PORTLAND, Maine — The fate of a 100-year-old building at 142 Free St. hangs in the balance as it faces potential reclassification and demolition.
The subject will be under discussion Tuesday during the city's planning board meeting.
Originally housing the Children's Museum, the building was acquired by the Portland Museum of Art, which now seeks to utilize the space for expansion.
The planning board is expected to make a recommendation to the city council Tuesday night on whether the historic structure should be torn down.
In 2009, 142 Free St. was listed as a historic place within the Congress Street Historic District. Despite its historical significance, the Portland Museum of Art, after purchasing the building five years ago, desires its removal to accommodate an expansion project.
According to the museum's creative director, Graeme Kennedy, the majority of the community, including local businesses like Springer's Jewelers and The State Theatre, supports the plan, with 93% approval.
However, the project faces a hurdle. City officials must reclassify the building as "non-contributing" to the historic district for the project to proceed.
“The building that looks like it's been here for hundreds of years has really changed a heck of a lot," Kennedy said. "If you were to look at pictures of it in its previous generations, it's pretty unrecognizable from what it was in the 20th centuries."
Opposing this view is the group Greater Portland Landmarks, which advocates for preserving the building.
They are against the request for reclassification and fear the precedent it may set for other historic sites protected by Portland's Historic Preservation Ordinance.
"There would be nothing to stop other developers from coming forward saying we want to take down this building because our idea is better," Carol De Tine, vice president of Greater Portland Landmarks' board of trustees, said. "If you nicked away at the exciting historic places in the city, we start to lose our character, and that's what people love about Portland."
The Portland Historic Preservation rejected the reclassification request in November, but the final decision rests with Portland's Planning Board and City Council.
The public hearing portion of Tuesday's planning board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated city procedures to determine the building's future.