Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A mixed-use building and house tucked in a Portland neighborhood that now holds a renowned artist’s workshop is on the market for just shy of $900,000.
Located on Brentwood Street in Portland’s Deering Center neighborhood, the property includes a shop space closest to the street with greenhouses behind and adjacent to it. Then, an updated four-bedroom, four-bathroom house is tucked behind that.
“It looks like this unassuming little building when you drive by, but there’s a ton of space inside,” said Katie Brooke of Vitalius Real Estate Group, the listing agent for the property. “It’s a pitched roof, so there’s just lots of vertical space too.”
The commercial space and greenhouse previously held Dodge the Florist until the business closed in October 2021 after more than 100 years in business. For years the family lived in the house while operating the flower shop, according to Brooke.
Maine-based artist Charlie Hewitt bought the property — both the commercial space and home — in 2021 and converted the shop and greenhouse spaces into an art studio and workshop for himself. The space is now known as the Electric Greenhouse.
Though Hewitt is a multi-media artist, he’s perhaps best known for his work with lights and neon signs. He created the marquee-style “Hopeful” signs in 2019 that can now be found in communities around the state — including Bangor — and in states across the northeast.
“It’s a super unique and funky space and he has loved it,” Brooke said.
Hewitt is selling the property to consolidate his work into one studio in Lewiston, where he was born and raised, he said.
The sellers also gutted and renovated the house in 2022. The two-story space, which is now rented to local students, offers more than 2,500 square feet of living space as well as updated fixtures.
While the property is now a single-family house, it could easily be transformed into a two-unit with the first floor serving as an accessory dwelling or guest space, according to the listing.
The greenhouse and shop spaces were also updated to include new flooring, walls, roofing, heat pumps and solar panels. But, much of the original greenhouse roof remained in place to allow sunlight to stream in, Brooke said.
The building also still has a crank feature that controls vents in the ceiling that can be opened or closed. However, the older greenhouse ceiling does leak in some places, Brooke said.
“When it rains out you will get some puddles inside,” Brooke said. “That’s the sacrifice [Hewitt] wanted to make. He said, ‘The natural light is so good, I’m willing to sacrifice a few puddles.’”
The property sits on a roughly 10,000-square-foot lot with paved parking areas on both sides of the building.
The property, built in 1930, hit the market last week with an asking price of $899,000. The site has drawn the attention of several prospective buyers so far, Brooke said, many of whom have unique ideas for what the greenhouse could hold.
Proposals for the commercial space have ranged from a children’s recreational space to a woodworking shop, Brooke said. A buyer could also live in the home behind it, or continue operating it as a rental to offset the cost of the property.
“Everybody has an idea of what they’d want to do with the space,” she said. “It’s going to take a unique buyer with a unique vision to do what they want with it.”