Greater Portland Landmarks gets new executive director amid lawsuit

Dec. 23—Kate Lemos McHale grew up in Damariscotta Mills in a house built in 1840 by a ship captain. Even at 8 years old, she had an appreciation for its original materials and character.

“I think I was a preservationist from a young age,” she said. “My parents put vinyl siding on the house when they bought it, and I was just like, what?”

She turned her childhood interest into a career. Lemos McHale is the new executive director of the nonprofit Greater Portland Landmarks. She came back to Maine after more than 20 years in the historic preservation field in New York City. She also started her job just weeks after Greater Portland Landmarks sued the city to prevent the Portland Museum of Art from tearing down a 19th-century building on Free Street and building a new wing in its place. That lawsuit is pending.

“It’s hard to come into a role in the midst of that in a city that you really want to get and make connections with and work with meaningfully,” Lemos McHale said. “But I think the lawsuit is necessary, and what I have advocated for is really just to find a solution, regardless of the results of the lawsuit.”

Lemos McHale said she hopes she can help broker that solution while also broadening the public understanding of Greater Portland Landmarks beyond this one hot-button issue.

“What I’d really love is for our organization to be seen as a valuable ally, and that getting our involvement and our support is important,” she said. “That’s what I would love to build toward or build back to. An ally to architects, to developers, to property owners who need some guidance to get grants or tax credits, but also an ally to the city’s historic preservation and planning programs and to the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.”

A TIME OF TRANSITION

Greater Portland Landmarks started in 1964 in response to the demolition of Union Station a few years earlier. The nonprofit does advocacy and education for anyone from major developers and individual homeowners. It also manages the Portland Observatory, the signal tower built in 1807 on Munjoy Hill and owned by the city.

In recent years, the organization has seen staff turnover and long vacancies. Four key employees, including the former executive director, left Greater Portland Landmarks in 2023. Part-time staff and volunteer board members kept the organization going, and the board hired consultants to lead fundraising efforts. When Lemos McHale started in July, she was the only full-time employee.

It has also seen financial strain. Greater Portland Landmarks relies on donations and grants and had an average budget of $500,000 in recent years. Annual tax reports show the organization has reported an overall loss for eight out of the past 10 years, including a deficit of more than $90,000 in 2020. In 2023, the nonprofit sold the Safford House on High Street at a loss of nearly half a million dollars on its value. Greater Portland Landmarks had owned that building for years, located its office there and rented space to tenants. But Lemos McHale said the management of the property had become a drain on the organization’s time and resources, and the income from the $1.6 million sale went to an endowment.

“Like many nonprofits in the culture sector, we really struggled through the pandemic and are rebuilding,” she said.

That process has started with staff. Lemos McHale has already hired a director of advocacy and a director of development, both are scheduled to start in January. She hopes to add another support person to the team.

Linda Whitten, vice president of the board of trustees, said Greater Portland Landmarks is also in the midst of a strategic planning process. She described this as “a pretty vibrant time.”

“We really wanted to start with a new page,” she said. “That’s what makes it exciting, to look at what can we be and how do we get there? And that’s where Kate will help to guide us.”

A WELCOMING PRESENCE

Whitten said the board wanted to find an executive director who could build relationships and foster an inclusive environment at Greater Portland Landmarks. Lemos McHale stood out in part because of her experience working with many partners on preservation issues.

“She has a way about her that is very welcoming and just invites people to be part of what she’s doing,” Whitten said.

Most recently, Lemos McHale was the director of research at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. She oversaw the complex process for the designation of landmarks and historic districts. In that role, she worked with property owners, government officials and community and preservation advocates. She also created interactive educational tools that highlight diverse histories in the city.

Before that, she worked at an architecture firm and as a preservation consultant.

“I really got into how important it is that the history of buildings and of places is accessible, that preservation isn’t just seen as this regulatory arm and to find ways that it can be meaningful to people,” Lemos McHale said. “People appreciate the historic character of where they live, but they may not know all of the history.”

She said she had long been impressed by the work of Greater Portland Landmarks. She saw the nonprofit doing more than advocating for the preservation of historic buildings, and she wanted to be part of those projects. Greater Portland Landmarks has developed a library of its research and created self-guided walking tours of area neighborhoods. The nonprofit is thinking about climate change and created resources for property owners in flood zones. It has an online directory of preservation professionals and works with architects on new designs. She joined the organization as the city completed the first major overhaul of its land use ordinance since the 1970s, a process in which Greater Portland Landmarks was an active participant.

Lemos McHale said she wants to build on all that work and help people become more aware of all Greater Portland Landmarks has to offer.

“I’m excited for Greater Portland Landmarks to be a connector, to not just be part of the architecture and development community, but also to help connect property owners to grants or low-interest loans or tradespeople,” she said.

LAWSUIT IN LIMBO

Lemos McHale kept an eye on her home state from afar. So she watched as the Portland Museum of Art pursued its expansion. She even went to see the finalists in the museum’s design competition and agreed with the choice of Lever Architecture. She described their plan as “exciting” because of its use of mass timber and its reference to Wabanaki culture. However, she also said she thinks the museum could have integrated the building at 142 Free St. into the design, and she is concerned about the policy implications if that building is ultimately demolished.

“I think there was a way that could have been done that wasn’t done,” she said. “That’s ultimately what leads us here, which is really too bad, because all the goals for it and the design team are great.”

The Portland City Council voted in May to remove the historic classification that protected the former Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine from being torn down. Greater Portland Landmarks challenged that decision in June in a lawsuit against the city that named the Portland Museum of Art as a party in interest. (The organization fundraised to cover the legal costs.)

All three parties have now filed briefs in the Cumberland County Superior Court, and are waiting for a judge to consider their arguments. It is not yet clear whether the court will require a hearing in the case, and it could take months to reach a decision.

Marcie Parker Griswold, a spokesperson for the Portland Museum of Art, said the plan for the new wing has not changed. The design process is moving forward, she said, but the museum doesn’t have a definitive timeline for the project right now. The Portland Museum of Art has raised $48.4 million for the project as part of a $100 million capital campaign.

“As we continue to navigate the legal process regarding the expansion, we remain confident in our adherence to an extensive and challenging eight-month civic process, compliance with all regulations, and our strong support for the decision made by the Portland City Council,” Griswold wrote in an email. “We are committed to upholding the integrity of this process and working with Greater Portland Landmarks on future advocacy projects, while always seeking to serve our community by fostering greater access to art, culture, and education for all.”

Lemos McHale said she remains hopeful that the two institutions will find common ground.

“In a small city like this, the Portland Museum of Art is so important, and our organization and theirs have always been aligned, and working together would be the positive outcome,” she said.

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