PORTLAND, ME— Developers are proposing a $100 million project that will include a Westin Hotel and luxury condominiums on the site of the former Jordans Meats plant, according to the development team. The project will be 450,000 to 500,000 square feet and include 150 to 200 hotel rooms and 60 to 100 condominiums, as well as a banquet facility, a parking garage, an upscale restaurant and retail space. The privately financed project is being developed by PME I Limited Partnership. The joint venture brings together the Liberty Companies, a South Portland corporation, and The Procaccianti Group, a major hotel developer based in Cranston, R.I. The centerpiece of the development is the Westin Hotel, which would be six stories high and rank among the citys largest hotels with 150 to 200 rooms. By comparison, the Holiday Inn by the Bay, the states largest hotel, has 239 rooms; the Eastland Park Hotel has 202. The Procaccianti Group now owns or manages 25 hotels in 11 states with a total of 5,300 guest rooms. The project was conceived by Michael Liberty, chairman of the Liberty Companies, who initiated the land purchase and assembled the project team. It is scheduled to go before the Planning Board in May, with groundbreaking expected in the fall and completion in early 2007. Construction will take place on the two-acre site occupied by the Jordans Meats plant, which closed in February after 77 years of production. The plant will be torn down.
