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MarkDaMan
Nov 9, 2006, 5:26 PM
First page or two off topic about development in SW Portland. I don't know why as this is 6 years later.

MarkDaMan
Dec 1, 2006, 5:31 PM
I'd like to keep track of the dozens of little infill projects going on around town, but I don't think each project deserves it's own thread. Nor do I think there is enough information on smaller infill projects to keep most threads created, easily searchable when new information does come forward. I think the best solution is to keep one thread open for all the infill renderings and news...

Maybe this will work?

sirsimon
Dec 2, 2006, 10:14 AM
I have been meaning to start a similar thread. Well done, I am excited to see these gathered in one place! :)

mcbaby
Dec 2, 2006, 10:24 AM
cool. affordable housing in a great neighborhood.

der Reisender
Dec 2, 2006, 11:03 AM
I had thought of doing something similar myself, but didn't plan on sharing it till I had more. Course now that the thread is started, guess i will just have to contribute...these are all pictures from about two weeks ago. cross your fingers that the images come through

The Jefferson Condos (SW 18th/Jefferson)
www.thejeffersoncondos.com
http://static.flickr.com/99/311820991_c69511f320.jpg

Clinton Condominiums (SE 26th/Division)
www.clintoncondominiums.com
http://static.flickr.com/112/311820990_bf972ffc8f.jpg

H45 (SE 45th/Hawthorne)
www.h45online.com
http://static.flickr.com/119/311820988_30666d0bfa.jpg

Meranti Lofts (SE 46th/Divsion)
www.merantilofts.com
http://static.flickr.com/103/311820987_484f412d4c.jpg

Graham Street Lofts (NE Graham/MLK)
www.grahamstreetlofts.com
http://static.flickr.com/114/311819037_b970f9b8ab.jpg
just the foundation work so far

12 and a Half (NE 7th/Knott)
www.12andahalf.com
http://static.flickr.com/112/311819036_8bf1056ce1.jpg

Corbett Crescent (SW Corbett/Bancroft)
www.corbettcrescent.com
http://static.flickr.com/107/311819035_7d7d0b17d1.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/107/311819022_651a3a2ea1.jpg

and finally, a favorite of mine...

The Lair Condos (SW 3rd/Meade)
www.thelaircondos.com
http://static.flickr.com/103/311819019_a04a9449ff.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/122/311819018_ffdc216a69.jpg

who's next?:)

mcbaby
Dec 2, 2006, 11:15 AM
pictures didn't come out. checked out links though. liked the jefferson, meranti and 12.5.. the others not so much. H45 rendering has ridiculously small balconies (why bother). couldn't see the lair :(

der Reisender
Dec 2, 2006, 11:25 AM
i saw that with the pictures, so i edited the post and they are showing up now (at least on my screen). if nobody else can see them now, tell me and i'll fiddle around more

Dougall5505
Dec 2, 2006, 4:39 PM
i can see them but it would be nice if they were a little bigger

der Reisender
Dec 3, 2006, 2:42 AM
Went around and got some more pictures of infill projects, and hopefully i figured how to post the pictures larger on here...


Beaumont Village Lofts (NE 50th/Fremont)
www.beaumontvillagelofts.com
http://static.flickr.com/104/312151287_bd1cdb4e65.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/110/312151278_1f5cc2f91f.jpg


Multnomah Village Lofts (SW 31st/Multnomah)
www.multnomahvillagelofts.com
http://static.flickr.com/117/312433596_a6a52dbab0.jpg


Headwaters at Tryon Creek (SW 30th/Marigold)
www.headwatersattryoncreek.com
http://static.flickr.com/101/312433601_1c3211039a.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/117/312433607_8ed99674a7.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/113/312433610_26a4c9da43.jpg

Urbanpdx
Dec 4, 2006, 12:43 AM
http://portlandcondos.com/pics.html?mls=RMLS&listingid=6082691

and

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/rfs/242654133.html

I just cant figure out downloading images...

der Reisender
Dec 15, 2006, 3:57 AM
tworivers, with the Backbridge Station, I hope they are going forward with it too. Kaiser has a website under construction for it (www.backbridgestation.com) so i'm taking that as a good sign.

I found a new one that's proposed for 47th and Hawthorne called 'The Tabor' designed by Vallaster and Corl. They describe it as "a contemporary mixed-use building located on SE Hawthorne street and 47th. The ground floor consists of approximately 6700 square feet of dedicated retail space, 18 townhomes located above, and parking to the rear. The building maintains a three story height that is in context with the scale of existing buildings along Hawthorne Boulevard."

Renderings:
http://static.flickr.com/134/322749176_2fd7106426_o.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/130/322749181_263ebba646_o.jpg

looks pretty meh

mcbaby
Dec 15, 2006, 7:19 AM
what's currently next to JaCiva's?

NJD
Dec 15, 2006, 5:07 PM
^ This is the same developer as the Hawthorne Condos on 34th. I asked him if he had any doubts about building this project directly in the center of bar central on Hawthorne, he replied asking me how long those bars have been there and how easy it would be to push them out... I lost all my respect for this developer at that moment.

roner
Dec 16, 2006, 12:23 AM
:previous: What a effing wanker...those people will have to put up with the racket and like it.

Urbanpdx
Dec 16, 2006, 12:26 AM
I never understood that kind of thinking. I remember when neighbors regularly fought businesses locating on NW 23rd. If you don't want to be in an area with lots of action there are lots of opportunities to live a few blocks (or miles) away from it.

bvpcvm
Dec 21, 2006, 3:20 PM
http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/portland_news/1166046932278710.xml&coll=7&thispage=2

Planners dip toes in planning vortex

Thursday, December 21, 2006
Fred Leeson
The Oregonian

The Bermuda Triangle of Portland city planning, a vortex that figuratively swallowed planners, maps and residents a decade ago, is re-emerging as jobs, population and transportation create new pressures.

The vortex is Southwest Barbur Boulevard and a parcel near Barbur and Southwest Capitol Highway, identified by Metro in 1995 as a West Portland town center.

After years of controversy about increased density, and without consensus about its future, city planners and the City Council in 2000 simply left the Barbur corridor out of the much-debated Southwest Community Plan.

But now TriMet's general manager, Fred Hansen, has hinted about Barbur becoming a light-rail route, and some Southwest residents see a need to rethink everything from land-use patterns to sidewalks along the designated state highway.

Robert Liberty, a Metro councilor whose district includes Barbur, says he'd like to see it undergo a "gradual transformation as an enhanced location for housing, shopping and services." At the same time, he adds, "It's still going to carry a lot of traffic."

In the 1990s, residents near the corridor stood firm against increasing residential densities, partly in fear that newcomers would arrive, but without adequate roads and public facilities to serve them.

"There are a huge number of land-use and transportation issues wrapped up in that," says John Gibbon, chairman of the Southwest Neighborhood Coalition's planning committee. "High density without infrastructure to support it is just scary."

Liberty thinks Portland's recent condo-building splurge reflects a shift in attitude about density. Urban density is considered a plus in areas such as the burgeoning Pearl District and the South Waterfront tower village.

"The market is changing nationally and in the region," Liberty says. "We are seeing things we wouldn't have believed 10 years ago."

In Portland, 20-story buildings are now considered "mid-rises" instead of high-rises. Four- and five-story condo and apartment buildings blossoming in Gresham, Milwaukie and Beaverton could be harbingers for the West Portland district.

As part of its 2040 plan adopted in 1995, Metro identified 25 potential town centers, including this one in West Portland. In concept, town centers provide a variety of housing options, shopping, jobs and transit links to other regional centers.

Current numbers suggest the plan's population target will be reached by 2022, which Liberty takes as a sign that the region should implement the plan more quickly.

A West Portland town center, he acknowledges, "is a challenge," given its quirky street system and the attitudes expressed a decade ago.

So far, associations of two of the six neighborhoods around the town center area, Crestwood and West Portland Park, say they're willing to talk about the idea again. As Gibbon puts it, "If they want to send us a bucket of money to get Barbur Boulevard planned, hey, great."

No public agencies have stepped forward to tackle Barbur Boulevard. Despite Hansen's mention of light rail, TriMet has not begun studies.

Liberty says local investment and neighborhood enthusiasm make a difference on where Metro chooses to spend its limited dollars.

"If there is a lot of controversy instead of a unity of vision and purpose," he says, "it's harder to say that's where we should put our time and money."

Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com



©2006 The Oregonian

MarkDaMan
Dec 21, 2006, 4:19 PM
good news!

South Waterfront tower village

I don't like that term...better than 'condo farm' I guess....

Dougall5505
Dec 30, 2006, 2:35 AM
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/DSC_0157-1.jpg?t=1167446055

sirsimon
Dec 31, 2006, 6:36 PM
I would like to see increased density in Hillsdale - but I do have an affection for this FM location. I am drawn to it specifically because it is so straight out of the 1950s.

MarkDaMan
Jan 9, 2007, 4:16 PM
Not your average condo box
TRIB TOWN:Cottage-style project in St. Johns already has a waiting list
By Anna Johns

Larry Cowlishaw has been building and remodeling homes in the Portland metro area for more than 20 years.

“I built my first home while I was in high school,” he says.

Last year, Cowlishaw purchased a 100-by-100-foot empty lot in the Cathedral Park neighborhood of St. Johns. He set to work to develop the site in the usual way – meeting with his architect, engineers and neighbors. When his plans for an eight-unit town home complex were approved by the city, something unusual happened.

“Everybody wants to buy one of these homes,” he says.

Cowlishaw was astonished that dozens of people filled out paperwork to get on a waiting list for the eight units even before he broke ground in September. Now that the foundation is poured and walls are going up, the waiting list stands at 62 people.

“This kind of interest is really unprecedented,” says Jim Hodges, a St. Johns-area real estate agent for 18 years.

Hodges says he is seeing younger, more affluent homeowners move into an area that has traditionally been, he says, “blue collar.” He attributes the interest from buyers to the growing downtown St. Johns business district.

“It’s a combination of affordability and because it is an up-and-coming area,” Hodges says. “I think, before long, it’ll look like the Hawthorne area.”
Project is one of several

The Cathedral Park Village Townhomes, as Cowlishaw has named them, will stand four stories high in the middle of a bluff above the Willamette River at North Edison Street and Charleston Avenue. Each unit will have a view of the river and the historic St. Johns Bridge, which towers over the entire neighborhood.

The Cathedral Park neighborhood, named for the park that sits under the bridge, has seen a construction boom in recent years. From the top of the bluff to the river’s edge, there are four high-density residential projects under construction, with at least one more set to begin in the spring.

“The project that Larry is doing definitely appears to have hit a sweet spot in the market,” says Erik Palmer, neighborhood land-use chairman. “I think the reason is because he is putting a little bit extra into the quality of design and construction of his project.”

Each 2,000-square-foot unit will have large windows on the front, and each unit is designed slightly different from the neighboring one. Cowlishaw is most excited about the elevators that will go from the garage level to the top, master suite.
Zoning change spurs development

The reason for the sudden interest by developers in the neighborhood, according to Palmer, is a change in zoning. Up until two years ago, land surrounding Cathedral Park and bordering the river was zoned only for industrial use. Getting a zoning change, Palmer says, was too much of a hassle for developers to give it much attention. Then, when the St. Johns area concluded a multineighborhood master plan two years ago, things began to change.

Along with that master plan came zoning changes from the city that allow the industrial and empty lots in the neighborhood to be developed as live-work or solely residential sites. The goal of the neighborhood is to encourage a moderate increase in overall neighborhood density.

“What we’ve learned is a change in zoning doesn’t guarantee the kinds of projects we would like to see in the neighborhood,” Palmer says.

Palmer says most of the high-density housing projects in Cathedral Park have been focused on quantity rather than quality.

“By and large we’re getting the density, but we haven’t gotten the quality of design and construction that we aspired to when we participated in the planning process,” he says.

Cowlishaw’s cottage-style project, Palmer says, is an exception.

Design is what sealed the deal for Chris Rozell, a single mother who is at the top of the waiting list for one of Cowlishaw’s town homes. Rozell already has sold her Arbor Lodge home and she and her 14-year-old daughter are living with various friends until construction is complete, tentatively April 1.

“My daughter basically gets her own floor,” Rozell says. “Plus, a kid and an elevator? You can’t go wrong.”

The units are selling for $315,000 to $345,000.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=116829766041706500

MarkDaMan
Jan 9, 2007, 4:18 PM
Triangle plan requested

Members of the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association have asked the Portland Planning Bureau to prepare a master plan for the Hillsdale Triangle, an underdeveloped parcel bounded by Southwest 18th Avenue, Capitol Highway and Sunset Boulevard.

The request is prompted by triangle resident Lance Johnson’s plan to replace his house with 10 new homes.

Although the entire triangle is zoned for more homes, the association believes all of it should be redeveloped together – or at least in complementary stages. No other triangle property owners have proposed building any new homes yet.

Planning officials have yet to respond to the request.

A city hearings officer considered the case last month. One issue that arose was how Johnson planned to connect the new homes to the city sewer system.

Because much of the property lies below street level, he must either propose a pumping system or convince the city to reinstall the existing pipes at a lower level. Johnson has not yet submitted his proposed solution to the city.
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=116829764907958800

sirsimon
Jan 10, 2007, 2:08 AM
http://www.sakuraurbanconcepts.com/Images/sakuraProjectsHakoya.gif


This is off-topic, but doesn't this rendering look almost like it was done it MS Paint?

roner
Jan 10, 2007, 4:00 AM
Thanks for lthe article Mark. I love that this guy has a list of 62 possible buyers. Also his prices are fair considering Pre-fab 4 story condos (the fulgy fake rowhouse look) in Happy Valley go for nearly 400,000. Hopefully this is a lesson to other developers and shows them that if projects are done right and with quality there well always be a market for your project.

Drmyeyes
Jan 10, 2007, 7:11 AM
(Palmer says most of the high-density housing projects in Cathedral Park have been focused on quantity rather than quality.

“By and large we’re getting the density, but we haven’t gotten the quality of design and construction that we aspired to when we participated in the planning process,” he says.

Cowlishaw’s cottage-style project, Palmer says, is an exception.) From the Anna Johns/Portland Tribune article.

Exactly.(first two paragraphs) From that often irresistable temptation that developers can be susceptible to comes valid criticism of their tendency to take good ideas from various architectural design genres, and dumb them down until they become unappealing and even sometimes apalling when applied on a mass production short timeline.

That's why it's so very important for those who care to really encourage those who can, to search their minds and spirit and develop new ideas, and also to work to sustain the integrity if not the exact form of borrowed architectural genres when they're applied on a broad scale.

Dougall5505
Jan 10, 2007, 2:21 PM
multnmah village lofts not bad
http://www.multnomahvillagelofts.com/images/Perspective_Street.jpg
http://www.multnomahvillagelofts.com/

der Reisender
Jan 11, 2007, 3:42 PM
Hopes for new HOPE homes in Southwest
Thursday, January 11, 2007
By Stephen Beaven

With one project complete and another in the works, the Housing Authority of Portland hopes to build a third federally subsidized mixed-income development, this time in Southwest.

The community would include the Hillsdale Terrace apartment complex at 6775 S.W. 26th Ave. and the Sears U.S. Army Reserve Center at 2731 S.W. Multnomah Blvd., according to the authority, which has notified the Portland Development Commission of its interest.

The project would include market-rate homes as well as low-income housing. It would be financed in part by a federal grant from the HOPE VI program, which helped pay for New Columbia in North and the yet-to-be-constructed Humboldt Gardens in Northeast.

The plan remains in the embryonic stages. There are questions about the future of the HOPE VI program, and other groups are interested in developing the Sears property, which won't be available until 2011.

For now, the project is on the Housing Authority's long-term wish list.

"If you think about what we do with HOPE VI, it fits," says Steve Rudman, the Housing Authority executive director. "It's tailor-made."

And Hillsdale Terrace is ready for a makeover, Rudman adds. Built it 1970, it includes 60 apartments constructed of concrete masonry. The apartments have had moisture problems in recent years, Rudman says. Plus, the Housing Authority would like to expand its presence in Southwest.

New Columbia was built on the site of the old Columbia Villa housing project. The $155 million development includes low-income public housing and market-rate homes, a total of 854 units by the time it's finished this year. It also includes the new Rosa Parks Elementary School, a coffee shop and a grocery.

Humboldt Gardens, the second HOPE VI project, will be built at the old Iris Court site.

The Sears center is one of two U.S. military properties in Portland that will be vacated in four years and available for development. It's about a mile from Hillsdale Terrace; properties developed as part of HOPE VI don't have to be contiguous.

Residents at Hillsdale Terrace expressed mixed feelings about the Housing Authority's proposal.

Korlina Henson has lived at Hillsdale with her teenage son and daughter for four years. She acknowledges that some apartments have had moisture problems but says she wouldn't want to move while the site was torn down and rebuilt.

"It's an old place and everything," she says. "But a lot of families are already established."

Nicole Johnson lives at Hillsdale Terrace with her two young sons. She lived at Columbia Villa before its residents were relocated and says HOPE VI projects disrupt the lives of families who have to move to make way for construction.

But Brian Russell, chairman of the Multnomah Neighborhood Association, says the Housing Authority's proposal sounds promising, even though some neighbors worry about redevelopment of the Army Reserve Center.

"We do need to realize that we either have to deal with density or give way to sprawl," he wrote in an e-mail. "Our population is growing, and we must creatively address the problem."

Stephen Beaven: 503-294-7663; stevebeaven@news.oregonian.com

der Reisender
Jan 12, 2007, 2:34 AM
for those who haven't checked out Portland Architecture recently, it sounds like the Mississippi Ave Lofts are finally gonna start up. Brian Libby did a write-up on them:

Mississippi Avenue Lofts Set To Break Ground

I have meant to write about the Mississippi Avenue Lofts for awhile, both because it's a significant mixed-use project in a burgeoning close-in Portland neighborhood and because the project has seen a fair amount of controversy.

The project, designed by the Portland office of San Francisco firm Michael WIllis Architects (which also partnered with Thomas Hacker Architects on the ill-fated Fire Station 1), is poised to earn a prestigous 'Gold' LEED rating from the US Green Building Council. The first LEED-rated residential project on the east side, It consists of 32 residential units and will occupy a site just north of the commercial district along Mississippi Avenue that includes The Rebuilding Center, Gravy restaurant, Video Verite, Fresh Pot coffee and other establishments. There will reportedly be a Pastaworks store on the ground floor. The MAL project replaces an old cinder-block warehouse.

The controversy, as many know, came in December of 2005 when the Boise Neighborhood Association voted to deny support for the project. Some believe the association was hijacked by a few neighbors objecting to the height and gentrification, but that's an argument we've already had here about the neighborhood's objection to another project, the Kurisu family's residential building designed by Holst. Besides, the Historic Mississippi Business Association gave the MAL project a strong endorsement.

Courtyard In the case of the Mississippi Avenue Lofts project, the original design was more of a continuous horizontal form, the idea being that it would de-emphasize the four-story height. But a revised plan for the building, breaks up its mass by emphasizing a series of smaller individual box-like forms emanating out of the larger whole.

I like how the building has turned out. One of its real strengths is the use of wood, which will help integrate the MAL project with the existing fabric of single-family homes off Mississippi Avenue while also celebrating Oregon's native materials and adding warmth to the overall sense of the building. It also features a tilt-up concrete construction method by general contractor Gray Purcell common in commercial projects but rare in residential that will help reduce construction time by 2-3 months. Additionally, the design features a coutyard plan that will provide ample natural light. And that 4th floor that seems to always freak out neighbors with these projects is set back significantly, not only giving the building a more modest presence on the street but creating a terrific rooftop deck for some lucky penthouse owners.

Developed by the trio of Bill Jackson, Peter Wilcox and David Yoho, this is a project that has had more than its fair share of hurdles to clear, but I'm told groundbreaking could come as soon as February. More and more, the land in North Portland between Interstate Avenue and Williams Street seems poised to explode with lots of new mixed-use housing projects, and many of them are turning out very handsome, such as the aforementioned Kurisu project, the and two projects developed by the Kaiser Group: Backbridge Station and the Backbridge Lofts.

http://chatterbox.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/perspective_south.jpg

Dougall5505
Jan 13, 2007, 6:24 PM
are these on the radar?
beech 15 (no address)
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture7.png?t=1168712492

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture8.png?t=1168712506
H44 hawthorne and 44th
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture9.png?t=1168712511

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture10.png?t=1168712531
i like the first one but not the second one.
btw the way browsing sienna architecture's site there was very nice images of the cascadian tower is that project dead?

sirsimon
Jan 13, 2007, 6:54 PM
I agree - the Beech is more appealing than the H44. I have not heard about these...

pdxman
Jan 13, 2007, 6:56 PM
Idk why, but i absolutely love these type of projects...i love the boxy design

bvpcvm
Jan 13, 2007, 8:28 PM
we talked about the H44 on another thread... the consensus was that the developer's an ass. something about how he was planning on running out the bars around it or something.

i think the "cascadian" is dead, isn't it called the cosmopolitan now?

Dougall5505
Jan 13, 2007, 8:37 PM
it might be but look at the renderings. it looks nice.
http://www.siennaarchitecture.com/main.html

MitchE
Jan 14, 2007, 6:14 AM
The Beech 15 is going in at the corner of NE Beech and 15th. It will take up part of Wild Oat's parking lot.

bvpcvm
Jan 16, 2007, 3:52 PM
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=116890246153434700

Housing boom starts brewing

TRIB TOWN: As projects percolate on Interstate, so does debate

By Anna Johns http://www.portlandtribune.com/site_graphics/email_icon.gif (annajohns@portlandtribune.com)
The Portland Tribune 16 minutes ago

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news_graphics/116890398619753700.jpg

JIM CLARK / PORTLAND TRIBUNE

Along Interstate itself, developers (from left) Rick Johnson, Mark Kirchmeier, Adam Gnicwosz and Chris Gincwosz stand in front of a house that will be torn down.

Later this month, demolition begins on the old Marino Furniture store, 3970 N. Interstate Ave., to make room for condominiums.

It’s the first transit-oriented, high-density housing project along Interstate Avenue since the MAX light-rail line opened, even though that was three years ago – an eternity compared to how quickly housing sprouted along the Portland Streetcar route.

The four-story, 30-unit complex will feature lofts and one- to two-bedroom units, with 2,200 square feet of retail space on the ground floor at the intersection of Interstate and North Shaver Street. With unit prices ranging from $200,000 to $350,000, the developers expect buyers will be people who are priced out of the Pearl District. They plan to open in late fall.

Chris Gniewosz is one of the developers on the project. He says the entire process has been long and arduous because the city had neglected to change the zoning for the Interstate Avenue corridor, despite a multineighborhood plan in 2002 that called for an increase in high-density housing near the light-rail line.

“We had to go through a horrendous process,” Gniewosz said.
It cost him and his partners $30,000 for experts and paperwork, and took 12 months to get the zoning changed for their high-density housing project. It’s a headache they shouldn’t have had to endure, Gniewosz said.

“It’s something that should’ve been done when the MAX was finished,” Gniewosz said. “Zoning should have been part of that project.”
According to Julia Gisler, a project manager with the City’s Bureau of Planning, the money and manpower to change the zoning hasn’t been available until now. Gisler is leading a yearlong zoning study of the Interstate MAX corridor that is just getting under way this month.
She thinks the long, expensive zoning process is keeping transit-oriented business and housing away from the Interstate MAX corridor.

“There’s a disconnect between the neighborhood plan and the current zoning laws,” Gisler said. “We really think we can help the corridor.”

The light-rail study is in its infancy, with Gisler still taking applications from members of the public to sit on a community advisory board. Initial plans called for zoning recommendations to be made to the City Council by November 2007, but the study already is several months behind and a final date has not been rescheduled.

When it does get under way, participants in the study will use the 2002 multineighborhood plan as a base. The plan recommends developing high-density housing and transit-oriented businesses near five Interstate MAX stops at Lombard Street, Portland Boulevard, Killingsworth Street, Prescott Street and Overlook Boulevard.

One of the challenges that will be addressed in the study is how much high-density housing should spill into the surrounding neighborhoods. The neighborhood plan calls for higher density, but Gisler says she hopes the study will find a way to strike a balance so the neighborhoods don’t lose their character.

“A lot of people point to Northwest Portland, with high buildings and small buildings,” Gisler said. “This (light-rail) corridor is going to become more eclectic.”

Density’s good on Interstate

Chris Duffy, chairwoman of the Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association, said the bigger projects should be allowed only on Interstate Avenue.

She pointed to Gniewosz’s 30-condominium project as ideal because it is directly on the light-rail line and is not surrounded by single-family homes.
“I definitely support transit-oriented development,” Duffy said, “but the density should be stepped down as you move away from the transit stations.”

Case in point, Duffy said, is a six-story condominium complex planned for North Montana Avenue between Bryant and Buffalo streets. The land is one block back from the light-rail line and surrounded by single-family homes.

“It will loom over the neighborhood,” Duffy said.

But worse than its size in comparison with the nearby buildings, Duffy said, is what it already has done to the neighborhood. Two homeowners across the street from the planned project have moved away and rent out their former homes.

A next-door neighbor sold his home after living in it for three years, and two more are considering selling their homes to the developer.

“It destabilizes the neighborhood terribly,” Duffy said. “It puts a lot of stress and pressure on the people who live nearby.”

Some projects praised

Duffy points to a set of condominium projects further south on Montana Avenue as examples of the kind of high density she thinks is called for by the neighborhood plan.

Between North Shaver and Mason streets, there are a set of six-unit, three-story condominiums that are set back several feet from the street. Although they are significantly taller than the surrounding homes, Duffy says they are designed in a way that minimizes their visual impact.
She also applauds a family housing project planned for the current site of the Crown Motel, 5226 N. Interstate Ave. Reach Community Development, a nonprofit developer, will build a four-story, 54-unit apartment complex of affordable housing.

Demolition of the hotel is set to begin in late fall, and construction should be complete in 2008.

To apply for the community advisory group for the Interstate Light Rail Corridor Zoning Project, call Julia Gisler, 503-823-7624, or visit the Bureau of Planning Website, www.PortlandOnline.com/Planning. (http://www.portlandonline.com/Planning.)

annajohns@portlandtribune.com

EastPDX
Jan 16, 2007, 5:53 PM
http://www.burlingame.net/berangercondos.html

Sorry no current pictures of the construction. They are on the top floor at this point.

This building site is close to the condo infill on 3rd and Roberts. It is also on the opposite corner from the future Arts and Theater lot across Hood. Very nice location. Four blocks from MAX and the Central Bus Transit Station. Looks like the spendy units are taken. That top level corner unit (view from the unit is to the Southeast) should have really good Mt. Hood view.

Nice roof top garden too!

EP

pdxstreetcar
Jan 17, 2007, 4:42 PM
Its terrible that it is such a hassle for the developer to build high density housing along Interstate. But it does look like theres beginning to be several new mixed use projects emerging.

PacificNW
Jan 17, 2007, 6:21 PM
Hopefully the city gets the job done and the zoning changed to accom. higher density. It should have been done by the time MAX was completed in that area of the city.

der Reisender
Jan 18, 2007, 1:50 AM
For the Feb 1st Design Review Agenda, they are showing a couple projects out by Gateway. The first is at 206 NE 102nd and is supposed to be 2 5-story buildings with ground retail, 100 units, and 105 parking spaces. The second is at 224 NE 99th and would be a 6-story, 58 units, and 54 parking spaces.

Does anyone know about development like this around Gateway? It feels like there are a bunch of proposed ones out there in the 5-6 story range but nothing ever gets built. Link to agenda is here: http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=144154

MitchE
Jan 18, 2007, 7:02 AM
Haven't seen "Lane 1919" on here yet. It's currently under construction at NW 19th between Savier and Raleigh.

http://www.sinecosine.org/forums/NW/P1010238.JPG

Interestingly, the development will incorporate this older building.

http://www.sinecosine.org/forums/NW/P1010244.JPG

mcbaby
Jan 18, 2007, 9:53 AM
interesting

pdxstreetcar
Jan 18, 2007, 4:47 PM
That Lane project should really bring some activity to that part of town.


Could this proposed phase of the Gateway project be that building that was planned to be built over the tracks? I havent been to Gateway in awhile and so I havent really seen what they built recently.

sirsimon
Jan 19, 2007, 3:33 AM
I love the old building in the Lane project. Very cool that they are incorporating that. :)

bvpcvm
Jan 19, 2007, 4:19 AM
Could this proposed phase of the Gateway project be that building that was planned to be built over the tracks? I havent been to Gateway in awhile and so I havent really seen what they built recently.

no, these two projects are just barely north of burnside - about 5 blocks south of the transit center. i think the over-the-tracks project isn't supposed to happen for many years.

i haven't been to gateway in forever either. did they ever build "the elements"?

MarkDaMan
Jan 19, 2007, 3:55 PM
^nope...they just completed a rather bland low rise medical office building that can be expanded to more than double it's height in the future. I think the Design Review Agenda that was posted by der Reisender is for the first phase of the Elements development.

zilfondel
Jan 23, 2007, 2:27 AM
Backbridge Station [NE Fremont]

http://kaisergroupinc.com/images/image.backbridge2.jpg

Backbridge Lofts [NE Fremont]

http://kaisergroupinc.com/images/bbridgelofts11.jpg

Fremont Lofts [NE Mississippi & Fremont]

http://kaisergroupinc.com/images/image.freemont2.jpg

Williams Five [NE Williams]

http://kaisergroupinc.com/images/image.williams1.jpg

Grabbed these renderings from http://kaisergroupinc.com/present.projects.html - I have no idea how likely they are (to be built) or at what status they are at.

tworivers
Jan 23, 2007, 3:43 AM
I'm pretty sure that the Backbridge projects and the Fremont Lofts (of which the Grand Central Bakery bldg was phase 1) are on hold. Williams Five is the only one with a projected completion date anymore.

mcbaby
Jan 23, 2007, 3:52 AM
this is weird but i remember seeing something like this in an episode of the brady bunch. in mr brady's office. he was an architect. very 70's inspired.

zilfondel
Jan 23, 2007, 4:49 AM
^^^ lol. Were you aware that Modernism has been around for over 100 years now?

pdxstreetcar
Jan 23, 2007, 5:40 AM
I kinda think the backbridge lofts looks like a 1950s southern california motel or "dingbat" apartment building

this new project by waterleaf without a doubt looks straight out of the 1970s:
http://www.vistahillsvineyard.com/winecellar.htm
http://www.waterleaf-ai.com/ ->the work -> on the boards -> vista hills

sirsimon
Jan 23, 2007, 6:58 AM
this is weird but i remember seeing something like this in an episode of the brady bunch. in mr brady's office. he was an architect. very 70's inspired.

Yeah, I feel the same way some times. I like some of these designs, but still kind of wonder if people will look back in 20 or 30 years and ask "what were they thinking?" :)

mcbaby
Jan 23, 2007, 9:10 AM
exactly

zilfondel
Jan 24, 2007, 12:55 AM
You should take a look at the new Living Room theater, or the Doug Fir to get an idea of what reborn-minimalist modernism looks like. Pick up a copy of Dwell, or Arch Record - Modernism is very alive and is all over the world. Portland just happens to be extremely backwater in regards to Architecture. Perhaps it was founded 30 years ago by people who hate Modernism?

robbobpdx
Jan 24, 2007, 6:45 AM
I see the Brady Bunch connection also. But I do like some modernism designs. The Living Room theater is a good example, and even the Eliott Tower is, I think. The glassed in lobby is terrific IMO. And it goes real well with the modern reno of the art museum's Masonic Lodge addition (who would have thought THAT would turn out so great!!!???).

The modernism and minimalism movement is alive and well all over. But sometimes I think (just my opinion) that it goes a bit too far, and appears cold. It just doesn't seem warm and fuzzy to cuddle up to a nauga-hide modern chair with metal legs. Yeah, I know, that's furniture, but you even see one of those chairs in one of the renderings, and people who are trying for the modernist minamalist look go for that. Guess that's OK for them, but I wonder if 10 years from now people will feel like they're living in a Dr's Office kind of space.

buffy
Jan 24, 2007, 7:07 AM
Yes 10 years from now we are going to say "what were we thinking". It is just 70's knockoffs, with bamboo added and presto now it is a zen building. It is funny that the things we are building today is the exact same style we wish were never build and are screaming for it to be torn down.

robbobpdx
Jan 24, 2007, 7:26 AM
Yes 10 years from now we are going to say "what were we thinking". It is just 70's knockoffs, with bamboo added and presto now it is a zen building. It is funny that the things we are building today is the exact same style we wish were never build and are screaming for it to be torn down.

:previous: Exactly. And wait until they start to age ! Even the bamboo won't look so hot then. :rolleyes:

Urbanpdx
Jan 24, 2007, 3:58 PM
You should take a look at the new Living Room theater, or the Doug Fir to get an idea of what reborn-minimalist modernism looks like. Pick up a copy of Dwell, or Arch Record - Modernism is very alive and is all over the world. Portland just happens to be extremely backwater in regards to Architecture. Perhaps it was founded 30 years ago by people who hate Modernism?

All you have to do is watch movies, sit-coms or commercials to see what "style" is hot now. 90% of the sets are in modern or mid-century spaces. Go watch an movie from the 90's, very little modernism, mostly craftsman and colonial houses (Home alone, Father of the bride, Rosanne, Everybody loves Raymond, etc) . Go back to the early 80's and you'll see victorians (Cosby show, Facts of Life).

zilfondel
Jan 24, 2007, 10:26 PM
All you have to do is watch movies, sit-coms or commercials to see what "style" is hot now. 90% of the sets are in modern or mid-century spaces. Go watch an movie from the 90's, very little modernism, mostly craftsman and colonial houses (Home alone, Father of the bride, Rosanne, Everybody loves Raymond, etc) . Go back to the early 80's and you'll see victorians (Cosby show, Facts of Life).

I don't watch movies, and I don't own a TV. Call me old-fashioned then.

However, you forgot "Full House," which was set in a San Fran neighborhood. With kids, no less! My how the times have changed...

PDX City-State
Jan 25, 2007, 11:42 PM
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/369264808_898805cf88_o.jpg

Mike Thelin
Willamette Week

A four-story condominium will anchor the corner of Southeast 28th Avenue and Burnside Street with 32 homes and 6,000 square feet of retail space in an increasingly popular neighborhood where housing and retail are in short demand.

The proposed SunRose Condominiums were the subject of the Kerns Neighborhood Association meeting Wednesday night. The project was generally received favorably by the association members and neighborhood residents who attended.

The project involves the teardown of an existing two-story building that houses the Hungry Tiger restaurant, as well as an adjacent one-story building that’s currently vacant. The project developers include the Wong family, owner of the property and the Hungry Tiger, and Portland developer Randy Rapaport. The restaurant will close its doors this weekend, but according to developers, will reopen in another incarnation once the project is completed in Summer 2008. The family has already opened a second restaurant, The Hungry Tiger 2, on Southeast 12th Avenue.

Designed by Portland’s nationally celebrated Holst Architecture, the building’s 32 units will range approximately 750 to 1200 square feet, with asking prices starting below $300,000, according to Rapaport. Features will include a hardwood exterior with protruding stucco balconies and concealed parking.

Another Holst-designed Rapaport project, The Belmont Lofts, was featured in the January edition of Dwell magazine. The firm’s current works include mixed-used, high-density housing and retail in close-in Southeast Portland, North Mississippi and a 16-story tower in the Pearl District. Holst’s Ecotrust Building in the Pearl District includes the first ecoroof in the city.

der Reisender
Jan 26, 2007, 2:31 AM
didn't know that one was in the works, look forward to seeing a better rendering of it down the road

MarkDaMan
Jan 29, 2007, 5:20 PM
LRS ARCHITECTS

LRS is designing a two-building affordable housing project on the site of a former on-ramp in Northeast Portland for Innovative Housing Inc.

The NE 82nd and Broadway Affordable Housing project will include 47 apartments and a day-care center in one building and 11 units over a parking garage in the other. The site at the intersection of Northeast 82nd Avenue and Broadway is triangular, severely sloped and bound by streets on three sides.

Site and architectural solutions led to funding from the Portland Development Commission.

The firm is providing all planning, architectural design and construction administration for the project. The LRS project team is Dan Edwards, Shawn Homberg and Julie Paulson. Walsh Construction, BK Engineers and WRG Design are additional project consultants.

The project is scheduled to be completed by summer of 2008.
http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=28792&userID=1

bvpcvm
Feb 1, 2007, 3:11 PM
http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/portland_news/1169684726129860.xml&coll=7

Thanks for shopping at a new mixed-use Barbur development?

Thursday, February 01, 2007
The Oregonian

It was summer 2005 when Fred Meyer announced it planned to remodel or replace its Burlingame store, at 7555 S.W. Barbur Blvd. The Hillsdale Neighborhood Association thought it would hear about the plans in December 2006, but no word.

The glitch? A Fred Meyer official told the association recently that the company is in "active discussion" with one housing developer and may talk to others.

That means Fred Meyer is considering replacing the Burlingame store with a mixed-use building that would take advantage of housing densities allowed by the property's zoning.

Such deals are complex, however. If that's the direction Fred Meyer is headed, Burlingame shoppers probably won't see any changes this year.

MarkDaMan
Feb 1, 2007, 4:14 PM
A new city, block by block
Sure, the Pearl and South Waterfront get the ink. But small projects are reshaping neighborhoods, too.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
By Erin Hoover Barnett
The Oregonian

Condo towers from the Pearl to South Waterfront dominate the skyline and the headlines. But it's the smaller projects -- the West Burnside check-cashing place that's now a coffeehouse, the old sign shop turned sushi and pizza cafes on Southeast 28th -- that change the feel of neighborhoods one block at a time.

A strong economy, low interest rates and pressure for infill laid the foundation for a development boom in Portland -- rising from 5,600 commercial and residential projects launched in 2002 to 6,600 in 2006.

But it's the mojo from a critical mass of creative and sustainability-minded natives and transplants in close-in Portland that's making for unique results: Can't hide that downspout? Turn it into a rain-powered water feature, decided developer Daniel Deutsch on his latest rehab, a North manufacturing building.

"Portland is being driven by the young energy that is here," says Ben Stutz, a baby boomer attorney-turned-developer. "That's what makes Portland different. That's what makes Portland exciting."

And opportunity breeds opportunity.

Take Ron Sykes and Abe Killings. They grew up in Northeast and now are transforming a once-blighted corner on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard into a striking brick building where a restaurant/wine bar is poised to open. Rowhouses will follow.

But development can bring friction, too. Neighbors cringe when it seems developers are more interested in making money than building quality or when a developer's grand vision doesn't mesh with local sensibilities. Or when there's just too much change too fast.

"I get calls from elderly folks who are really worried about (all) the development," says Willie Brown, interim executive director of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods. "There's no outreach, even next door. So people do get afraid."

What changes the dynamic, says Brown, is not just communication but listening to neighbors.

Longtime King neighborhood resident Daina Hamer got to participate in a Portland Development Commission vision process for her area. Then she served on a panel that chose Killings and Sykes' project for MLK, a block from her home.

She says Sykes and Killings have sought out and remained accessible to neighbors. The result: Neighbors feel ownership in the project.

"We're all very excited," Hamer says. "Everybody just can hardly wait." Aaron Blake and Christina Davis Project: 304-310 S.E. 28th Ave. Rehabbed an industrial shop into two restaurants and a small culinary school. Status: Completed 2006 Another project: Restored storefronts at North Albina and Blandena, now housing Albina Press coffeehouse and Mississippi Health Center Story: Alternative music pulses and wood-oven flames dance as the staff at Ken's Artisan Pizza prep dough and set tables before opening. Next door at Masu East, serene electronica floats in the air as the sushi chefs shell shrimp into glistening pink piles.

All around is that feeling of sophisticated coziness becoming a trademark of close-in new Portland hangouts. Yet tied up in the new is the old -- just as husband-and-wife developers Blake and Davis intended.

The couple preserved several original windows with the metal dividers -- called mullions and transoms (who knew?) -- from the concrete tilt-up building and left the edges that frame the windows ragged. The concrete floor is original, and so are the huge beams supporting the ceiling.

Where they made additions, they did so for warmth and to connect with the outside, such as the new picture windows in front that slide open on nice evenings. They also stretched to use eco-conscious materials -- from sustainably harvested hardwoods to water-conserving dual-flush toilets.

Davis, 43, is schooled in international studies and skilled at textile design and running a business. Blake, 34, is the son of the late sociologist Gerald Blake with Portland State University's urban planning school. Both are native Oregonians. Blake grew up around talk of livability, density and mixed-use development. Now he's part of the generation turning the theories into reality.

"Growing up in Portland in the '80s, there was really nothing going on that was stimulating," says Blake, an architect by training. "The energy right now in this city is palpable." Abraham Killings and Ron Sykes Rob Tucker and Mazen Abualhaija Project: King's Crossing, 3500 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. at Fremont Street. Status: Terroir Restaurant (dishes from $4 to $12) opens in commercial space in May. Financial institutions are eyeing remaining space. Construction starts on Grand Avenue rowhouses, priced at $280,000 to $340,000, this month. Story: An empty whiskey bottle lies on the edge of the northeast corner lot at MLK and Fremont. But for the first time in many years, the bottle is out of place.

Beneath it is freshly poured bark dust. Surrounding it are newly planted shrubs. And stretching far above it is a gleaming three-story brick building, its stately facade softened with awnings in the front, trellises in the back.

From the wreckage of the crime-ridden and then long-vacant King Food Mart has emerged a new gateway to the King neighborhood, the vision of two men who grew up nearby and returned to help restore the area's vitality.

Killings and Sykes remember the thriving Union Avenue (now MLK) of the 1970s with stores from Fred Meyer to Lampus Furniture. Killings, 52, filled up on chili dogs at the drive-in. Sykes, 42, bought kites at the 88-Cent Store to fly at Peninsula Park.

But as Killings and Sykes matured, the boulevard declined.

Killings served as a military policeman, then earned a PSU business degree. He rose to become Nike's director for global distribution services. Sykes headed to Yale. Then a Notre Dame law degree led to work at a Chicago firm.

Their paths crossed back in Portland. In 2000, they formed First Oregon Development.

"We recognized the fundamental benefits and offerings of inner North and Northeast Portland," Killings says. "Had you not seen it in its glory, it might be hard for people to imagine."

The site of the old King Food Mart -- its parking lot known for drug dealing, underage drinking and gang scuffles -- was a signature chance to set the tone for a revived MLK.

The Portland Development Commission, with neighborhood input, chose Killings and Sykes to make it happen. The duo brought in Rob Tucker and Mazen Abualhaija of Public Private Partnerships Inc. to iron out the complicated financing.

The building's welcoming scale and the care in giving it a commercial face on MLK and a neighborhood feel on Grand won points with residents. A small landscaped parking lot ensures convenience and preserves side-street parking. And the rowhouses on Grand will feature garages at the rear, maintaining the street's porch-forward look.

Says Sykes, "It looks like it lived up to all of our and the neighbors' expectations." Ben Stutz and Jeff Mincheff Project: West Burnside and Trinity Place; renovated the Cambridge Apartments, Trinity Place and Trinity Plaza Status: Completed 2004 Another project: Restored the Empress Hotel at West Burnside and 16th Avenue from apartments into The Empress condominiums, www.empresscondos.com Story: Atop high stools at Coffeehouse Northwest, Stutz and Mincheff bask in the warmth they created.

When they bought the West Burnside and Trinity Place building and its neighbors in 2003, the ground floor was a check-cashing business with a big orange-lettered plastic sign. A few doors down, the Matador tavern was encased in deep-red stucco.

Mincheff, 41, points to the coffeehouse's transom windows. Once covered by a gray facade, they now filter early afternoon sun.

Workers ripped off the wallboard, exposing vintage brick. They removed the drop ceiling and uncovered hardwood floors beneath layers of linoleum. High-end 1920s replica lighting lends a quality feel. The developers brought the same treatment to the apartments above and next door.

"We try to stay true to the original luster and grandeur," says Stutz, 50. "When we're done with our properties, we like to say, 'Wow. This place looks really nice.' "

"Nice" can be a matter of opinion. Matador bartender Ellyn Groves, 27, says regulars preferred the cavelike feel that the old stucco afforded and that kept the place cool. So now the new windows are covered with drapes.

"In general, we absolutely hate the front," says Groves over a rollicking Thin Lizzy tune. "It was so original, so pretty -- a midcentury bar in America that you don't find anywhere. Now it looks like any street, any bar, anyplace in America."

Yet at the new coffee shop, Aaron Zieske looks up with a smile from "War and Peace."

Zieske, 26, rented a nearby apartment in October. Coffeehouse Northwest's exposed brick, big windows and worn floors beckoned.

"It's cozy, welcoming," says Zieske over Bing Crosby and Peggy Lee.

Even the check-cashing business -- though none too pleased -- got with the program. The shop moved a few doors down, and the big plastic sign is gone. Its small replacement is hand-painted on wood. Daniel Deutsch and Josh Oliver Project: 125 N.E. Killingsworth, a dilapidated house becomes a three-story building with Center Gyrotonic, an exercise studio, on the ground floor. Status: Completed 2005 Next project: Renovating a manufacturing building at 1618 N. Vancouver Blvd. Story: Deutsch sits on his dark-blue couch, gray light streaming through high windows, concert grand piano defining one corner.

"Music to me was not a creative endeavor," says the classically trained pianist turned developer. "I funnel creativity into design."

Deutsch, 31, is the grandson of a Los Angeles manufacturing magnate whose father later ran the business. High school at Interlochen Arts Academy led to music at Reed College. But he left and took PSU business classes. By 2001, bachelor's degree and an inheritance in hand, he unfurled in the young creative culture blossoming in Portland. He took on Oliver, skilled in carpentry and drafting, as a business partner.

"Daniel wanted to live somewhere, and he said, 'Hey, wanna remodel a house?' And I said, 'Sure,' " recalls Oliver, 27, who splits his time between projects with Deutsch and aerial acrobatics on the circus circuit.

A funky house at Northeast Killingsworth and Mallory, tortured with too many additions, became their first project in 2001.

"Fundamentally, Josh and I's philosophy is pretty simple," says Deutsch. "We like to fix broken things."

Four years later, their cedar-sided contemporary lodge emerged. The building brims with custom details.

Deutsch lives on the top floor with its high-ceilings and a cozy loft with lighting programmed to change color. The kitchen -- raised with tiny lights beneath -- appears to float. The floors are reclaimed fir. The fixtures are oil-rubbed bronze, the stove hood copper.

On the middle floor are Deutsch and Oliver's offices and, in the back, a guest apartment with less spendy but equally elegant bamboo floors and brushed-nickel fixtures.

On the ground floor, Center Gyrotonic -- an exercise discipline based on spherical movements -- boasts large windows and an open feel. The daylight basement serves for now as a hangout complete with miniature sconcelike lava lamps, a movie projector and legless shag chairs from Overstock.com.

Deutsch views the building as complementary to the grand old homes to the north. He's pleased that a developer is building five nice townhouses across the street where a larger, less-attractive project could have gone.

"The one thing I hope I've done," Deutsch says, "is to coax people to do nicer renovations in the area when the time comes."

Erin Hoover Barnett: 503-294-5011; ehbarnett@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1170111313207310.xml&coll=7

Dougall5505
Feb 1, 2007, 7:23 PM
has anyone heard about this one?
Master planning and Phase I design for a 13 acre, transit-oriented, urban mixed-use project demonstrating current best practices in sustainable design. The proposed development is 14 buildings and 1.3 million square feet, with retail, 800 housing units, commercial office, a public plaza and a large park.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN ELEMENTS: A demonstration project slated to achieve LEED Platinum, the entire development is planned to be off the public power grid through the use of fuel cells, micro-turbines, windpower, photovoltaics, geothermal and cogeneration. Extensive stormwater management is achieved through green roofs, bioswales, water collection and reuse and the use of pervious paving. Other elements include low embodied energy; high recycled materials content; high performance envelope technologies and innovative system controls and monitoring.

http://amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/82_lg1_82_Elements_01.jpg

http://amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/82_lg2_82_Elements_02.jpg
http://amaa.com/portfolio/html/detail/pop-detail.php?show=all&key=82

pdxman
Feb 1, 2007, 7:30 PM
I think i've seen this before? Where is it?

Dougall5505
Feb 1, 2007, 7:51 PM
it didn't say all it say was its a TOD so i'm assuming somewhere along the yellow line maybe

CouvScott
Feb 1, 2007, 8:14 PM
This looks like some drawings we have seen of the Gateway development. I think Mark had posted these last summer?

65MAX
Feb 1, 2007, 8:39 PM
Yes, that one was on 102nd Ave and (I think) Halsey, or thereabouts. Wasn't it called Elements? So is this a go?

MarkDaMan
Feb 1, 2007, 9:06 PM
^yep, that it is the Elements at Gateway (across from the Fred Meyer parking lot) . I believe someone posted a pre-app hearing recently on two or three of the buildings. The land is cleared and waiting. It was even supposed to have an affordable condo situation were going prices for a studio would start at $90,000. The PDC had their hands in this so maybe that is why it is taking so long?

MarkDaMan
Feb 1, 2007, 9:11 PM
PDX City-State's post #73 has an article about this project by Holst on 28th and Burnside.

http://chatterbox.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/sunrose_1.jpg

65MAX
Feb 1, 2007, 9:31 PM
^^^
It's different, but still Holst-y.

I like it.:tup:

Dougall5505
Feb 1, 2007, 10:35 PM
that is a very cool building!

sirsimon
Feb 2, 2007, 1:58 AM
RE: The Holst building - Not bad! I love the white boxes the protrude out of the sides.

bvpcvm
Feb 2, 2007, 2:08 AM
^yep, that it is the Elements at Gateway (across from the Fred Meyer parking lot) . I believe someone posted a pre-app hearing recently on two or three of the buildings. The land is cleared and waiting. It was even supposed to have an affordable condo situation were going prices for a studio would start at $90,000. The PDC had their hands in this so maybe that is why it is taking so long?

I'm pretty sure everyone's a little confused. (Not hard to be confused about anything past 82nd...) The Elements, from what I understand, was supposed to be built fronting 102nd, directly south of Fred Meyer. The two pre-app conferences posted recently are on 99th and 102nd and they're both a block or so north of Burnside - several blocks south of the Elements. I think the Elements, unfortunately, has been cancelled, as when I checked Portland Maps recently (in the wake of those pre-app conferences), there had been no activity on the Elements' site for quite a while.

MarkDaMan
Feb 2, 2007, 4:46 PM
^that is disappointing to hear. I figured anything new coming out of Gateway would have to be the Elements and since it would have had the largest building, up to ten floors or so, on 99th with the smaller buildings with affordable condos to go up first abutting 102nd.

What the hell is the PDC doing in Gateway then? Nothing from what I can tell.

MitchE
Feb 2, 2007, 6:16 PM
What the hell is the PDC doing in Gateway then? Nothing from what I can tell.

I don't think that's really fair Mark. What about the Oregon Clinic, the numerous affordable housing developments, the public infrastructure improvements, and property acquisitions? Just because we don't get a south waterfront instantly doesn't mean things aren't happening. To make any of this happen takes willingness by both developers and landowners. PDC can't control their decisions or the market. Developers are really cautious about big developments in Gateway right now, especially for things like the Elements.

Here's a quote from the September Gateway URA meeting minutes:

Abe Farkas is continuing to engage Central Gateway property owners and private developers in conversations about their thoughts on redevelopment in Central Gateway. Many property owners and developers are hesitant to be the first to redevelop in Central Gateway.

Give it 8-10 years and you'll see this stuff left and right.

MarkDaMan
Feb 2, 2007, 6:58 PM
^It isn't unfair because the first step the PDC needs to take is to calm 102nd Avenue and Halsey. The Elements were going to break up 102nd by adding some pedestrian islands, and the owners of the Fred Meyer mess did indicate they would build streetfront stores along their property if the PDC would start their road improvements that have been long promised.

Since the area is a junction of sorts for transit riders and freeway drivers, I think a large scale destination district is necessary. If I had my druthers the entire stip mall on steriods would be demolished. That withstanding, behind Winco there are large tracks of property, probably owned by the PDC, I also think the PDC should have bought the old hospital site for redevelopment. A theater, bowling alley, ice skating palace, with Wonderland already in the area would draw people into the area.

If an agreement could be worked out with the owner of the Gateway Shopping Center, a pedestrian road could be created between the defunct Mervyn's and Fred Meyer, from the transit center to 102nd. That would encourage more pedestrians walking and visiting the property.

From what I've seen of the Gateway Urban Renewal Area the goals are so modest, they might not even be effective. The area needs some excitement and the PDC should be changing the focus from auto-oriented destinations to those that compliment the incredible mass transportation connections already built.

pdxtraveler
Feb 2, 2007, 7:56 PM
While, I dont' disagree with most of your statement, Mark. I have a feeling PDC doesn't have much control over the roads in the area, that would be a City of Portland Transportion department issue. They seem to take years to get these adjustments discussed, I mean the Burnside couplet has been in discussion for years.

MarkDaMan
Feb 2, 2007, 9:20 PM
^I'm not sure where to lay all the blame. I live in the Gateway area and the PDC will send out releases about the area and the upcoming road projects and such. Than nothing happens. It is beginning to get a bit tiring and if the PDC doesn't have something worked out with PDOT, than the PDC shouldn't be sending out fliers saying the improvements are coming. Overall, it just seems like Gateway is on the PDC's backburner, but before the area falls further into mess, I'd like to see them try and bring it up to something else.

der Reisender
Feb 3, 2007, 12:15 AM
To quote MitchE quoting the September Gateway URA: "Many property owners and developers are hesitant to be the first to redevelop in Central Gateway."

Isn't this exactly the sort of place PDC is supposed to do something about? If nobody wants to be the first one out of the gate, then PDC should give somebody a push (read: subsidy) to get things started. it seems if developers started the ball rolling on Gateway with GOOD quality development, it'd take off and they'd be hitting themselves wondering why they didn't start sooner

Urbanpdx
Feb 3, 2007, 12:46 AM
I've never understood the draw of Gateway. Mark, why, other than low cost and a LRT station and freeway access, would anyone want to live in Gateway?

I'm not trying to be insulting, I just want to know.

EastPDX
Feb 3, 2007, 5:42 AM
... say the Gateway District being on the I-84 and I-205 is the biggest asset. MAX in three(soon four) directions would be a close second. Third is the access to PDX. Being in Mid-county (200,000 people to the East and West) makes Gateway a natural focal point. Being close to great Chinese Food on 82nd doesn't hurt either. Short drives, transit, or walks to shopping in Gateway, Clackamas TC, East, or West. A MAX trip to the Lloyd District or the Rose Garden is only 10-15 minutes and four to six stops. Walking trails on Mt. Tabor and around Glendover Public Golf course helps. And a large hospital for those of us who think about that kind of stuff. Good access for people from Washington trying to get out of paying sales taxes is a driver too.

So the best answer is easy access to lots of stuff.

EP

Urbanpdx
Feb 3, 2007, 3:46 PM
Thanks EastPDX, why do you think that real estate values have been on the lower side there?

mcbaby
Feb 3, 2007, 9:25 PM
maybe the stigma and the strip malls have something to do with it.

EastPDX
Feb 4, 2007, 2:12 AM
urbanpdx, I would say this: Lack of good paying jobs. The only higher paying positions are doctors and lawyers. Not a very good and diverse job market. Look at Downtown PDX, you have many higher paying positions. People like living close to their employment. Washington County has a good high tech base and people in high tech just like the service sector Downtown see advantages to being closer to the job location.

Higher paying employment regions are where the highest land values are in PDX. Kruse Way is another example.

So, in Gresham, we have an area of land (called Springwater) that I had citizen input on. It is designated as an employment district by Metro, the state, and the city. Hopefully it will not fill up in the next twenty years with warehouses (there are warehouses going up in the Columbia River Corridor like crazy). We did alot of visioning on the district for many reasons: protection of the forest land, stream beds, hills, and character. It will, in my opinion, be an amazing place once its built out as planned. But it has one major issue that the City of Gresham can't fix without State, County, and neighbors help.

Downtown PDX has had good access for over one century (focal point for overnment and commerce). People forget that the Silicon Forest and the investments that Hillsboro did back in the 1980s didn't truly pencil t until the new century. The plots stood vacant for a decade. But Washington County has US26 going right by the plots that have been waiting.

Gresham and Springwater will need a connector from US-26 to I-84 and also the Sunrise Corridor would need to be connecting to US-26. No major bio-tech, nano-tech, or other manufacturing/research corporation or public/private entity is going to come to Springwater without this connector and/or light rail type investment.

The planner and the team members of the Springwater team heard this from me and others.

So my answer to you is this: Without public investment in access assets (streetcars, highways, light rail, bike lanes) you don't see higher paying jobs and thus higher land values. The Gateway District was already developing long before the I-205 corridor was paid for and build (the corridor sat there for what ten years as the construction moved North). The 102nd Avenue shopping malls (Gateway mainly) developed for families like my parents on SE 148th back in the 50s/60s as the car-centered developers raced East.

The County, City, and State never thought about employment centers then like they started to back in the 1970s and 1980s. East County developed before regional planning and Metro. Once you understand the timeline, you understand why East County hasn't been able to break out of the zoning and development concepts pre-SB1 and Oregons smarter land use laws of the 1970s.

I know you don't like to hear this but it is the truth and the process and timeline I just described to you are there for anyone who wishes to see them and the streets and the subdivisions of East County don't lie.

It will take many years and some critical access investments (my guess is a major employment corridor from Troutdale down to Damascus with light rail being extended to Mt Hood CC and a solution for freight movement from US-26 to I-84) to improve what wasn't done before.

EP

Urbanpdx
Feb 4, 2007, 4:18 PM
Thanks EP,

So, with what you know, if you were a developer looking for a project would you choose Gateway or would you wait and see while investing elsewhere?

EastPDX
Feb 5, 2007, 12:28 AM
... all the developers are waiting for the 102nd work to start. Then they can seriously go in and offer the land owners a fair price. That is first from a timing question. As for a type of development, I would go with a retirement/low income/retail mix. Since the area doesn't have the higher paying jobs that we talked about earlier, using the retirement portion to support the low income apartments. Tax abatements might be available with the low income apartments being in the urban redevelopment zone. Retail should and always has worked in Gateway.

I believe all the developers see the same thing I and others see. Five to ten story redevelopment projects in all the parking lots and along all the major avenues. Parking will be centralized (structures) and underground. The land is too important to be surface parking. Similar to what is happening now in Downtown PDX and out in the The Round area of Beaverton.

EP

zilfondel
Feb 5, 2007, 1:24 AM
I totally agree. The Damascus/Springwater area does need more infrastructure to properly develop it as the plans have envisioned for the area; including a highway and to extend the 205 lightrail into the area - and perhaps a mixed-use path extended from the trail loop that winds its way through the portland metro area.

Accessibility and mobility is key to cohesively connect the region together, and is part of what leads to higher land values and thus higher quality development. Well, hopefully anyway - it still takes intent and money to do things above and beyond the norm.

mcbaby
Feb 5, 2007, 9:56 AM
does anyone recall a thread about the condo project at the old tice electric company on 21st and se belmont?

sirsimon
Feb 5, 2007, 11:47 AM
Yep. It was kind of a long building - I remember people here commenting that it needed to be broken up visually. There was also an article in the Oregonian about it, as I recall reading comments from neighbors who felt unhappy about the prospect of having this building there.

MarkDaMan
Feb 5, 2007, 4:05 PM
I've never understood the draw of Gateway. Mark, why, other than low cost and a LRT station and freeway access, would anyone want to live in Gateway?

I'm not trying to be insulting, I just want to know.

no offense taken. I was living in the Hollywood in a house and wanted to downsize to an apartment to make sure I could deal with condo living...didn't want to buy something I wasn't going to enjoy living in, and since I never really lived in multi-unit housing outside a year in a downtown high rise, I thought I'd try. Anyway, my landlord's son had just bought a new building in Gateway and needed tenants fast. The price was good, the place decent, and the guy's a friend, so I've just been kicking it watching the condo market to weaken for the past two years now.

I never thought I'd end up near Gateway though, to tell you the truth. However, since I have lived there for some time now, I can see how a few major developments could tranform the entire district. I also feel the same about 'downtown' Hollywood. I could hope the PDC would align it's priorities with Metro's and build these town centers up and dense as invisioned.

Urbanpdx
Feb 5, 2007, 4:26 PM
Thanks for the insight Mark. There are several nice properties available for sale in Gateway, I just don't see anyone jumping.

I'm sorry about your market timing on buying. The condo market flattened in the fall of 06 but I really doubt you'll ever see 2004-2005 prices (or interest rates) again without a MAJOR economic disaster. I don't have a crystal ball but housing prices are what urban economists call "sticky" in the downward direction. Oh well, there are a lot of advantages to renting that are not widely discussed.

MarkDaMan
Feb 5, 2007, 4:30 PM
^maybe not jumping yet, but those with foresight know to invest before gentrification. We'll see.

I've been looking at a couple reaaaaly promising deals lately. I was waiting for the 1700 building to progress further, even talked to my friend who works for G-E, well, it appears the building wont start until probably this fall at the soonest, so I've turned my attention. The interest rates have been holding pretty steady, and the prices for condos have continued to decline, slightly. If I am to purchase a place, it will be soon. Otherwise I'm going back to school full time for a career change...

Urbanpdx
Feb 5, 2007, 4:49 PM
Long term rates are doing pretty good but the 3% 5/1 arms are a thing of the past. I know of several "investors" who are having trouble flipping the condos they bought last year. A guy with some time on his hands might be able to get one to bite if he made low offers on a lot of different places.

What price range are you looking in? Downtown only?

MarkDaMan
Feb 5, 2007, 4:53 PM
Downtown only?

hahaaa...only if I was a fool. It's not that I can't afford a place downtown, but you add in HOA fees monthly, one place even had monthly parking fees, for downtown properties and can kiss the extra cushion money away.

Urbanpdx
Feb 5, 2007, 5:50 PM
Oh, I assumed you did not have a car. Where are you looking?

MarkDaMan
Feb 5, 2007, 7:01 PM
Oh, I assumed you did not have a car.

why? I've been looking Southeast, Gresham, Fairview, and one in NoPo.

Urbanpdx
Feb 5, 2007, 7:33 PM
Your anti-auto bias of course!

:)

Which projects in SE and North? I think Gresham and Fairview are too far away from everything myself...

mcbaby
Feb 5, 2007, 8:30 PM
i wish i could find a rendering of it or a developers link

MarkDaMan
Feb 5, 2007, 9:13 PM
^ha, I'm certainly not anti-auto. I love my truck. It gets me to Silver Falls for weekend hiking, a trip through the Gorge, up to Helens, skiing on Hood. I just don't need it to get to and from work, the store, local errands, or going out on the weekends.

I was seriously looking at a condo in Cascadian Court in the Lloyd. It was just too small. I've been looking more at townhomes than condos lately. Some of Portland is just too expensive for what you get, even with location, so when I see a two story, two bedroom townhome in Gresham, vs. a 1 *uhumm* bedroom with a deck big enough to do a circle in, it's hard to choose the condo. And, since this is my first home I am seriously needing to get something I think will retain its value, considering the price difference between sq footage in Gresham vs. Portland, I might have to to settle for the burb and something not quite so 2007 new.

Urbanpdx
Feb 5, 2007, 11:26 PM
But don't you think that the ease of building a new building in Gresham will keep it from growing as quickly as the Portland buildings?

Which project in N were you looking at?