PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2026
A project approved last year would place two buildings on a 1.5-acre strip of land on Forest Avenue and between the driveway to Talbot Community School and properties on Belfort Street. Since the project was pitched, a group of neighbors — organized as Friends of Belfort — have been rallying against a development that they argue will be disruptive and out of place in an area that already has infrastructure challenges. After the Portland Planning Board approved the project in July 2025, the neighbors filed an appeal, as well as several civil claims against the city and developer Acre Properties, challenging the zoning and the developer’s ownership rights to build the project as designed. The developer threatened to start work regardless of the outcome of the case, leading the group to ask the court for a preliminary injunction that would pause the project until the case is decided.