
The Schwartz building on the corner of Congress and High streets in Portland has been vacant for at least 15 years. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald
When Russ Sargent opened Yes Books on Congress Street nearly two decades ago, the neighborhood was lively.
There are now a few vacancies along Congress Street in Portland’s Arts District, but perhaps none is more visible than the large empty windows of the Schwartz building.
On the corner of Congress and High streets, the red brick building topped with a clock tower shoulders the News Center Maine studios and the Green Elephant restaurant. It’s on one of the busiest corners in Portland — and it has been vacant for 15 years. However, those involved in a project to renovate the building say there is a prospective new tenant for the ground-floor retail space.
The sidewalk around the building was roped off Thursday afternoon. Pedestrians teetered along the curb as they made their way down the crowded street. A squiggle of graffiti ran between two of the building’s windows and a large blue boom lift stretched up to the roof of the clock tower.
“When I first came here it was a building that artists and writers lived in because it had small studio apartments, there was an antique store downstairs,” said Sargent. “It’s a shame to have a building there that could be housing people and isn’t.”
The storefront windows that once looked into Allen and Walker Antiques are now mostly covered in brown paper, and the 12 planned residential units (possibly condos) upstairs haven’t hit the market. That’s been the case since renovations began in 2010.
The Schwartz building, which was built in 1920 by David Schwartz as a four-story office building, has been owned by Geoffrey Rice since 1978, though he transferred ownership to 602 Congress LLC in 2016, a corporation set up in his name. Rice owns several other buildings in the city, including the Trelawney Building a couple of blocks away, where he has had several disputes with renters.
Rice did not respond to repeated messages asking about the ongoing construction on the building and its lengthy vacancy.
‘COMPLETELY RENOVATED’
Construction permits were first issued for work on the building in 2010. The original permit was for the upstairs residential portion to be renovated from 10 units into 12. Since then, 26 permits have been issued for the building, including for construction of a new elevator, modifications to the clock tower, an overhaul of the electrical system and changes to the commercial space to make it suitable for a restaurant.
There have been a few near-misses to fill that vacancy, says Frank O’Connor, a partner at the Dunham Group, which is handling the lease for the downstairs commercial space. He said the storefront has been available for lease for a couple of years and a few businesses have expressed interest, but nothing has panned out yet. He didn’t specify what types of businesses have expressed interest.

A pedestrian passes the empty windows of a building advertised for lease on the corner of Congress and High Streets in Portland on Jan. 8. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald
Now, O’Connor said, a beauty product retailer is interested in the space, though the lease is currently being drafted and likely won’t be finalized for another month.
“I’m pretty confident that this one is going to happen,” he said.
O’Connor said he’s not handling the upstairs apartments but he expects them to be up for lease sometime in February or March.
That’s if they’re not converted into condos. Rice’s company took out a permit in 2022 to convert the upstairs residential units from rental apartments to condos, which would be put up for sale. The conversion has not yet been approved by the city.
Real estate developer Shinberg Consulting has been overseeing the building’s renovation, which, according to their website, is partially funded by historic tax credits.
The most recent construction update posted on Shinberg’s website in February 2022 reports that the building was being “completely renovated,” and was expected to open in the summer of 2022.
No further updates have been posted and Shinberg did not respond to questions about the project’s status.
WAITING FOR CHANGE
Greg Watson, the city’s director of housing and economic development, said he can’t think of any financial incentive to wait so long to fill the space, which plenty of people have speculated about.
“It’s a building that’s in a prominent location and catches most people’s eye if they’re in that area,” he said.
He said there is no law against a commercial or residential building sitting vacant in Portland. So despite complaints from neighbors, the city hasn’t been able to do anything about the long-empty building. According to the treasury department, taxes are regularly paid on the building — which is valued at $2.9 million — by Core Logic, a third party firm that handles mortgage payments for companies.
Watson said city staff have been working on an ordinance that would incentivize property owners to rent their empty commercial spaces, fill them with art, or host pop-ups so there are fewer empty storefronts in the city.

A look inside the empty storefront for lease on the corner of Congress and High Streets in Portland on Jan. 8. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald
He expects the legislation to come before the city’s Housing and Economic Development committee sometime in February. If approved, it would move to the City Council for a final vote.
“I’m sure at times it may be challenging to find tenants, so in those instances we are looking for landlords to maintain the appearance of their storefront being active and utilized. That would prevent people from just leaving up brown paper and cardboard and having it look like it’s dilapidated,” said Watson. “We are trying to give a range of ways for people to activate spaces beyond just finding a tenant.”
Robert Cohen, owner of the R.N. Cohen Gallery across the street, said he thinks the ongoing vacancy reflects poorly on what should be a vibrant neighborhood.
“That corner being vacant doesn’t represent this end of the city well. There are some great shops and restaurants over here, if there were something that attracted people to that corner it would enhance the whole neighborhood,” said Cohen. “I’m anxious for them to rent it.”
Cohen said he’s heard rumors over the years that a restaurant or some other business is going to move into the space, but nothing has ever materialized.
“It would be a great place for a restaurant, I mean what a great place to sit and look out at the square,” said Cohen.
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