LOCAL DEVELOPMENTS Who’ll develop Sacred Heart? BY SAM PFEIFLE

As the August 16 deadline for proposal submissions looms, the usual suspects are lining up for the opportunity to turn the former Sacred Heart School into live/work spaces for artists (see "Portland Has a Heart for Artists," April 8, by Sara Donnelly). AVESTA Housing and PROP (among many others, including firms from Austin, Texas, and Gloucester, Massachusetts) have both taken out papers for the Sacred Heart RFP, and both have development records in Portland that the city’s housing committee will be able to consider in evaluating their proposals.

Another group, however, is championing itself as the outsider contingent, with zero development record, but with plenty of old-school good intentions. Full City Projects, headed up by Dallas Rolnick, Jacques Santucci, Andrew Klaila, and a "secret partner," is billing itself as a "grassroots group of local artists," says Rolnick.

Their design team comprises interior design work from Greg Frangoulis, who designs furniture for Maine Cottage, and builder Jos Van Mierlo (they’re working on an architect). Development advice is coming from Clayton Rockefeller, the man behind the Steelyard arts space in Providence. And Rolnick says Full City have made contact with a number of other artists interested in making the Sacred Heart development just the first step in a larger movement toward a new arts vitalization of the city.

They also have a $5000 grant from the Department of Energy, a Technology Assistance Grant that also includes one-week’s consultation with field experts, thanks to their plans for making Sacred Heart as close to zero-impact as possible.

Already, they’re looking at plans for "a solar-heated hot-water system," says Rolnick, "or a green [covered with vegetation] roof — but I’m hearing from people that that’s an engineering nightmare. A half-way point would be a landscaped roof." Plus, they’re investigating safe ways to manage disposal for the building, "especially of toxic art supplies."

And, says Rolnick, "to make a true art space, there’s the idea of ventilating the units, supplying 240-watt power — there’s a kind of system that as you vent out the toxic air it heats a metal plate, some kind of passive warm air ventilator." The sky’s the limit.

But first they’ve got to get the bid — over stiff and experienced competition. After the deadline on August 16, the bids will be graded by the finance department and then passed along with recommendations to the housing committee, who will likely make a decision in the mid-fall.