent projects announced in that area are "more activity than its seen in a long time."

Indeed, in the past eight months, three signature projects have begun between High and State streets. Developers Greg Shinberg and Justin Alfond have nearly finished a massive redevelopment of the USM dorms (also the former Columbia Hotel) at 645 Congress into a 56-unit apartment building.

A few doors down, nationally-recognized marketing firm Via Group will move into a Baxter Building reborn as offices in the coming months. This past fall, millionaire philanthropist Roxanne Quimby, who founded the Burt's Bees line of skincare products, received special concessions from City Hall to turn the vacant building at 660 Congress into an artist-in-residence venue.

In an interview, Shinberg said the neighborhood is "a part of the city in transition." "A lot of people have recognized that and are buying the buildings up that haven't had a lot of work done to them" in years.

Gallagher, at Funbox Monster Emporium, expects upper Congress to continue adding shops and businesses as more people are drawn to the area. But as the economy, and the neighborhood, improve, he worries it could spell the end of cheap rents that drew him there in the first place.

Still, he admits the day when upper Congress becomes "gentrified" could be a ways off. And if it does arrive sooner than later? He says that's when they'll know the neighborhood is back on track.

"Gentrification is the hallmark of people taking control of a neighborhood that's falling apart," Gallagher said. "And in this neighborhood, that's nothing but good.