Pearl District News

[MarkDaMan]

Portland's Pearl District has been a resounding success. Below is a recent article that gives a short history of the district as well as "look" into what has already been done. This thread will follow the finishing touches that will round out the district in the next 5 to 10 years. There is still much work to do. The district has much infill potential that will keep new development happening for many more years, but there is also a new district within the district the developers have branded "NoLo.":yuck: In this district (north of Lovejoy street) the city has agreed to raise its height limit to allow taller slender buildings and there is land potential for at least 15 new towers, if not many more than that, to be built. With Portland expecting 20 to 30 new towers (most if not all above 175ft) to be started by this winter, it shouldn't take long to fill this empty track.

What's old is new again in Portland's gem
Lively Pearl District teems with galleries, shops and clubs
Christine Delsol, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Portland, Ore. -- Oregon's No. 1 city has been mostly overlooked by Californians (not always to its great regret) as merely a "nice place" with rose-filled parks, pretty bridges and decent hotels -- more important as a stopover than a destination. A coterie of hippies and iconoclasts were drawn to Portland's individualism, and fans of Seattle's coffee and dot-com cultures might have had a look on the way, but mostly we haven't paid much attention.

News flash: When we weren't looking, Portland got hip.

While other cities were paving over or bulldozing places that were no longer profitable, Portland was turning them into attractive and affordable parks, restaurants, shops, music venues, art galleries, restaurants and brew pubs. It's managed to pack in all the big-city attractions while keeping urban aggravations to a minimum.

The Pearl District, whose reclaimed warehouses and rail yards have been populated in recent years with artists and designers, is an ideal vantage point for observing the city's evolution. With the recent immigrants came international flavors, sidewalk cafes, lively clubs and flashy lofts and townhouses. But art and design remain at its heart.

People pack the streets for a crash course in contemporary painting, sculpture and photography the first Thursday of the month, when galleries stay open late and offer food and entertainment. In response to growing interest in its urban style and interior design, the neighborhood staged Pearl CitySpaces, a weeklong public condominium and loft tour, in May.

The Pearl, adjacent to downtown, is also about a 15-minute walk, or a short ride by free public transit, from the city's latest arts buzz: The Portland Art Museum's new Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, which opened Saturday. The landmark former Masonic Temple is now the Pacific Northwest's largest repository of modern art.

The museum's addition occupies the south wing of the temple, built to monumental proportions in 1925. The staid brick exterior is scored by a decidedly modern, faceted glass "pleat" that pulls natural light into five levels of galleries, and capped with glowing glass penthouses. But in its core, two ballrooms were meticulously restored for public use, complete with rusticated walls, Moorish flourishes and a circular frieze of painted quotations.

The Pearl District is a similar marriage of modern culture and historic preservation. This is where young cosmopolitans, surrounded by plasma TVs and plates of Thai salad rolls, choose from 100 tap beers within the exposed brick walls and 24-foot ceilings of Henry Weinhard's original brewery. Today's Brewery Blocks house not only Henry's 12th Street Tavern but retailers, offices, restaurants, Peet's Coffee and possibly the world's most ornate Whole Foods market, in a former Chevrolet dealership facing the old brewery's smokestack.

My first glimpse of the Pearl, under the wing of my friend Renate, who lives across the river but regularly crosses the Broadway Bridge to shop or walk her dogs, was Jamison Square, a 3-year-old park where kids splashed in the fountain from morning to evening. A few blocks away, the Fremont Bridge arched beyond a red neon "Go by streetcar" sign, echoing nearby Union Station's classic "Go by train" sign.

As we strolled, Renate's boyfriend couldn't say he disagreed with complaints that the district has become too precious, a "fake" version of Europe or San Francisco. But he eagerly ushered me to Sinju, an uncharacteristically spacious and quiet sushi bar, and to the Ecotrust Building. This century-old warehouse's socially minded tenants include a Patagonia store, the Wild Salmon Center, Hot Lips Pizza, the nation's first environmental bank and Ecotrust itself, a nonprofit promoting environmental sustainability. Even the renovation was green, reusing old timbers and recycling 98 percent of the construction materials.

Returning to the Pearl on my own, I got lost in the endless stacks at Powell's City of Books, the country's largest independent bookstore. I had outrageously good Cuban chicken palomillo and a mojito at Oba. I saw the same model of running shoe that carried Jesse Owens to four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the West Coast's only Adidas Originals store, and bought a clever little notebook for my purse at Oblation. A couple sitting on their ground-level patio smiled as I passed, music spilled from bars and brew pubs, and I joined the briefcase-toting natty dressers milling around Whole Foods. It all felt so ... companionable.

When this was Henry Weinhard's neighborhood in the 1850s, it was called Couch's Addition. Union Station was built in 1896, and warehouses, manufacturing and storage facilities rose along rail spur lines throughout the district. Then the urban flight of the 1960s killed the momentum.

Artists started moving into the derelict neighborhood in the late 1970s, touching off a resurgence remarkable for its continuity between past and present. Sherman, Clay and Co., which operated here in the 1920s, returned to the Brewery Blocks in 2004. Even the district's status as a furniture and design mecca is old news: the Central Door Co., which exported building materials throughout the world a century ago, now houses JD Madison's contemporary furniture, rugs and design services.

The last train rolled in 2003, but the North Bank passenger station endures, full of townhouses. Burlington Northern's former storage yards house the Portland Streetcar, along with Jamison Square and trendy Portlanders' lofts and condos. The renovated Union Station is still a transit hub.

The juxtaposition of brick warehouses, sleek high-rises and picturesque storefronts does have a certain San Francisco feel. In the Pearl, though, stylish restaurants don't laugh if you walk in without a reservation. Streets are narrower, and traffic moves at nonlethal speeds.

Maybe it's time to start paying attention. The Pearl offers a plenty good time, and it even seems to have gotten San Francisco right.

http://movingtoportland.net/maps/map_pearl.jpghttp://www.breweryblocks.com/graphics/home_lgphoto.jpg

http://www.portlandtribune.com/pearl/pearlCover2.jpghttp://www.portlandtribune.com/newsi/30912Dull.jpg

[MarkDaMan]

projects under construction:

Cronin Block (to be named)
http://www.movingtoportland.com/homes/croninblock.jpg
15-story, 244-unit building
developed by Robert Ball, designed by Fletcher Farr Ayotte with a courtyard by the late Robert Murase.

The Casey
http://www.movingtoportland.com/homes/Casey.jpg
The Casey will be one of the most energy efficient and environmentally-friendly high rise residential projects in the United States. The developer, Gerding/Edlen, is aiming for it to be the first condo tower in the country to earn a top "platinum" rating under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

The Casey will have only five condos per floor and will have 56 units. It will be a 15-story building. The average size of a Casey condo will be 2,000 square feet.

Square Foot Price: $400 and up

The Crane
http://www.movingtoportland.com/homes/crane.jpg
The building will be converted into a mixed use with six floors total - three floors will be residential.

[MarkDaMan]

Waterfront Pearl
http://www.movingtoportland.com/homes/waterfront%20pearl.jpg
Amenities include an underground parking garage, lap pool, exercise room, boardroom and common area.

Plans include an extensive water feature. The water features covers almost the entire property and will range in depth from 18 to 36 inches. Water will cascade down a series of waterfalls, be recycled through a series of filters, and re-circulated. It is designed to assist with storm water management, building temperature control and irrigation. It will also provide gray water for toilet flushing and water for fire fighting.

The effect would be to make the buildings look like they're resting in the shallows of the Willamette River. The project calls for extensive landscaping, maintains view corridors from Naito Parkway and continues the riverfront trail that currently ends at the edge of the parking lot.

Soren Rasmussen, the architect, sees the project as a bridge that will connect the Pearl District to the Willamette River and teamed with Portland landscape architectural firm Walker Macy to design a central water feature intended to illustrate the connection. Rasmussen's design for the two towers calls for sculpted, wedge-shaped buildings that a Bureau of Development Services employee this summer said resemble the shape of "a ship's bow."

Metropolitan
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/edirp/Metropolitan.jpg
With The Metropolitan, Hoyt Street Properties will establish a new benchmark for buildings in Portland’s Pearl District, one of the nation’s most successful new urban neighborhoods. At a mid point in their development of the area, Hoyt Street Properties envisions the 380,000-square-foot project as an icon in the city, becoming Portland’s most luxurious urban condominium building. The Metropolitan will be one of the city’s first truly mixed use projects—121 large, luxury units in a 19-story tower will be paired with a 4-story, 20,000-square-foot boutique live/work building. These two sections will be joined by over 20,000 square feet of retail space at the street level and two floors of underground parking.

At 225 feet tall, the Metropolitan will be the tallest building in the Pearl District offering sweeping views of the neighborhood, Tanner Springs Park, Jamison Square, Willamette River, mountain peaks, downtown, and the west hills. The unique design of the condominium tower allows a majority of the units to be exclusive corner units, maximizing views and daylight for unit owners.

Additional amenities are incorporated throughout the building: concierge service, a club with individual wine storage and a wine bar, an exercise room, conference facilities, guest suites, and a second floor roof garden. The building will convey the sense of luxury within—the exterior will be clad in roman travertine and a custom glass curtain wall system. Furthermore, a balance between luxury and sustainability will be promoted in the project—high performance mechanical systems, a rainwater retention and reuse system, and the incorporation of durable, low-maintenance materials will help The Metropolitan achieve LEED Silver Certification.

[MarkDaMan]

Lovejoy Columns find a home
Two of the fabled Lovejoy Columns have found a home in the Pearl District. Developer John Carroll has agreed to place two of the 30’ remnants of the old Lovejoy Ramp in the Plaza at The Elizabeth. Before the ramp was demolished in 1999, the columns were a cult attraction because of folk art
murals painted on them in the 1940’s by rail switchman Tom Stefopolous.

Safeway on the boards
Designs for the two-block mixed use project between 12th and 14th at
Lovejoy have begun to make their way through city planning channels. The new development features two buildings. The first includes a Safeway grocery store, three levels of parking above the store, and 60,000 square feet of office space. The second building will also have ground floor retail, three or four stories of parking, and a 12 story tower of apartments above.

Development promises to change the look and function of the Pearl District’s waterfront.
The Waterfront Pearl Condominiums will dramatically change the look of the Pearl’s waterfront.
Today, it’s easy to be in the Pearl District and forget that the
Willamette River is just a short walk away. But new public and private projects sprouting up along the river will likely change the Pearl’s relationship with the waterfront.

Riverscape
Apollo Development’s Riverscape will be a mixed residential development. The first phase consists of 104 town homes priced from $525,000 to about $1 million and is under construction on the 15.4 acre site just north of the Fremont Bridge. The project’s future phases were anticipated to be complete in five years.
Original plans included a marina, 91 brownstones and two condo towers, although at press time developers were seeking further input from potential residents and customers. “These townhomes are geared for Pearl folks who are looking for more space,” Brian Ramsay of Realty Trust explains, “or considering starting a
family, hoping for more room for kids. One element of the project
is a large Riverwalk [part of the Willamette River Greenway] that will
be monitored for security but open to the public.”

Waterfront Pearl
Naito Properties/Pemcor’s Waterfront Pearl is a $130 million
riverfront condo project near the end of Overton Street, between the Broadway and Fremont Bridges.
Phase One includes 200 units, priced from $350,000 to $1.3 million, in two metal, stone and glass towers sitting in a unique sustainable reflecting pond. This phase is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2007.
“The reflecting pond cleans water that drains from the roof, it provides stormwater management, it helps control building temperatures and it serves as storage for firefighting. It does a lot more than just look pretty.” says Judd James in Northwest
Construction Magazine. James is project manager for Portland’s Otak
Architects, who partnered with Walker Macy of Portland and Soren
Rasmussen Architects of Vancouver, B.C. on the design.

Centennial Mill
Eighty years ago, 50 different steamship lines called on Portland,
then the world’s largest lumber export But the ships docked at Centennial Mill weren’t taking on wood, they were picking up flour made from Oregon grain. Today, depending upon your perspective,
the mill can be a scenic and restorable relic of the district’s maritime history, or a decaying collection of nearly 100-year-old buildings awaiting the wrecking ball.
The fate of Centennial Mill is, if you’ll forgive the pun, a watershed issue for the Pearl waterfront. Even with Waterfront Pearl and Riverscape underway, the mill’s fate will define the overall philosophy of future redevelopment efforts according to
Bruce Allen, senior development manager at the Portland Development Commission.
“We’re facing a key decision point,” Allen points out. “Do we want active or passive uses on the waterfront? They are really
polar opposites. You can also ask what is more open space worth?”
The “active” use Allen refers to is development and “passive” use means parks.
“Given the current ownership and development future,” he says, “if the mill is preserved, only one acre will remain available for open space on the waterfront. If the mill is torn down, a five- or six-acre
park is possible. I’m not advocating either course, but there is a direction that needs to be chosen.”
That direction was a foregone conclusion in the 1994 River District
plan, which called for the mill complex to be demolished for an expansion of Tom McCall Waterfront Park. In 2000, the Portland Development Commission paid $7.7 million for the property. In May 2005, however, the City Council gave Centennial Mill a stay of execution, directing PDC and the Bureau of Planning to explore other
options.
“Tearing down the historic mill would be a shame for the city, an absolute tragedy,” says Patricia Gardner, Pearl-based architect
and planning committee chair for the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. “The taller buildings at the site can be preserved,
as can the wharf. The rest of the buildings are problematic, but during this process everything is on the table.”
The City of Portland is currently engaged in a request-for-proposal (RFP) process to gather ideas on how to preserve and make the best use of the site. The RFP will likely hit the streets in late winter;
People on both sides of the issue will have an opportunity to come forward. The site is a difficult one, but some combination of preserved and new buildings with retail, office and housing components will likely emerge. The old wharf on the site contains piers that are still solid below the water line, and could be restored as a base for new structures, as was accomplished on
Astoria’s waterfront.
Whatever the outcome, many believe that the process itself will be an improvement. “We’ve been developing the waterfront by
neglect rather than by plan,” says Gardner. We need to know where we’re going. Is history worth saving?”
“I think it’s healthy to see what people have in mind,” adds Allen, “although it will probably be at least a year before any activity
starts, one way or the other.”



Sales will start in October for The Metropolitan, the latest project from Hoyt Street Properties. The 19-story tower will feature 136 units, including 15 loft style live or work units. The building is currently under construction between 10th and 11th, Lovejoy and Marshall Streets.

The Crane Building at 14th and Irving is being renovated and developers are seeking tax abatements. These abatements
require that the building’s 30 lofts be rented out as apartments
until 2012. (The two penthouses are new construction, and do
not qualify for tax abatement). The developers hope to have the
building occupied in late 2006. No word yet on when sales begin.

[pdxstreetcar]

I say "active" waterfront, I really want to see Centennial Mills saved and reused.

[bvpcvm]

“These townhomes are geared for Pearl folks who are looking for more space,” Brian Ramsay of Realty Trust explains, “or considering starting a
family, hoping for more room for kids."

Yeah, right. Only if mommy and daddy are both lawyers.

[MarkDaMan]

artist rendering of Pearl's "NoLo" buildout on property owned by Hoyt Street Properties.
http://hoytyards.com/images/hsp_rendering.jpg

The grayish/brown building in the center has been built also the one to the left has too. The greenspace both abutting the river at the bottom of pic and above the rail are actually other developer's property that wasn't included in this developer's image. The small buildings in the background are also being developed as high rises by other companies.

[colemonkee]

I lived in Portland from '92-'95, and this area was mainly abandoned buildings. I go back every year to visit family and friends, and I've been very pleased with the turnaround. Every time I go back I make a point to visit this area and go out to dinner or out to a bar/club. I remember seeing a Diesel store and an American Apparel on my last trip and thinking "damn, Portland's becoming a real urban city!" It's always been a great city, but now it's becoming more of a modern, urban place, not just a "northwest" place.

[MarkDaMan]

The two Lovejoy Columns going to the Elizabeth plaza were set in place yesterday.

FIRST THURSDAY TONIGHT...can't wait to get my drink on courtesy of the art galleries! And the Addias store, they had two kegs flowing last month and a DJ....wonder if newcomers over the past month will have anything set up...

[mSeattle]

Great news. I need to get down and take pictures.

[MarkDaMan]

Historic Crane Building to be renovated

Guardian Management LLC has purchased the historic Crane Building in Portland's Pearl District.

Partnering with individual investors and a historic tax investor to create Crane Building Investors LLC, the Portland-based real estate investment and management company will relocate its headquarters from Johns Landing to become the anchor tenant in the Crane Building's 24,000 square feet of available office space.

Plans for the six-story, 90,000-square-foot Crane Building, located at 710 N.W. 14th Ave., include an $18 million restoration project to create mixed-use office, retail and residential space. Renovations will begin this month, with project completion scheduled for the fall of 2006.

Thirty market-rate loft apartments will be created from 24,000 square feet of space and two luxury penthouses units -- which do not fall under the historical designation -- will be available for purchase.

Built in 1909, the Crane Building was designed by William C. Knighton, a Portland-based architect known for his work on the Capital National Bank Building in Salem and Portland's Governor Hotel. The Crane Building served as the regional headquarters for the Crane Co., a rapidly expanding brass foundry and pipe fitting company based in Chicago in the late 1800s.

and

Pearl District gets new bistro

Another former Torrefazione Italia space has found a new occupant.

The former coffee chain's Pearl District location, 1140 N.W. Everett St., reopens in November as Everett St. Bistro.

The bistro is owned by Kyle Lynch, principal at KL Design Group. In addition to a deli case and coffee service, it will serve breakfast on weekends as well as lunch and dinner. Previously, Mia Gelato announced it would take over the Northwest 23rd Torrefazione Italia spot.

[urbanlife]

I just drove by thae waterfront area, there is alot of work going on over there. My biggest concern is how it will connect to the rest of the Pearl and downtown without having to use a car.

[cab]

Anyone know what is going on with the abandon building on 14th and evertt? I believe it was an old Meier and Frank warehouse. I thought it was going to be rehabilitated this Fall, but I haven't seen any signs on the building yet.

[urbanlife]

good question, I was beginning to wonder that myself.

[pdxstreetcar]

yeah thats an old M&F warehouse, and I'm surprised nothing has happened to that building being that its a full block, something tells me it might be one of those, I think they call them, "Telco hotels" with tons of telecommunications equipment packed inside.

[edgepdx]

I think the 14th and Everet is empty. I'm really suprised no one has converted it to lofts. It's got pretty good sized windows already.

[bvpcvm]

From the October 14, 2005 print edition

Condo craze gets all wet

The Pearl is yesterday's news as focus moves to river

Wendy Culverwell
Business Journal staff writer

The construction cranes have decamped from the Pearl District for waterside sites as Portland's residential aspirations shift ever so slightly to the east.

At last count, there were some 1,439 condominium units in development along the west bank of the Willamette River. When built, they will occupy 10 separate towers at five separate locations. Four separate sets of developers are driving the waterfront construction boom.

They all have this in common beyond their waterfront location: Buyers have snapped up units almost as soon as they hit the market.

Riverscape, on Front Street near the western terminus of the Fremont Bridge, is closest to completion of the five projects in development. The first 34 units will be ready for residents this fall. The project will eventually boast about 500 units, including 104 townhouses.

Not far to the south, Waterfront Pearl is the most recent project to get going. Offered by the Naito Properties LLC and its development partners from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, it will include 192 units in two towers in the former River Queen parking lot, just north of the Broadway Bridge.

Two additional towers may be developed in the future on the adjacent site, which is owned by a separate branch of the Naito family.

The first phase opens in two years. Buyers reserved about 80 percent of the first building when it was put on the market earlier this summer.

The second building will be available in a month or so and its builders expect a similar reception.

There's no secret why some of Portland's most prominent condominium developers -- Gerding/Edlen, Homer Williams and Jack Onder -- have turned their attention to the waterfront. The Pearl District is nearly built out and high-end buyers have a seemingly unending appetite for luxury condos.

"The market is ravenous right now," said Kirk Taylor, senior vice president for investment sales at CB Richard Ellis. Taylor helped usher Waterfront Pearl to fruition when he introduced Sam and Verne Naito, who own the property, to a team of out-of-town developers, Pemcor Development Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Grancorp Holdings LLC of Seattle.

Builders aren't the only ones taking advantage of the ongoing appetite for condominiums and waterside living, Taylor said.

Almost every apartment complex along the river has converted to condominiums and very little developable land remains between Portland and Lake Oswego outside of the South Waterfront area.

Demand for luxury condominiums remains strong and mortgage interest rates remain low. And compared with other cities along the West Coast, Portland remains a bargain -- buyers would have to pay twice as much elsewhere to afford the kinds of properties available in Portland.

Builder Jack Onder got his start in the Pearl District and notes that district continues to go strong and several new projects are in the offing. But there aren't many spots left in there, which means builders are looking elsewhere.

Now, years of effort to build in the River Place urban renewal area are coming to fruition. The Strand was originally conceived as a hotel, but morphed into a residential project with the twists and turns of the economy. The 216-unit project will include three towers and is in mid-construction. The first units will be ready for residents a year from now.

RiverPlace Partners, which consists of Onder's company and Williams and Dame Development Inc., has been working on its piece for five years.

The Strand occupies one of the last sites available in the district between the Hawthorne and Interstate 5 bridges.

Developers didn't discover the river, Onder said. They work with the sites that become available. And right now, that means the river.

So far, the sales crew at The Strand has released 137 units in the first two towers to buyers. Most have been reserved.

Buyers will be asked to sign binding purchase agreements starting this weekend and, based on the conversion rate of similar properties, Onder and his broker say most reservations will convert into actual sales. Buyers are expected to occupy their units and speculative investors are turned away.

Onder describes the projects strung along the waterfront in chain-like terms -- the pieces will eventually be linked. To a large extent, they already are -- by the riverwalk that extends from the Broadway Bridge south to RiverPlace.

He believes it will eventually find its way further south and will eventually connect the northern sections of the river with the South Waterfront, where Gerding/Edlen is building the Meriwether and John Ross condominiums.

Buyers are drawn by the green aspects as much as by the river and its endless parade of pleasure boats as well as working ships, developers agree.

At the north end of the Willamette, builders of the Waterfront Pearl use terms like "working riverfront" and "retro industrial" to market their projects. It is a quaint caution to would-be buyers that Portland's riverfront is a busy -- and loud -- place to live and perhaps not suited to those who cherish silence.

Oceangoing vessels, trains, freeways, city streets and even pedestrian trails contribute decibels.

At Waterfront Pearl, which faces the Amtrak station, builders are hedging against the sound of whistle blasts with triple-glazed windows on the walls that face the tracks. An extensive water feature is being engineered to produce soothing sounds to mask the background racket that reverberates around the area, such as the hum from a grain elevator on the opposing shore.

At RiverPlace, designers addressed a different noise challenge.

There are no nearby train tracks, but an elevated bridge carries Interstate 5 across the river and past the construction site on the south.

"It is urban," agreed Onder, who said extensive noise studies indicate freeway noise drifts south and away from his project. Overall, the noise levels at RiverPlace are comparable to those in downtown. If quiet is important, he gingerly suggested that perhaps the waterfront isn't the right place to live.

Brian Ramsay, a broker with Realty Trust Group and listing agent for Riverscape, said the 104 townhouses (average price $704,000) have been well received, especially by current Pearl District residents who want more space and don't like the commercialization of the once industrial neighborhood. Of the 54 put on the market, 44 have sold.

Last week, the real estate company launched a Web site to register interest for the condominiums that will be contained in two towers. Within days, it had taken 200 names for the waiting list. Realty Trust also is the selling agency for Gerding/Edlen's Meriwether and John Ross projects at South Waterfront. Both had similar sales patterns.

Ramsay's theory about why developers are concentrating on the shoreline is simple: demand.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, he said, they're not building any more riverfront property.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415

http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2005/10/17/story1.html?t=printable

[MarkDaMan]

and more of the "gritty industry" feel has been taken from what is becoming a very Tony neighborhood.

Pearl’s thoroughly paved

Downtown’s last unpaved street reopened last week with fanfare not usually seen for the filling of potholes.
A collection of dignitaries that included city Commissioner Sam Adams, Commissioner Mark Rosenbaum of the Portland Development Commission, neighborhood leaders, developers and business owners all held forth in a ceremony at Northwest 13th Avenue between Johnson and Raleigh streets.
The occasion marked the paving of the eight-block stretch of Northwest 13th Avenue, the last unpaved street in the neighborhood. Potholes, gravel and the railroad tracks have been replaced with a concrete street, a valley gutter along the loading docks with pedestrian ramps, head-in parking and lights.
Two-thirds of the money for the $2.6 million project came from property owners, through a local improvement district, and the remainder from River District Urban Renewal Area funds.

[MarkDaMan]

Riverscape-going through the permits process
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/edirp/Riverscape.jpg
not actually considered the Pearl as this development sits just under the Fremont Bridge, but with it surrounded by heavy industry it will probably become the farthest edge of the Pearl at buildout...

[FlyersFan118]

thats wassap.

[MarkDaMan]

nationwide the housing market might be cooling off, but here in Portland it's still HOT!

Demand Out Distances Housing Supply
11/10/2005

On Thursday November 3rd The Metropolitan sales were kicked off with a three-day buyers’ preview of the 136-unit condominium community. At the end of the preview, 500 buyers had indicated their interest in purchasing one of the homes.

“We had a sense that we would have more buyers interested than we had homes to sell,” said Tiffany Sweitzer, President of Hoyt Street Properties (HSP). “Prior to the launch more than 4,600 inquiries had been received regarding the project.”

Faced with this enviable problem, HSP and Hoyt Realty Group designed a lottery system that gave everyone an equal chance at purchasing a home. On Sunday November 6th two hundred names were drawn and the process of informing the winners began the following day.

As the developer of a 30-block neighborhood in the Pearl District, Hoyt Street Properties is accustomed to a high level of interest in its projects. For example, the 124 unit Park Place condominium, overlooking Jamison Park, sold out just 8 months after it opened in May 2004. A year later the Pinnacle Condominium’s 176 homes were sold before its doors opened.

“We believe this increased level of interest is directly related to the progress we are making in transforming a former railroad yard into a unique mixed-use community,” speculated Sweitzer. “After 10 years of effort people are now able to feel and visualize the distinctive nature of our urban neighborhood with its own lively character and personality.”

[pdxtraveler]

The crane is going up on this as I write.

[MarkDaMan]

Affordable housing is as crucial as jobs
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The Sitka Apartments -- the Pearl District's latest entry into Portland's red-hot housing market -- takes up a full city block at Northwest 12th Avenue and Northrup Street.

Its studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments have some of the same amenities -- free high-speed Internet, keyless entry and a fitness center -- as the rest of its neighboring condos, some of which are selling for $1 million or more. It even has its own streetcar stop, landscaped courtyard and a rental unit available for guests.

However, all but seven of the 210 apartments are available only to working folks who don't qualify for housing subsidies but otherwise couldn't afford a trendy Pearl address. Many of the units were already leased before the Sitka officially opened Tuesday.

"I think this is one of the best buildings that's been built in the whole affordable-housing portfolio," says City Commissioner Erik Sten, a seasoned champion of low-income housing. "They're units that you can imagine living in for a long time."

The Pearl, where the name of your building typically reflects the depth of your bank account, already houses about 600 affordable apartments. But Sitka is the first to qualify as predominately "work force housing" -- a buzzword that may be as essential to Portland's economic stability as new jobs.

With housing prices out of reach of the average income and more rental apartments converting to condos, many different types of workers -- such as retail salespeople, police officers and registered nurses -- are being squeezed out of the city.

This flight of the working class puts stress on neighboring communities. It also siphons children out of Portland's schools, creates more traffic congestion and erodes the city's tax base.

What's more, growing companies -- such as California's Keen Footwear -- want to relocate in urban cities where employees can afford to live near their job. But without more work force housing, Portland is at a disadvantage before it even gets to the table.

City Hall does a good job advocating for affordable housing for folks at the lower end of the economic scale. But we also need more housing for those whose paychecks aren't keeping pace with the cost of living.

"This is the perfect prototype for what we should replicate," Andrew Wilch, housing director for the Portland Development Commission, says about Sitka. But, he adds, "we're not focusing on the work force housing needs in any active manner."

The problem is that it requires an aggressive public subsidy, with buy-in from private investors and a developer that has the vision to build energy-efficient, affordable apartments that are roomy and attractive enough for both singles and families.

To make the numbers work for Sitka, it took a team of bankers, corporate investors, and local and state government. Albina Community Bank made a short-term, $2 million loan to buy the land. PDC gave its lead developer, Ed McNamara, a $9 million construction loan.

The Oregon Housing and Community Services Department floated a $17 million tax-exempt bond -- purchased by U.S. Bank to use as a construction loan. The state also provided a predevelopment loan and $1 million in tax credits. And the city offered a 10-year abatement on property taxes.

Another major player on the project, Portland-based Homestead Capital, lured $9.5 million in equity from private investors, which earn tax credits for investing in low-income housing.

"We're glad to have the building there," says Joan Pendergast, the recently elected president of the Pearl Neighborhood Association. Her community, she adds, "isn't all full of rich yuppies like so many people think."

It's hard to believe, but with the opening of the Sitka, the Pearl now qualifies as a mixed-income neighborhood. It's time for the whole city -- for its own sake -- to follow suit.

S. Renee Mitchell: 503-221-8142; rmitch@news.oregonian.com;1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland OR 97201

[James Bond Agent 007]

Yay.

[MarkDaMan]

Sierra Club praises Pearl District

In a November report announcing America's best new development projects, the Sierra Club named Portland's Pearl District a top example of successful development.

The report recognized Portland based-Hoyt Street Properties for spearheading the transformation of a faded industrial zone into a revitalized multiuse community. It also praised Gerding/Edlen Development Co. for renewing the historic Pearl District Brewery Blocks.

In its report, the Sierra Club profiled 12 of the nation's top projects and named players that helped realize innovative development plans. Favorable projects reused previously developed land, offered a range of eco-friendly transportation options, and helped foster and preserve community values.

Hoyt Street Properties was recognized for turning a former railyard into a unique urban neighborhood in which homes, businesses, retail shops and parks are successfully integrated. The Sierra Club commended the developer for working with the Portland Development Commission in creating a pedestrian-friendly environment where walking, cycling and streetcars are seen as viable means of transportation.

[MarkDaMan]

Sierra Club praises Pearl District

In a November report announcing America's best new development projects, the Sierra Club named Portland's Pearl District a top example of successful development.

The report recognized Portland based-Hoyt Street Properties for spearheading the transformation of a faded industrial zone into a revitalized multiuse community. It also praised Gerding/Edlen Development Co. for renewing the historic Pearl District Brewery Blocks.

In its report, the Sierra Club profiled 12 of the nation's top projects and named players that helped realize innovative development plans. Favorable projects reused previously developed land, offered a range of eco-friendly transportation options, and helped foster and preserve community values.

Hoyt Street Properties was recognized for turning a former railyard into a unique urban neighborhood in which homes, businesses, retail shops and parks are successfully integrated. The Sierra Club commended the developer for working with the Portland Development Commission in creating a pedestrian-friendly environment where walking, cycling and streetcars are seen as viable means of transportation.

[PacificNW]

I read the article a couple days ago...good going!

[pdxstreetcar]

I would love to see Centennial Mills renovated with a new Maritime Museum and retail on the ground floor with condominiums or apartments on the floors above.

If the Naitos build those 2 other towers I hope they will be at least slightly different in appearence. I really just dont want to see 4 identical towers on the waterfront.

[PacificNW]

Has the Naito family settled their differences concerning these condo's? Is the complete project back on?

[MarkDaMan]

^nope, talk about a disfunctional family!

[designpdx]

^nope, talk about a disfunctional family!

Ditto.

[PacificNW]

Bill is probably turning over in his grave...now their was a man who had visions for Portland. He is sorely missed.

[MarkDaMan]

new rendering
http://www.tndwest.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/metropolitan.jpg

[MarkDaMan]

The express route
Pearl District partners with American Express to promote district
Wendy Culverwell
Business Journal staff writer

The Pearl District gained its holiday footing this year with the district's first-ever comprehensive Christmas promotion.

The program is backed by American Express, which signed on as a major sponsor of the Pearl District Business Association and underwrote the cost of everything from Christmas carolers to bag-checking services for customers.

"We're thrilled," said Monica Spoelstra Metz, marketing coordinator for the business association.

Shoppers can win prizes at participating vendors and leave their cars with valets -- complimentary to American Express cardholders and low-cost for all others. Carolers stroll the streets on weekends and a shuttle service ferries visitors between the Pearl District and a half-dozen downtown hotels.

One spa owner described the environment as "magical."

The business association couldn't afford a holiday promotion on its own, said Metz, and went looking for a partner.

Attracting American Express as a partner shows just how much the district has grown in the past 10 or so years since a strip of warehouses and rail yards reinvented itself as a business and residential district, with more than 5,500 residential units developed since 1994.

American Express likes what it sees in the Pearl District, said Lisa Gregg, a company spokeswoman. The merchant community routinely uses American Express to process sales transactions and the neighborhood's generally well-heeled residents fit the company's customer profile, she said.

It's been a long slog for the business association, which formed nearly a decade ago when the Pearl District was just starting to emerge around the former rail yards at Hoyt Street. A group of retailers and restaurateurs decided to publish a map to guide visitors and hit up their neighbors for contributions to pay for it.

Today, the association's membership fluctuates between 220 and 250 or so members and the base is expanding to include more professional services. Metz said there are many "off map" members -- those businesses that participate in the association but don't need or want to be on the shoppers' map, which it still publishes.

Joanne Sunnarborg founded Desperado, a Western boutique, nine years ago and was instrumental in soliciting $25 contributions for the initial map.

"It was pretty quiet down here," she recalled. Having a formal holiday promotion this year has generated traffic. She didn't have to take any extra steps to participate since she's accepted American Express almost since she opened in 1994.

"It's that demographic. If three people say, 'Do you take American Express?' That's good enough for me," she said.

Indeed, that's a big part of why the company stepped in to underwrite the multipronged promotion, Gregg said. A large base of merchants accept the card and the Pearl District offers the right setting for its cardholders, who tend to spend more on dining and shopping.

She wouldn't disclose what American Express is paying to support the Pearl District's holiday extravaganza, but it is certainly considerable.

To drive traffic to the Pearl District, American Express sent $15 prepaid gift cards to its cardholders throughout Portland. They can be used anywhere that accepts American Express, but carry the Pearl District logo -- no small coup, Metz noted with satisfaction.

Sunnarborg said she's seen plenty of gift cards with the Pearl District brand at her cash register.

"It is pretty fascinating that they would partner with us to launch this," she said.

Metz said there are plenty of perks for all visitors and the business association pitches the Pearl District as a holiday destination to residents in Portland's close-in neighborhoods as well as the West Hills and along Highway 26. It isn't trying to compete with the regional shopping malls.

"For us, it's people who want an urban arts, shopping and dining experience," she said.

John Cusack, proprietor of the Hawaiian-themed Kanani Pearl Spa, opened 13 months ago. Christmas is an important season for the personal services industry and indeed, he's busy now with clients who received gift certificates for spa treatments last Christmas.

The holiday promotion isn't just good for business, it's good for the business community, he said

"It's been very unifying for the merchants," he said. A sense of solidarity developed as participants met to hash out the program details.

To him, American Express' willingness to invest its marketing dollars in the neighborhood is an important mark of approval.

"I think it's a recognition of what the Pearl's accomplished," he said.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415

[MarkDaMan]

Financing in Place for Next Phase of Riverscape

Using $24.65 million in construction financing from Home Street Bank, local developer Tim Ralston has begun construction on the next phase of the 390-unit Riverscape condominiums here. The development site is immediately north of the Fremont Bridge on the west side of the Willamette River.

When completed, the entire development will include 104 town homes, two condominium towers (this one and a second with 120 units, to be built after this tower is completed), and 91 brownstone-style homes. About 84 units are currently under construction, not including this latest phase for which Ralston has obtained financing.

The new phase is one of the two planned towers. It will be an eight-story building with 74 units and partially underground parking. Units are expected to fetch at least $407 per sf.

The size of the units will range from 539 sf to 2,705 sf, and the price tags will range from $250,000 to $1.3 million. Units will be upscale with hardwood floors, plush carpeting and/or tile floors, European fixtures, slab granite counter tops and Jenn-Air appliances in the kitchens. Windows will cover about 70% of the building exteriors.

At least 40% of the units are expected to be pre-sold. The remaining units are expected to be sold off at a rate of at least four a month once the tower is completed in mid 2007.

Ralston is co-owner of Apollo Development and Apollo Homes. The architect for the project is LRS. The general contractor is LCG Pence.

[MarkDaMan]

just in case we have any starving artists on the board...

$10,000 Artist Commission for New Pearl District Dining Experience
Portland - Portland, ORE. -- January 11, 2005 -- The owners of SoLo, a new bar and dining establishment scheduled to open in Portland's Pearl District in March, is offering $10,000 to an artist who can capture the new venue's spirit in paint. Artists are asked to submit their proposals by January 31 (deadline extended from January 15). The "Call to Artists" is for local, Portland-based artists only. Artists will be judged on how well their submission "captures the notion of one’s solo journey through this world—both the struggle to thrive and the triumph felt when we do." The parameters: a flat painting no more than 36? high by 48? wide and no smaller than 28? inches by 36?, oils or acrylics. Artist must be local (based in the Portland Metropolitan area). Judges will be favoring pieces that contain humanistic elements versus abstract objects; warm, brilliant color versus colder, muted themes. "We want our patrons to stand in awe of this special piece. We also want them to draw inspiration from the composition—an effort to define 'solo' in paint," said Nathaniel Clevenger, CEO of 3, the public communicatons co., the firm promoting the new bar. Artists need to submit their idea in a short—no more than one paragraph—email and include no more than 5 slides of their work. Responses should be sent to artcommission@solobar.net. All submissions due by January 31, 2006. Judges will review and select top submissions. Commission selected by February 15, 2006. Final artwork due approximately 30 days from selection (no later than March 15, 2006). The Commission $10,000 (Includes framing and any other costs associated with mounting the piece.)

[bvpcvm]

I just noticed today that it looks like the Lovejoy columns are done. They've copied the drawings (etched, I guess, saw this from the streetcar) onto some kind of black stone (granite?). Weren't the original drawings to be displayed inside the Elizabeth lobby?

[Coldrsx]

i cannot wait to come visit, portland has always intrigued me.

[CouvScott]

BOORA is seeking design advice for a master plan of the development of Hoyt Street Properties' 8.5 acres in the Northern portion of the River District. The plan includes initial concepts for the building programming, massing, height, parking and access, pedestrian spaces and community. This is planned for March 16th.

[MarkDaMan]

Mak’s makes a move
One of Portland’s top jazz and blues clubs, Jimmy Mak’s, is moving — but just across the street.
Owner Jim Makarounis says that he’s moving to the Pearl Gallery building, kitty-corner at 221 N.W. 10th Ave., in hopes of bringing in more big-name national acts like, piano legend McCoy Tyner — hopefully this spring. He and two fellow investors plan to boost seating from 80 seats to 130 and install a bigger, faster kitchen.
“I think it’s time for us to take that next step up,” Makarounis says, adding that the ambience and music will not change. “The one thing we want to do is be true to that core group of people that have supported us over the years.”


With this move, the corner that Mak's sits on could be developed into a very slender tower. Would be nice to see something tall next to the Elizabeth which seems to sit out by itself.

[designpdx]

Interesting considering that the Elizabeth builders origonally tried to buy that building.

[pdxstreetcar]

there is the historic buddah building next door which might complicate redeveloping that 1/4 block.

i never noticed that article about AmEx & the Pearl, interesting. i guess when a large corporation takes a liking to a neighborhood like the pearl it must help in spreading pearl-style development around the country.

[bvpcvm]

there is the historic buddah building next door which might complicate redeveloping that 1/4 block.

I'm pretty sure I saw a "For Sale" sign on the Buddha just last week.

[dkealoha]

I'm pretty sure I saw a "For Sale" sign on the Buddha just last week.
Yea, I think that sign has been there for a while too. I remember it from a long time ago.

[MarkDaMan]

http://www.thepostcard.com/walt/state/or/or344.gif
Custom House hotel plan waits on lease
Thursday, February 02, 2006
By Su-jin Yim

The months roll on but his confidence hasn't faded.

The developer of a plan to turn one of the city's most architecturally distinctive buildings into a boutique hotel says he expects to start construction late this spring, even though he has yet to finalize a lease.

Keith Pochter of The Pochter Group Limited of Northbrook, Ill., is negotiating a long-term lease to develop the U.S. Custom House on the North Park Blocks.

The U.S. General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings, announced almost a year ago that it had selected Pochter over Portland developer Venerable Properties, which had hoped to create a mixed-use space with a section for the University of Oregon architecture school.

Last year, the agency said it planned to sign with Pochter within four months. That plan called for an upscale, 82-room Wyndham hotel. But they're still working on it, says agency spokesman Bill Lesh.

"It's just going slower than we anticipated when it was announced," he says, though more information may be available this month.

The agency's choice disappointed some neighborhood activists who were hoping for community space in the majestic, 100,000-square-foot building at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave. The 1901 Italian Renaissance structure, which has sat empty since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moved out in 2004, was designed by architect James Knox Taylor.

A hotel is a good plan for the building, Pochter says.

"Your hotel marketplace is very strong and growing quarterly with some fairly significant increases" in room rates, Pochter says.

Pochter, who frequently visits Oregon, says the plan is moving about as he expected. He hopes the hotel will open in time to take advantage of summer festivals.

"The process has been exactly what it was meant to be," he says. "I'm a very focused individual who wants to complete what he started. That's exactly what I intend to do."

Su-jin Yim: 503-294-7611; suyim@news.oregonian.com
http://www.thepostcard.com/walt/state/or/or346.gif

[MarkDaMan]

http://www.thepostcard.com/walt/state/or/or344.gif
Custom House hotel plan waits on lease
Thursday, February 02, 2006
By Su-jin Yim

The months roll on but his confidence hasn't faded.

The developer of a plan to turn one of the city's most architecturally distinctive buildings into a boutique hotel says he expects to start construction late this spring, even though he has yet to finalize a lease.

Keith Pochter of The Pochter Group Limited of Northbrook, Ill., is negotiating a long-term lease to develop the U.S. Custom House on the North Park Blocks.

The U.S. General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings, announced almost a year ago that it had selected Pochter over Portland developer Venerable Properties, which had hoped to create a mixed-use space with a section for the University of Oregon architecture school.

Last year, the agency said it planned to sign with Pochter within four months. That plan called for an upscale, 82-room Wyndham hotel. But they're still working on it, says agency spokesman Bill Lesh.

"It's just going slower than we anticipated when it was announced," he says, though more information may be available this month.

The agency's choice disappointed some neighborhood activists who were hoping for community space in the majestic, 100,000-square-foot building at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave. The 1901 Italian Renaissance structure, which has sat empty since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moved out in 2004, was designed by architect James Knox Taylor.

A hotel is a good plan for the building, Pochter says.

"Your hotel marketplace is very strong and growing quarterly with some fairly significant increases" in room rates, Pochter says.

Pochter, who frequently visits Oregon, says the plan is moving about as he expected. He hopes the hotel will open in time to take advantage of summer festivals.

"The process has been exactly what it was meant to be," he says. "I'm a very focused individual who wants to complete what he started. That's exactly what I intend to do."

Su-jin Yim: 503-294-7611; suyim@news.oregonian.com
http://www.thepostcard.com/walt/state/or/or346.gif

[MarkDaMan]

I've created a photo thread of the Pearl, come see the progress!
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=99264

[MarkDaMan]

More condos coming
The Pearl District’s appetite for condos appears insatiable with two new towers in the planning stage. The first will be called 937 Condos, reflecting its address, 937 N.W. Glisan St. It will contain 131 units in 16 stories.
Another 16-story tower will have 200 condos on a property called Block 19, located just north of Union Station on Northwest Ninth Avenue. Block 19 will complement another building that is planned for development across Ninth Avenue.
The two curved buildings will face the street, creating a hublike effect at Northwest Ninth Avenue and Front Street. Both developments currently are being reviewed by city planners.
According to Jasmine Ruthdotter, who tracks Pearl development for the design and transportation committee of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association, 1,500 new condo units are planned for the neighborhood over the next three years. Currently, Ruthdotter says, there are about 4,000 condos in the district.

[MarkDaMan]

Quick overview on Pearl development
http://adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com/portorgonian/ss/042114/
http://adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com/portorgonian/ss/042114/014/014_001/014_001.jpg

By Lynnette Fusilier

There is something for everyone in the Pearl real estate market. If you are shopping for unparalleled opulence and expansive views, consider a unit in THE METROPOLITAN, the Pearl's tallest building at 11th and Lovejoy. Developed by Hoyt Street Properties, the 19-story LEED certified Metropolitan will feature 136 residential units and offer concierge service, guest suites, individual wine storage and other luxurious amenities.

For those who enjoy living large, consider a home in THE CRONIN BLOCK at NW 13th and Marshall. This yet unnamed, "New York style" red-bricked building from developer Robert Ball will house 244 residential units and ground level retail space. This 15-story building will be the largest mixed-use development in the Pearl.

If the environment and energy conservation tops your list of priorities, consider a unit in THE CASEY at 12th and Everett. This 17-story building developed by Gerding Edlen is adjacent to the Brewery Blocks and is designed to be the first LEED Platinum designated condo in the country. Features include solar panels for water heating, ground source heat pumps, and unique exterior facades integrated with Bullseye glass.

For those that crave historic detail, consider a home in THE CRANE BUILDING at 14th and Irving. Built in 1907, this six-story warehouse will contain 30 loft-style units and two penthouses and will be eligible for tax abatement. Condition for tax abatement requires that the 30 lofts be rented out as apartments until 2012. The penthouses are new construction and do not qualify for tax abatement.

Looking for commercial space? THE GADSBY BUILDING, a former furniture warehouse at 13th and Hoyt is undergoing a major facelift. Historical details-wood floors, large beams and exposed brick walls-are left intact and restored to the original luster. The building is owned and managed by Rick and Peter Michaelson and has a boutique feel hallmarked by distinctive details and personalized customer service.

[cab]

How about if you crave something....cheap?

[MarkDaMan]

Galleries buy permanence in the Pearl
Property - A stronger market allows galleries to reclaim the district as the heart of artness
Thursday, March 09, 2006
D.K. ROW
The Oregonian

Portland's Pearl District is reclaiming its place as Oregon's premier fine arts marketplace, buoyed by a growing interest in local artists and a recovering economy.

Within the past 18 months, several well-known galleries have bought new spaces in the district, which had lost many of its top galleries to rising rents in the fast-developing neighborhood, prompting questions about whether art could survive in the Pearl.

Now, developer Jim Winkler is on the verge of finalizing purchase agreements with four more important Portland galleries and one San Francisco transplant, and a new art center housing them is expected to open on the North Park Blocks by the spring of 2007.

The resurgence of fine art galleries in the Pearl District follows a steady growth in the market for local artists, fueled both by local collectors and new buyers from around the country, gallery owners say. And the Pearl's central location has encouraged owners to buy their own spaces.

The new complex, in the old Daisy Kingdom building at 123 N.W. Eighth Ave., punctuates the trend.

Among the recent events:

The purchase of a large new space by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery at 417 N.W. Ninth Ave. Leach is one of the Oregon dealers with a national reputation.

The move by two of Leach's peers, high-end galleries PDX Contemporary Art and Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, into similarly attractive spaces of their own close to Leach on Northwest Flanders St.

The construction of an artist residency program and exhibit space on Northwest Ninth Avenue by Portland Art Museum patron and art collector Sarah Miller Meigs. Meigs' donations have supported new contemporary art programming at the museum's newly opened modern art wing.

"Business is good"

The activity in the Pearl reflects a new aggressiveness by art dealers in town and the steady growth of the art market, according to Leach, who has been in the gallery business here since 1981.

"Portland's reflecting the larger art world," Leach says. "There's a genuine excitement and intensity in the art market right now, from beginners to hedge fund managers."

Leach says her gallery's business had grown steadily for the past several years, at a 5 percent to 10 percent clip, even through the dot-com crash. "Business is good," she says.

Jane Beebe, owner of PDX Contemporary Art, says her gallery has seen an increase in both out-of-town and local collectors, but that her participation in national art fairs has driven up the number of non-Oregonian collectors who consistently buy art from her.

"Still, being a dealer is a hand-to-mouth existence," Beebe says, "but right now it's a higher level of hand-to-mouth."

Located on the cusp of Old Town and the Pearl, Winkler's project promises to extend the Pearl District art scene farther east and closer to West Burnside St.

Beebe says the Pearl District location of Winkler's project makes perfect sense. Dealers want venues that are easily reachable by collectors and connected to other cultural activities. Collectors will like the plan's one-stop approach, which resembles other well-known art gallery hubs, such as Los Angeles' Bergamot Station.

"It's accessible from all parts of the city, by freeway from Beaverton, Southeast Portland and North Portland," says Beebe. "And from downtown by the streetcar and by foot. You couple that accessibility with other businesses in the area like restaurants, and it makes the Pearl attractive to people who can see art and have dinner."

New pieces of the Pearl

Each of the galleries that have bought space in Winkler's development has a different story. The one with the most at stake is the venerable Contemporary Crafts Museum & Gallery, which will leave quiet Southwest Corbett Ave. for the bustle of the Pearl.

And the bustle is what's attractive, says executive director David Cohen. Attendance at the 69-year-old museum has dipped as low as 12,000 people a year.

"The tree that falls in the forest doesn't make a sound," Cohen says. "I can't condone that. We should be doing more, much more, to say we are making a difference in the community."

The location next to many galleries in the light-rail accessible Pearl District appealed to Cohen so much that he was one of the first players to commit to Winkler's plan, eventually claiming the biggest chunk of the complex's gallery space -- 15,000 square feet.

To raise part of the $3.6 million it will cost to buy the new space, the museum is trying to sell its Southwest Corbett Avenue building for $2 million. The museum will have to raise the remaining $1.6 million, and another $2.4 million to fund building improvements and an endowment.

"We're going to change the way people see us." Cohen says.

Blue Sky Gallery, another nonprofit, has shown socially conscious photography for the past 30 years, mostly in a small Pearl District space, and it's hoping to secure its future in the Pearl, too.

"Blue Sky is 30. And one of the things you do at 30 is buy a house," says Christopher Rauschenberg, the gallery's board chairman. To purchase the 3,800-square-foot space that will double its size, Blue Sky is undertaking a $2 million capital campaign, aided by the sale of a $1 million painting donated by legendary artist Robert Rauschenberg, Christopher's father.

The commercial galleries involved in the development -- Augen Gallery, Froelick Gallery and Charles A. Hartman Fine Art -- are also betting on the Pearl. And betting a lot: Prices in the development hover around $1 million, according to Winkler, who developed Adidas Village in North Portland and is a prominent local art collector and supporter.

"I'm freaking out," says Charles Froelick, who currently rents space in Southwest Portland. "It's exciting, and I want to puke. But this is a great opportunity. I'll get new visitorship that I wouldn't get on Second Avenue."

Bob Kochs, who owns the print specialist Augen Gallery, will keep his Southwest Second Avenue location and open a satellite gallery in the Pearl. Charles A. Hartman Fine Art is the only new gallery in Winkler's group. Hartman moved to Portland about a year ago from San Francisco and is still deciding his gallery's focus.

Gallery owner Rod Pulliam says it's all part of a natural process.

"There's a maturing in the art world, and buying space is part of that," he says. "You realize that if I'm going to stay in this location, I really need to be my own landlord, because of all the development and potential for rent increase. No one realized how stable the Pearl would become."

D.K. Row: 503-294-7654 or dkrow@news.oregonian.com.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1141876539178830.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

Galleries buy permanence in the Pearl
Property - A stronger market allows galleries to reclaim the district as the heart of artness
Thursday, March 09, 2006
D.K. ROW
The Oregonian

Portland's Pearl District is reclaiming its place as Oregon's premier fine arts marketplace, buoyed by a growing interest in local artists and a recovering economy.

Within the past 18 months, several well-known galleries have bought new spaces in the district, which had lost many of its top galleries to rising rents in the fast-developing neighborhood, prompting questions about whether art could survive in the Pearl.

Now, developer Jim Winkler is on the verge of finalizing purchase agreements with four more important Portland galleries and one San Francisco transplant, and a new art center housing them is expected to open on the North Park Blocks by the spring of 2007.

The resurgence of fine art galleries in the Pearl District follows a steady growth in the market for local artists, fueled both by local collectors and new buyers from around the country, gallery owners say. And the Pearl's central location has encouraged owners to buy their own spaces.

The new complex, in the old Daisy Kingdom building at 123 N.W. Eighth Ave., punctuates the trend.

Among the recent events:

The purchase of a large new space by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery at 417 N.W. Ninth Ave. Leach is one of the Oregon dealers with a national reputation.

The move by two of Leach's peers, high-end galleries PDX Contemporary Art and Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, into similarly attractive spaces of their own close to Leach on Northwest Flanders St.

The construction of an artist residency program and exhibit space on Northwest Ninth Avenue by Portland Art Museum patron and art collector Sarah Miller Meigs. Meigs' donations have supported new contemporary art programming at the museum's newly opened modern art wing.

"Business is good"

The activity in the Pearl reflects a new aggressiveness by art dealers in town and the steady growth of the art market, according to Leach, who has been in the gallery business here since 1981.

"Portland's reflecting the larger art world," Leach says. "There's a genuine excitement and intensity in the art market right now, from beginners to hedge fund managers."

Leach says her gallery's business had grown steadily for the past several years, at a 5 percent to 10 percent clip, even through the dot-com crash. "Business is good," she says.

Jane Beebe, owner of PDX Contemporary Art, says her gallery has seen an increase in both out-of-town and local collectors, but that her participation in national art fairs has driven up the number of non-Oregonian collectors who consistently buy art from her.

"Still, being a dealer is a hand-to-mouth existence," Beebe says, "but right now it's a higher level of hand-to-mouth."

Located on the cusp of Old Town and the Pearl, Winkler's project promises to extend the Pearl District art scene farther east and closer to West Burnside St.

Beebe says the Pearl District location of Winkler's project makes perfect sense. Dealers want venues that are easily reachable by collectors and connected to other cultural activities. Collectors will like the plan's one-stop approach, which resembles other well-known art gallery hubs, such as Los Angeles' Bergamot Station.

"It's accessible from all parts of the city, by freeway from Beaverton, Southeast Portland and North Portland," says Beebe. "And from downtown by the streetcar and by foot. You couple that accessibility with other businesses in the area like restaurants, and it makes the Pearl attractive to people who can see art and have dinner."

New pieces of the Pearl

Each of the galleries that have bought space in Winkler's development has a different story. The one with the most at stake is the venerable Contemporary Crafts Museum & Gallery, which will leave quiet Southwest Corbett Ave. for the bustle of the Pearl.

And the bustle is what's attractive, says executive director David Cohen. Attendance at the 69-year-old museum has dipped as low as 12,000 people a year.

"The tree that falls in the forest doesn't make a sound," Cohen says. "I can't condone that. We should be doing more, much more, to say we are making a difference in the community."

The location next to many galleries in the light-rail accessible Pearl District appealed to Cohen so much that he was one of the first players to commit to Winkler's plan, eventually claiming the biggest chunk of the complex's gallery space -- 15,000 square feet.

To raise part of the $3.6 million it will cost to buy the new space, the museum is trying to sell its Southwest Corbett Avenue building for $2 million. The museum will have to raise the remaining $1.6 million, and another $2.4 million to fund building improvements and an endowment.

"We're going to change the way people see us." Cohen says.

Blue Sky Gallery, another nonprofit, has shown socially conscious photography for the past 30 years, mostly in a small Pearl District space, and it's hoping to secure its future in the Pearl, too.

"Blue Sky is 30. And one of the things you do at 30 is buy a house," says Christopher Rauschenberg, the gallery's board chairman. To purchase the 3,800-square-foot space that will double its size, Blue Sky is undertaking a $2 million capital campaign, aided by the sale of a $1 million painting donated by legendary artist Robert Rauschenberg, Christopher's father.

The commercial galleries involved in the development -- Augen Gallery, Froelick Gallery and Charles A. Hartman Fine Art -- are also betting on the Pearl. And betting a lot: Prices in the development hover around $1 million, according to Winkler, who developed Adidas Village in North Portland and is a prominent local art collector and supporter.

"I'm freaking out," says Charles Froelick, who currently rents space in Southwest Portland. "It's exciting, and I want to puke. But this is a great opportunity. I'll get new visitorship that I wouldn't get on Second Avenue."

Bob Kochs, who owns the print specialist Augen Gallery, will keep his Southwest Second Avenue location and open a satellite gallery in the Pearl. Charles A. Hartman Fine Art is the only new gallery in Winkler's group. Hartman moved to Portland about a year ago from San Francisco and is still deciding his gallery's focus.

Gallery owner Rod Pulliam says it's all part of a natural process.

"There's a maturing in the art world, and buying space is part of that," he says. "You realize that if I'm going to stay in this location, I really need to be my own landlord, because of all the development and potential for rent increase. No one realized how stable the Pearl would become."

D.K. Row: 503-294-7654 or dkrow@news.oregonian.com.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1141876539178830.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

Crane construction adds to Pearl District's building boom
The Business Journal of Portland - April 7, 2006
by Wendy Culverwell
Business Journal staff writer

When the hammering stops at The Crane Building later this year, an old warehouse will emerge as a new office building with apartments, penthouses and an upscale seafood restaurant.

Six months after Guardian Management LLC acquired the historic Pearl District building as the real estate management company's new corporate headquarters, reconstruction is in full swing and a major tenant has agreed to lease a sizable chunk of the ground floor for a seafood restaurant.

Moana Restaurants LLC, a subsidiary of Auberge Resorts, will lease 8,500 square feet on the main floor, with an option to eventually buy the space.

The new restaurant, the 20th in the Auberge portfolio, is slated to open in early 2007. The company has upscale restaurants in numerous California resort destinations and operates the Paragon restaurants in Portland, San Francisco and Seattle.

At the Crane Building it will operate a 319-seat restaurant with formal and informal dining areas, banquet rooms and a retail fish market.

"Portland just doesn't have any hip, cool fish places," said Tom Brenneke, owner and president of Guardian Management.

Brenneke said the restaurant will compete with Jake's Famous Crawfish, which is nearby. Jake's is owned and operated by McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants Inc. and has been in business more than 110 years.

Guardian bought the Crane Building after outgrowing its Johns Landing office. The 70-person office moves in December.

Brenneke said the company scouted numerous locations all over the Portland area once it made the decision to leave Johns Landing.

Brenneke ultimately decided to "stay put" in Portland and settled on the Crane Building, at the corner of Northwest 14th Avenue and Irving Street. Neighbors include the new REI store and The Irving Street lofts.

Built in 1910 for the Crane Plumbing Co., it had been the home of American Rag for many years before Guardian acquired it in October.

Transforming an aging, 90,000-square-foot structure into a modern office building is a daunting physical challenge. Making it work financially is arguably tougher, Brenneke said.

To fortify it against future earthquakes, for example, engineers created a central core tied by metal rods to the rest of the structure. The old brick walls may rattle and roll, but the structure will stay put.

The seismic work accounts for $2.5 million of the $23 million budget to acquire and renovate the building.

To make the numbers work, Guardian renewed its listing on the historic registry, which qualified it for federal tax credits, and extended its listing with the state, which freezes property taxes for 15 years.

Although the building will be turned into a condominium complex, that can't happen for five years because of the federal tax credits, which defray up to 20 percent of the development costs.

The main floor will be given over to retail, the restaurant and a lobby for residents. Guardian will occupy the second and third floors. The fourth through sixth floors will house apartments and two penthouses are being constructed on the roof. They will be available for sale immediately since they aren't part of the historic structure.

The units, 3,000 and 2,200 square feet, will be marketed for $650 to $750 a square foot -- a price Brenneke said is competitive in light of the $900-plus commanded for penthouses in some of the Pearl District's newest buildings.

Guardian was formed in 1971 and manages more than 200 properties with 500 employees in six states. It specializes in multifamily properties in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2006/04/10/story5.html?t=printable

[MarkDaMan]

Pioneering developer keeps at it
Hoyt Street Properties bought a rail yard and started a boom, and it’s not done
By RANDALL BARTON Issue date: Fri, Apr 28, 2006
The Tribune Having already reached the Pinnacle — a Pearl District condominium completed by Hoyt Street Properties in 2005 — what remained was for the developers to hit the heights.
They’re doing that with the Metropolitan, which at 225 feet will be the Pearl’s tallest structure to date. It is the latest chapter in a success story begun almost a decade ago when Hoyt Street Properties purchased a former 34-acre rail yard and ignited an urban renaissance.
The 19-story, glass-walled building, designed by John Meadows of BOORA Architects, is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2007. It also ups the ante in amenities offered in the Pearl, with wine lockers, a library for relaxing and entertaining, an exercise room, conference facilities, separate guest rental suites, and a raised outdoor plaza with a fireplace and teahouse.
It took a year to gain city approval for the additional height, achieved by borrowing footage from a 100-foot building that faces Tanner Springs Park and setting back the taller, 225-foot tower to avoid shadowing the park.
Taller buildings make for a more diverse and interesting skyline, Hoyt Street President Tiffany Sweitzer says.
“Instead of one building taking up a whole 40,000-square-foot block, you can do three different things on a block and create more light and air architecturally. There’s a lot of ‘Yeah, but are you making more money?’ You can, but also I think you’re doing something a little more unique with the property as well. If you’re building the Metropolitan on a 12,000-square-foot footprint, you have fewer units to a floor.”
Of the 136 units in the Metropolitan, 97 are sold and an additional 19 are on “developer hold” until the building is finished, at which time they will be offered at market price. Ten of the available units are live-work units — affording owners the opportunity to live or work in the apartment, or both — priced between $479,000 and $640,000. The median price in the building is $650,000 for a 1,486-square-foot, two-bedroom unit with den. The lowest priced unit sold for $370,000, and the most expensive was a penthouse that sold for nearly 10 times that much: $3,445,000.
When Riverstone, the first Pearl condominium offered by Hoyt Street, opened in 1998, a third-floor, 1,915-square-foot apartment sold for $180,500. Prices have risen dramatically since then. The average price per square foot today in the Pearl is $550 versus $200 in ’98, Sweitzer says.
Developers may be making more money than they did eight years ago, but as she points out, construction costs, including the price of steel and other materials, have risen dramatically. Also, buyers have become more sophisticated about condominiums and are demanding finished apartments instead of unfinished lofts, a greater selection of finishes and more amenities.
It isn’t as easy as “if you build it, they will buy,” Sweitzer insists.
“The Metropolitan has all of this open space, and club facilities that you’re not really getting anything for. But you’re selling those amenities. So I thought, ‘Can you ask for more?’ because you’re offering something unique that’s costing a lot more. Let’s say you take that risk, you price those units and you hope that two and a half years from now when the project is completed the market is still there … There’s an incredible amount of risk, and costs are increasing as you’re going. You never know what you’re going to get into.”

‘We’re seeing more babies’

A favorite topic at cocktail parties around town is, Who’s buying these condominiums? Marilyn Andersen, sales manager and principal broker for the Hoyt Realty Group — the sales arm of Hoyt Street Properties — says it is a misconception that buyers in the Pearl are largely empty nesters divesting of possessions.
“A lot of them never had children,” she says. “We get people who don’t have children who have lived in the neighborhood houses and have had no choice but to live in those houses. Now there’s some other choices.”
On the other hand, “we have a lot of younger couples moving into the neighborhood. Since they’ve moved here they’ve had children and have wanted to stay. So we’re seeing more babies around here.”
Single males purchasing at the Metropolitan outnumber single females by nearly 2-to-1, and there are nearly twice as many single people as couples. The age distribution is about equally distributed among those in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Real estate agents lead the pack in terms of professions, but there also are techies, doctors, engineers, teachers and attorneys.
Sales records show only the buyer’s most recent ZIP code. Thus, those who may have moved here from out of state a few months before their purchase are listed as coming from Portland. Sweitzer believes most of the buyers are Portland residents seeking a front porch that opens onto the city.
“It’s kind of going back to the old neighborhood but in a more efficient way of doing it,” she says. “Your front porch is Piazza Italia over here, and you walk in and Gino knows what dish you want and he knows your name. Or it’s going out to Jamison Square and you know the five dogs and the owners of those dogs and you know they’re going to be there at 5:30 every night and that’s your social hour.”
The first units in the Metropolitan were offered in a lottery. Andersen says they learned from the madhouse sales opening of the Lexis condominiums in 2005 — with people pushing and shoving — that they had to come up with a better system.
“We had so many people that we had established relationships with who had come into our office that wanted to be the first to buy at the Metropolitan,” she says. “Who do we choose? Who gets the first pick? We have a lot of really nice people who live in our buildings already who wanted to live in the Metropolitan. It just came about that we would do the lottery so that we would make it fair.”
Opening night and for a few days afterward prospective buyers were given floor plans and a lottery ballot for specifying their preferred units. Several days later Hoyt Realty Group began drawing names from a pool of 500 prospective buyers.
To prevent people from buying on speculation, Hoyt Realty Group is not selling to investors. Buyers sign a contract agreeing that the unit will be owner occupied for two years. Andersen explains that financing becomes difficult when more than 30 percent of the units in a building are nonowner occupied.

8 more buildings considered

Sweitzer, 39, reckons it will be 10 years before Hoyt Street has completed its development in the Pearl with what probably will be eight more buildings. The company still is in the process of completing its master plan.
“So many people are coming to Portland and asking, ‘How did this work?’ ” she says. “Portland is a unique town, and it’s a process town. You’ve got to go through all the hand-holding and work with your neighborhoods and work with the city to get things done. I think that’s what made this city unique. We formed a partnership with the city of Portland and at the time that was such a strange thing, it hadn’t been done.
“I think the biggest thing that people don’t understand is it’s not just building a building. The parks have to work, and there have to be open spaces here. Transportation has to be thought about and planned. The retail has to work in conjunction with the building. There have to be all the pieces coming together, and they don’t always come together at one time. So when you start to see them working like it is around Jamison now, then you feel like you’ve accomplished something.
“I feel very good when the lights come on in a building because you know it’s taken three years to get there,” she says. “You see people start to move in, and you know you’re a part of someone else’s life. That’s a big deal.”
randallbarton@portlandtribune.com
http://www.portlandtribune.com/pearl06/index.html

[MarkDaMan]

http://www.portlandtribune.com/newsi/60428.P.hoytstreet.jpg
To your right is an image of Block 19, evidence that the development in the Pearl is far from finished. Ground will be broken this summer for a building that will be named the Encore, and sales will start in the fall. The 15-story building will have 176 units, including town homes with large garden areas targeted at families.

Over the past few decades, many other decaying industrial areas have been rejuvenated in American cities as citizens have realized an appreciation of historic preservation. But the planners of the Pearl District have achieved something remarkable. It.s not just a tourist attraction filled with chain stores and crowded businesses selling .I (heart) Portland. knickknacks.

It's a neighborhood where real Portlanders live, work, shop, eat and play. This special pullout section of the Portland Tribune features stories that reflect on how the Pearl has evolved as well as stories about what.s yet to come . a new arts center, a primo jazz club.

Other pieces should help residents and visitors alike enjoy the neighborhood, whether they.re looking for a cooking class, athletic wear or dog treats, or simply taking a stroll. The map on page 20 will help guide the exploration.
http://www.portlandtribune.com/pearl06/index.html

[CouvScott]

The Pearl District Is A Model For Urban Developments
05/01/2006


The revitalization of Portland’s Pearl District into one of the nation’s most distinctive urban neighborhoods has long been on the “must see list” for developers, architects, city planners and elected officials from communities throughout the U.S.

This May the Pearl District will once again be the centerpiece of a three-day Portland area visit by a 50-member delegation from Kansas City, MO. According to Stan Parson, Kansas City Home Builder Association’s Special Projects Coordinator, the delegation wants to see first hand why Portland’s urban developments are so successful.

Hoyt Street Properties (HSP), the Pearl District’s largest developer, will host the delegation on Wednesday May 18 at the EcoTrust building.

HSP’s Sue Miller, Vice President/Special Projects, who will brief the Kansas City delegation, notes that the group is one of many who have come to Portland from as far away as Florida, Texas, Japan and Hawaii.

According to Miller “the delegations have come to learn how we have created a strong public-private partnership in Portland that has resulted in a vibrant city core and the Pearl’s distinctive mixed-use urban community with all the amenities of public transportation, unique housing, parks and pedestrian friendly space.”

[zilfondel]

I would pay money to see the faces of the people in these delegations when they realize how badly their own cities suck ass.

[edgepdx]

Now, now be nice zilfondel. They are coming here to learn.

[MarkDaMan]

Daisy Kingdom could bloom again
Planned galleries may turn historic building into a new art destination
By JOSEPH GALLIVAN Issue date: Fri, Apr 28, 2006
The Tribune

It’s only 395 paces across the park from the old Daisy Kingdom store at Northwest Davis Street and Eighth Avenue to PDX Contemporary Art at Northwest Ninth and Flanders. But if PDX is the new hub for fine art on Ninth, Daisy Kingdom is the new frontier. While the North Park Blocks may form a psychological barrier between the Pearl and Old Town, real estate developer Jim Winkler is gambling that the distance won’t be too much for art lovers.


Starting next January, the building that formerly housed the fabric store Daisy Kingdom and the adjoining Lombard Automobile Buildings will be the new home for several art galleries: the Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery, a new gallery by Charles A. Hartman (formerly of San Francisco), Blue Sky Gallery, Froelick Gallery and a second location for Augen Gallery. Winkler also sees an opportunity for a food venue.

“It’s a step forward in the maturation of the galleries and the creation of an art district,” Winkler says. “You can see most of the good galleries in Portland within a few blocks. My hope is that when someone checks in at the Heathman Hotel, the Lucia or the Custom House (when it’s reopened), first they’ll go see the Portland Art Museum, then they’ll ask the concierge, ‘Where can I see good local art?’ ”

He hopes the area will become a mini version of Chelsea in New York, or be like Bergamot Station, a former trolley station in Santa Monica, Calif.

The Daisy Kingdom side of the building is in better shape than the side that faces Broadway, but both need a lot of work. Winkler says renovating the building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January, is not the obvious thing to do. He could have made more money knocking it down and building a 350-foot-high condo. But he says his plan will “accelerate the redevelopment of Old Town by tying into what’s going on at Everett Station Lofts, Butters Gallery and the stuff David Gold is trying to do with the Goldsmith block” (i.e., the Portland Art Center).

Next door, Chicago-based developer Keith Pochter hopes to turn the historic Custom House into a hotel by the summer of 2007.

“The Pearl’s pretty much done in terms of commitments,” Pochter says. “But I believe Old Town-Chinatown will be one of the most valuable districts in Portland, with the light-rail extension” planned along the bus mall to Union Station.

Winkler thinks that when gallerists own their space and don’t have to worry about rents going up, they can be more adventurous. “They can be more gutsy, more innovative, take on more artists, show young artists, or bring someone in at a higher price point than has been seen in Portland.”

The whole structure will be called the DeSoto Building, since it was home to one of the first car dealerships in Oregon. “Historically, it’s part of the transition from the buggy to the powered vehicle,” he says. It has an automotive elevator and a faded painted sign on the south wall advertising Plymouth and DeSoto, which by law must be preserved, not covered up or even repainted.

As with the Portland Center Stage’s renovation of the armory a few blocks west, the rehab is radical — starting with asbestos and lead paint removal, then a seismic upgrade, new glass, skylights and a new lobby. “A rational economic person would knock down this turkey!” Winkler says.

The firm LRS Architects is moving its operation to the third floor. This open space runs for a half-block. Winkler rates it one of the best in Portland.

There’s also a fourth-floor commercial condominium available. He’s considered moving his office there (from 210 S.W. Morrison St., another historic building he restored) but says he probably won’t. “I’m a peculiar person. I’ve had one wife, I keep cars for a long time, I have the same friends. …”

If you need proof that the soft-spoken, immaculately groomed Winkler is detail-oriented, consider his brick mansion he renovated on Southwest Park Place (it’s also on the National Register of Historic Places). In February, vandals threw eggs at the house and his vehicles. Winkler was soon up a ladder trying to clean it, an almost impossible task. Now he’s paying to have the brickwork detailed by experts, as well as having three of his cars repainted.

While he’s certainly in this venture for profit, he stresses what everyone knows about the arts in Portland: They haven’t made anyone rich. Winkler also has more than 100 pieces of art on his office walls and is a board member at the Portland Art Museum, so he’s put his money where his mouth is before. With this project, he ups the ante.

“Part of the strategy was to take advantage of making the building historic and passing through some of the rehabilitation tax credits to the galleries,” he says. “Normally I’d keep that — I wouldn’t give away one or two million dollars.”

But building material costs have been going up since Hurricane Katrina —at one point, he says, the price of plastic piping was going up 25 percent a week. Whether nonprofits and small private galleries still will be able to afford the place by the time it’s finished remains a worry. In March, parties such as Charles Hartman were still applying for funding.

Finally, Winkler has plans for a west-facing, 3,000-square-foot deck on the roof for events and parties, with an eye-level view of the treetops. “That’s one of my favorite views, where you feel you’re floating at tree height.” Even for this, Winkler has an ambitious analogy. He compares it not only to the South Park Blocks as seen from the Trustee Room at the Portland Art Museum, but to views of New York’s Central Park.

josephgallivan@portlandtribune.com

He could have made more money knocking it down and building a 350-foot-high condo.

damn!

[MarkDaMan]

Daisy Kingdom could bloom again
Planned galleries may turn historic building into a new art destination
By JOSEPH GALLIVAN Issue date: Fri, Apr 28, 2006
The Tribune

It’s only 395 paces across the park from the old Daisy Kingdom store at Northwest Davis Street and Eighth Avenue to PDX Contemporary Art at Northwest Ninth and Flanders. But if PDX is the new hub for fine art on Ninth, Daisy Kingdom is the new frontier. While the North Park Blocks may form a psychological barrier between the Pearl and Old Town, real estate developer Jim Winkler is gambling that the distance won’t be too much for art lovers.


Starting next January, the building that formerly housed the fabric store Daisy Kingdom and the adjoining Lombard Automobile Buildings will be the new home for several art galleries: the Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery, a new gallery by Charles A. Hartman (formerly of San Francisco), Blue Sky Gallery, Froelick Gallery and a second location for Augen Gallery. Winkler also sees an opportunity for a food venue.

“It’s a step forward in the maturation of the galleries and the creation of an art district,” Winkler says. “You can see most of the good galleries in Portland within a few blocks. My hope is that when someone checks in at the Heathman Hotel, the Lucia or the Custom House (when it’s reopened), first they’ll go see the Portland Art Museum, then they’ll ask the concierge, ‘Where can I see good local art?’ ”

He hopes the area will become a mini version of Chelsea in New York, or be like Bergamot Station, a former trolley station in Santa Monica, Calif.

The Daisy Kingdom side of the building is in better shape than the side that faces Broadway, but both need a lot of work. Winkler says renovating the building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January, is not the obvious thing to do. He could have made more money knocking it down and building a 350-foot-high condo. But he says his plan will “accelerate the redevelopment of Old Town by tying into what’s going on at Everett Station Lofts, Butters Gallery and the stuff David Gold is trying to do with the Goldsmith block” (i.e., the Portland Art Center).

Next door, Chicago-based developer Keith Pochter hopes to turn the historic Custom House into a hotel by the summer of 2007.

“The Pearl’s pretty much done in terms of commitments,” Pochter says. “But I believe Old Town-Chinatown will be one of the most valuable districts in Portland, with the light-rail extension” planned along the bus mall to Union Station.

Winkler thinks that when gallerists own their space and don’t have to worry about rents going up, they can be more adventurous. “They can be more gutsy, more innovative, take on more artists, show young artists, or bring someone in at a higher price point than has been seen in Portland.”

The whole structure will be called the DeSoto Building, since it was home to one of the first car dealerships in Oregon. “Historically, it’s part of the transition from the buggy to the powered vehicle,” he says. It has an automotive elevator and a faded painted sign on the south wall advertising Plymouth and DeSoto, which by law must be preserved, not covered up or even repainted.

As with the Portland Center Stage’s renovation of the armory a few blocks west, the rehab is radical — starting with asbestos and lead paint removal, then a seismic upgrade, new glass, skylights and a new lobby. “A rational economic person would knock down this turkey!” Winkler says.

The firm LRS Architects is moving its operation to the third floor. This open space runs for a half-block. Winkler rates it one of the best in Portland.

There’s also a fourth-floor commercial condominium available. He’s considered moving his office there (from 210 S.W. Morrison St., another historic building he restored) but says he probably won’t. “I’m a peculiar person. I’ve had one wife, I keep cars for a long time, I have the same friends. …”

If you need proof that the soft-spoken, immaculately groomed Winkler is detail-oriented, consider his brick mansion he renovated on Southwest Park Place (it’s also on the National Register of Historic Places). In February, vandals threw eggs at the house and his vehicles. Winkler was soon up a ladder trying to clean it, an almost impossible task. Now he’s paying to have the brickwork detailed by experts, as well as having three of his cars repainted.

While he’s certainly in this venture for profit, he stresses what everyone knows about the arts in Portland: They haven’t made anyone rich. Winkler also has more than 100 pieces of art on his office walls and is a board member at the Portland Art Museum, so he’s put his money where his mouth is before. With this project, he ups the ante.

“Part of the strategy was to take advantage of making the building historic and passing through some of the rehabilitation tax credits to the galleries,” he says. “Normally I’d keep that — I wouldn’t give away one or two million dollars.”

But building material costs have been going up since Hurricane Katrina —at one point, he says, the price of plastic piping was going up 25 percent a week. Whether nonprofits and small private galleries still will be able to afford the place by the time it’s finished remains a worry. In March, parties such as Charles Hartman were still applying for funding.

Finally, Winkler has plans for a west-facing, 3,000-square-foot deck on the roof for events and parties, with an eye-level view of the treetops. “That’s one of my favorite views, where you feel you’re floating at tree height.” Even for this, Winkler has an ambitious analogy. He compares it not only to the South Park Blocks as seen from the Trustee Room at the Portland Art Museum, but to views of New York’s Central Park.

josephgallivan@portlandtribune.com

[pdxstreetcar]

this should really help that area

[PacificNW]

And the Drag Queens from the Embers from across the street.....they will only add to the festivities of lst Thursday Events!

[pdxstreetcar]

I never knew about this until just now when I was searching the internet on the Pearl District but there is a church in the Pearl (actually it is inside the Ecotrust building) designed for urbanites.

Pearl Church
www.pearlchurch.org
"Church for an Urban Community"
2nd floor of the Ecotrust Building

The Pearl Church is a non-denominational, Christian church providing a spiritual home for those who live in and identify with the heart of Portland.

Developed with a view toward urban sensibilities, the worship draws from an eclectic source of historic as well as contemporary spiritual modalities while retaining a solidly evangelical and orthodox commitment. Our desire is to create space and provide cause for people to truly worship by encouraging a love for God and for others.

[pdxstreetcar]

"The next park next park [after the long proposed 2.5 block neighborhood park] to be built after that is the recently acquired block across from the post office (what will become the northern most north park block). It is currently a parking lot for the federal building."

"You may have heard that Davis is going to be altered as part of the Armory renovation…one lane will be taken out and turned into a sliver park. The street will also become a festival street, which will allow it to be closed to traffic and used for special events."

-from the Pearl Blog regarding a recent PDNA meeting: http://www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/pearlblog/

[MarkDaMan]

new Encore rendering
http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/uploaded_images/Rendering8-749904.JPG

[MarkDaMan]

and more Encore pics

http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/uploaded_images/Rendering6-780943.JPG

http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/uploaded_images/Rendering5-769743.JPG

http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/uploaded_images/Rendering2-783957.JPG

[MarkDaMan]

local architectural critic Brian Libby at Portland Architecture has a good writeup on the Croning Block
http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/
...here are the renderings he posted

http://chatterbox.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/cronin2.jpg

http://chatterbox.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/cronin1.jpg

http://chatterbox.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/cronin3.jpg

[SKgottime]

A boutique hotel is wrong for the Custom House. The floor heights are too large, which means they'll probably have to chop it up inside to fit more room floors, destroying the integrity of the large windows. Plus the buildings strong civic pressence is wasted on a private, for-profit, use.

This building should have been the UofO's Portland campus. It has the civic presence of a university building.

(I wonder if Jack Abramoff's connections in the GSA had any infuence on this unfortunate decision.)

[MarkDaMan]

A boutique hotel is wrong for the Custom House. The floor heights are too large, which means they'll probably have to chop it up inside to fit more room floors, destroying the integrity of the large windows. Plus the buildings strong civic pressence is wasted on a private, for-profit, use.

This building should have been the UofO's Portland campus. It has the civic presence of a university building.

(I wonder if Jack Abramoff's connections in the GSA had any infuence on this unfortunate decision.)


I have to disagree. I think that a boutique hotel is perfect for that location. I think having a national chain is a poor choice. I would like to have seen some local ownership as I believe they would have preserved the interior of the building...something like the McMenamins. Although I haven't heard for sure that they would be ripping up the inside, so I guess we have to wait and see. Although the wait has been some time and I wonder if the plans are still a go.

As for UofO, Old Town, especially that area of Old Town, greatly needed the boost it will get. It makes sense for UofO to be located on the MAX line also.

[pdxstreetcar]

i think a hotel would preserve the interior more than an architecture school. if the details and ornament are already in the interior, one would assume the hotel would want to preserve as much as possible since it sets the place apart from the rest and becomes a major selling point for the hotel. likely the first thing an architecture school would do to the space would be to "deconstruct" the existing interior and add all kinds of random useless and wierd-looking objects for contrast.

[SKgottime]

I have to disagree. I think that a boutique hotel is perfect for that location...



It's not the location that I have a problem with (a hotel anywhere on the N park blocks would be a good idea), it's the proposed use for that particular building. That building, through its architectural language, its symmetry, its setbacks from the property-lines, its generous open space (the courtyard facing the park blocks), and its neo-classical detailing speaks civic institution to me. That message, that meaning, will be lost on a for-profit enterprise, be it a boutique hotel or brewpub. It's that loss that I lament. The UofO, a library, a community center, even a church of scientology would preserve that meaning.

When are we as a society going to recognize the value of our civic art and quit selling it off to the highest bidder? Why should I have to feel obligated to pay to enjoy it? Or, why should our children be forced to attend school in some gleaming modernist, piece of crap, double-wide bungalow, while McMennemins is flipping burgers in a humane, civic and sensitive environment like the Kennedy school?

Cheers!

[MarkDaMan]

historic properties are being torn down across the country, even here in Portland. It took almost an act of God to get that church to save the Ladd Carriage House, yet they are still taking down the beautiful historic apartment complex. Seattle is losing a magnificent church in their downtown, a building that stuck in my memory last time I visited, before demolition plans were public. Think if the Portland Hotel was saved, be it in a different use than a hotel. I'd rather have the building and the beautiful architecture be it public or private, than not have anything at all.

If a boutique and brewpub can open the place to the public, be it for a fee, I'd rather have it saved and preserved than destroyed for another boring tower. That's really what it comes down too. The building is too large for a branch library, a community center isn't a bad idea but there isn't free funds, and like hell a 'church of scientology' would make me it more open than a boutique hotel with a public restaurant.

Also, I don't see why you think McMenamins Kennedy School is some hamburger flipping joint. I am extremely happy they saved the school from a row house development. I think the theater is fantastic, being that every seat is a different old couch. The food is not hamburger fare, and the bed and breakfast is cheap and inviting to guests that I bring from out of town.

Back to the Customs House...how many times when it was used by the government did you go in and visit it? With the big gates that surround the courtyard always locked, and an official title on the sign, it was hardly inviting. Every city I visit I walk into historic hotels to see the beauty of their lobbies, restaurants, views, etc...I don't see a school or church being as open, nor would they preserve the space, such as a private venture buying a building because of the charm, not to rid the lot of the historic touches.

[edgepdx]

I have to agree that the hotel is probably the best use. A community center would be nice, but it's probably too big a building for that. A school would be really closed off to the public. In addition I think a hotel could be a sucess since the Pearl doesn't have any hotels and most residents don't have a lot of guest space.

[zilfondel]

The fact is, cities grow - spaces outlive their purposes as institutions and people need more space. The custom house - the former home of the immigration service - doesn't really have much history, like Ellis Island in NYC does... it's just a cookie-cutter 1920's era concrete neoclassical federal building type. Should it be preserved? I think it has a pretty lousy connection to the street, the parking lot, loading bays, lack of any vegetation around it, and the fact it is all gray.

Hopefully a hotel will make it look a little more inviting for people - because teh former use of it did not want it to be - it was a place that deported people AWAY from the country! Now it will be accepting people to Portland. Quite a difference, eh?

[PDX City-State]

I can´t think of a better use. Portland will get its first really nice hotel north of Burnside, the public will get to enjoy the historic buidling, and the public won´t have to pay a cent.

I live in a neighborhood in Madrid called Lavapies. According to the locals, it´s ¨el barrio mas castizo de Madrid.¨ This is how Madrileños refer to something that is traditionally, well, Madrid. Unlike other close-in barrios (We are five minutes from Puerta Del Sol--Spain´s Times Square), Lavapies is a gritty and very Spanish maze of winding streets laid out on a hillside--with a nice collection of buildings built mainly in the 1700s. Some of the oldest buildings, built in the 1600s and a few in the 1500s, have been been under constant renovation by the city--which has received an ungodly amount of money from the EU for urban renewal. The city has been buying a lot of these buildings, evicting the businesses and residents, and turning them into community centers and other public buildings. Perhaps my favourite neighborhood bar, La Taberna De Lavapies, is being shut down by the city and turned into some kind of public building. In my opinion, this is a travesty. Not only does the neighborhood lose a few businesses, the city will eventually have to pay for the upkeep of all these buildings it has acquired. In many cases, and I say this as a former appraiser of commercial real estate, this is the worst option. I would rather have Marriot paying to refurbish buildings than taxpayers.

[cab]

So Pdx Citystate, when do we get to see pictures of Madrid?

[PDX City-State]

So Pdx Citystate, when do we get to see pictures of Madrid?

I aim to post a thread in the next few weeks. I have never done it before. How does one post?

Development in Madrid is interesting. It´s one of the fastest growing cities in Europe, and one local told me there are more cranes in the skyline of Madrid than any city in Europe. I certainly believe it. Low interest rates have created a somewhat artificial demand on this side of the Atlantic as well.

Anyways, a lot of the new buildings look the same and the development for the most part is pretty homogenous, but I would definitely say that the built environment here is in much better shape than in the USA. They are building some monstrous towers in the North of the city by big name architects--Sir Norman Foster being one of them. Still, Madrid won´t have the tallest building in Spain. Valencia is planning one by Calatrava that will stand taller than 1000 feet. If you ever want to see a total architectural wet dream, go to Valencia. It´s unbelievable. For great planning, Bilbao is fantastic--somewhat Portland-like. It´s small, walkable, and has a great mix of old an new. And they have nearly the same streetcars as PDX. Enough rambling--I promise to post a Madrid thread during the next two weeks.

[MarkDaMan]

new tower to begin construction next month...

W&K Development on its way up in Pearl
by Libby Tucker
06/26/2006

With its first mixed use project in Northwest Portland complete, W&K Development is moving on to bigger and better things in the Pearl District.

General contractor Gray Purcell Inc. completed construction on the $3.2 million Thurman Street Lofts last week. The five-story mixed-use building includes 16 loft condominiums and 500 square feet of ground-floor retail space at 2538 N.W. Thurman St.

"They've hit it right out of the ballpark," said Mike Purcell, president of Gray Purcell. "The building's modern 'daredevil' design is distinctive, but it somehow blends into the historic neighborhood and adds a lot of character to it, too."

W&K Development partners Patrick H. Kessi and Geoff Wenker have now moved on to bigger projects.

Andersen Construction will begin work next month on W&K's 16-story, 937 Glisan condominium building at Northwest Glisan Street between Ninth and 10th avenues in the Pearl District.

"It's a big step for us, but we're really confident," it will be successful, said Kessi.

The building's 114 units, which are expected to be completed in July of 2008, are not yet being pre-sold.

http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=27417&userID=1

[Dougall5505]

cool great pictures i was going to go take some pics of this area today but it looks like you have it covered

[pdxstreetcar]

it appears the pearl is getting more kid friendly...

a toy store is opening in the streetcar lofts (i think its called 'leap frog toys')

a coffee shop in park place is opening called 'sip & kranz' where mom sips an expresso while the little ones color in the special kids section



in addition hoyt street's master plan model shows just in rough massing a 1/4 block tower (full block base) on the block north of tanner springs park, the height looks to be several floors taller than the metropolitan perhaps around 22 maybe slightly taller. dont know whether this is merely a generic placeholder for the model or if it reflects at least vaguely the plan for the block. the tower portion of this massing model building is however positioned on the west side of the block most likely to not obstruct the metropolitan tower on the east side of its block. there are other massing model buildings and a detailed model of 'the encore' has been added also to this neighborhood model.

[bvpcvm]

btw, i was looking at urbanworks' web site. there's a new sushi place (hiro sushi?) going in on the 10th ave side of the burlington tower. and, already leased (!) is the sw corner retail space of the metropolitan, but the web site only says "national clothing retailer".

[tworivers]

http://www.hoytstreetproperties.com/images/artist_rendering2.jpg

Wish the rendering was larger. I like the tall tower, and the green roofs - also the trail along the riverbank. Don't see the ped bridge, though, that I thought was supposed to connect the "boardwalk" along 10th to the revamped Centennial Mills/waterfront area. I'm also curious about the building directly southeast of the Encore - looks like a mirror image in design?

[bvpcvm]

wow (http://www.hoytstreetproperties.com/HSP_Master_Plan_c.zip)

includes much interesting info

[pdxstreetcar]

i like that tall slender tower too

sort of surprising to see another sushi restaurant in the pearl on 10th ave. especially so close to sinju, but then again i like sushi so i'm not complaining

interesting about the "national clothing retailer"... any random guesses as to who it might be?

has anyone heard anything about the rest of station place? or is it tied up in PDC chaos? i recall hearing several years ago that a somewhat large format retailer (of around 40000 sq ft) was going in at station place, i think it was something about a supermarket or drug store but the pearl already has both of those (or at least in the works) plus the office max.

[bvpcvm]

^ mmmm... the wife and i just stuffed our faces at sushiland... more sushi is never a bad thing.

oh, and:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/bvpcvm/hspplansm.jpg

[CouvScott]

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e214/couvttocs/HSPtall.jpg

[MarkDaMan]

Booooo, why would they place the tower right next to Tanner Springs park? should be in the middle IMO as it will be between two parks...that's gonna command some money $$$

Check out that tower to the right and down a block from the tall guy...good stuff, the Pearl is finally maturing.

[MarkDaMan]

Hoyt Street Properties new renderings of what is to come. Thanks to some of the forumers in the NW section for posting these
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/bvpcvm/hspplansm.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e214/couvttocs/HSPtall.jpg

[CouvScott]

Concrete Jungle
Hidden parks take the edge of downtown
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Fred Leeson
Hit a few golf balls. Dangle your feet in the solitude of a cascading mountain stream.

And not leave downtown.

Hey, would we kid you? Of course not. The crannies of the city center hold a few surprises.

Take golf. Hidden behind the far corner of the Peter W. Stott Center at Portland State University lie a sand trap and putting green just waiting for a wedge and putter.

Make no mistake, this is not Augusta National. The putting surface is artificial turf, but it offers some interesting undulations. And it has not just one hole to aim at but six. Bring a sandwich, play 18 and you're still back at the office within the noon hour.

Finding the hidden golf site is the first challenge. It's past the dead end of Southwest College Street west of Park Avenue. Take the sidewalk on the south side of the Stott Center as far as possible, and there you are.

Another plus: The roar of Interstate-405 immediately behind will drown out the sudden verbal outbursts that inevitably accompany golf.


Lovejoy Fountain


If a mountain freshet fits your mood, try finding the Lovejoy Fountain at Southwest Third Avenue and Harrison Street. This is no simple task, given the awkward superblocks of the South Auditorium Urban Renewal Area.

OK, so the mountain is made of layered concrete. The sound of the rushing water still gives a sense of nature, as does the solitude. There's a good chance you'll have the whole fountain to yourself, since most Portlanders forgot about it a few years after the fountain opened in 1966. Those who remember it can't find it.

We can blame the Lovejoy's isolation on the unfortunate early urban renewal street plan. And on the larger, greener Forecourt Fountain, now Ira's Fountain, that opened four years later. You can wet your toes in Ira's Fountain, too, but you'll have to share it with a whole bunch of other people.

Have we gotten better at urban renewal since the Lovejoy Fountain days?


Tanner Springs Park

Reach your own conclusion at Tanner Springs Park, which opened last summer at Northwest 10th Avenue and Marshall Street in the Pearl District. It is the second of three parks planned in the River District Urban Renewal Area.

This park attempts to re-create the feel of the historic wetlands of Tanner Creek as it poured out of the Tualatin Mountains into the Willamette River. Alas, the real Tanner Creek was channeled into subsurface culverts many decades ago.

The water feature at Tanner Springs certainly isn't a fountain. It starts as a trickle and collects into a shallow pool near the east entrance. Visitors are encouraged to stay on the paths, and dogs are not welcome. (Fido's excretions could do bad things to the water quality.) It's meant to be a contemplative space, not for large gatherings.

Take a close look at the wavy steel fence. It's made of railroad tracks from the rail yards that used to comprise the neighborhood.

Is Tanner Springs Park a success? Make your own call. At least you can find it, because this time planners respected Portland's street grid and its peculiar little downtown blocks. Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com

[MarkDaMan]

I Googled Lovejoy Fountain and found this...Is this is? I can't believe I've never seen it before, looks really nice...

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=117394

http://static.flickr.com/45/182468459_3bc2b7c264.jpg?v=0

[cab]

Thats it. Its a great place to get away from cars. Totally carfree. A few urban mistakes screwed this park up (retail surrounding this park would have been an incredible European type park) but its still a great place to get some peace from the roar of the road. There is also another carfree park in this complex a little north of this one.

[65MAX]

It's a shame, it really is hidden away in the middle of the superblock between 1st and 4th, Montgomery and Lincoln. It could really use a little activity, a restaurant, even a coffee kiosk, anything.

[colemonkee]

Kick ass! Is that the base of the Fremont Bridge on the far right in the first picture?

[cab]

That hiddeness is what makes it so appealing. You can really escape the costant buzz of cars. I'm not sure the US is ready for a carfree pubic square with active retail similar to a lot of european cities. We seem to confuse car traffic with urban vibrancy. I'm always amazed by cafe culture on the sidewalk sitting a few feet away from 35 mile and hour car traffic.

[65MAX]

I agree about keeping it car-free, but I think a cafe off to one side would be a great addition.

[Dougall5505]

ooo that rendering is purdy, i like the crown sorta thing on the tall building the pearl needs more if these interesting tops of buildings like the benson

[CouvScott]

Kick ass! Is that the base of the Fremont Bridge on the far right in the first picture?

That it is! Hopefully, more height will be allowed along side the bridge.

[pdxstreetcar]

I prefer the Keller Fountain (which I really like) to the Lovejoy Fountain, maybe its because the few times I've seen the fountain it always looked rundown. I'll have to check it out on a hot day.

Tanner Springs Park is great... its unique in many ways especially in that its not an active park at all and probably has more in common with the Chinese Garden, but thats ok because the noisier and more active Jamison Square with its interactive fountain is two blocks south and the future neighborhood park of open lawns for non-organized sports and recreation will be one block north. These parks complement each other by catering to different uses and users yet all serve the same area. Even though I normally like Maya Lin's work, I thought her design for the Tanner Springs Park was atrocious and a terrible idea for any park let alone that location.

[CouvScott]

Visit, but don't play
Depending on whom you ask, Pearl park is a boon or a bust
By Peter Korn

The Portland Tribune, 10.4 hours ago

David Plechl / The Portland Tribune

At noontime on a Thursday Shag Johnson is sitting on the cement wall that marks the boundary of Tanner Springs Park in the Pearl District.

He’s taking his lunch break with two fellow construction workers, enjoying some sun before getting back to work putting stairways in the buildings that surround the park. But what’s odd about this picture is that Johnson and his buddies have their backs to the mostly empty park.

They could be taking their lunch on one of the benches within the park. They could be turned around on the wall, looking at the tall native grass or the pond just past the grass or the fence constructed from old railroad ties beyond that.

Instead, Johnson and his friends are facing Northwest 11th Avenue, and the high-rise condos on the other side of the street.

“We watched them put it (Tanner Springs) together and thought, ‘What a waste of money,’ ” Johnson says.

Johnson is not alone. Even some national experts think Tanner Springs wasn’t worth the nearly $4 million the city spent on it. But there are others who think Tanner Springs provides Pearl residents with exactly what they need most – solitude and a little taste of nature.

Tanner Springs is about to hit its one-year anniversary. It cost the city $2.3 million to build, $600,000 less than Jamison Park, two blocks to the south. But in addition the city had to purchase about two-thirds of the Tanner Springs property at a cost of $1.25 million.

The Pearl District Neighborhood Association has embarked on a campaign to encourage more families with children to settle in the neighborhood, but if Tanner Springs represents any kind of community statement, the association might need a new sales pitch, according to park critics.

The signs at Tanner Springs make it pretty clear this is not a place for traditional children’s activities:

Stay on the pathways and lawn areas.

No swimming or wading.

No pets.

Johnson says he’s seen the result of the park policies – most of the day Tanner Springs stands nearly empty. “You see any girls out there?” he says. “I don’t think it’s particularly attractive. The railroad tie stuff doesn’t do anything for me. If you’ve seen it once you’ve seen it.”

Deirdre Lawrence is taking a quick lunchtime walk right past the park’s north end. Asked to stop and make an appraisal she says, “It looks like it could use a little more work on that side.” She points to the park’s east half. “If they tidied the grass and without the construction work going on it would probably be a nice place to stop,” she says.

Lawrence takes a second look and points to the park’s taller grasses farther west. “It’s kind of messy in this half,” she says.

Fred Kent, president of the Project for Public Spaces, an internationally renowned nonprofit organization that consults on public spaces, says he thinks that the park’s entire concept represents landscape designers putting their egos ahead of public need.

“I’m not very positive about landscape designers,” Kent says, “because they’re into their own egos and their own design ideas. The community has a very different set of needs than to try to be part of somebody else’s ego.”

Use weighed against mission
In Kent’s view, park use is the best barometer of how well the public is being served by a park in a city.

“You need gathering places,” Kent says. “People get isolated in apartments. They don’t have natural areas in terms of gathering places where they can feel community and get excited about seeing someone, about chance encounters, about being around children that are younger, or seniors that can enjoy the smiles of children. You’re talking about human ecology.”

But Andrea Clinkscales doesn’t think turning Tanner Springs into a gathering place would benefit the Pearl at all.

Tanner Springs is supposed to be “contemplative,” according to city plans. And that’s exactly what Clinkscales likes about it.

Clinkscales, chairwoman of the volunteer group Friends of Tanner Springs Park, lives across the street from the park. She grew up in rural Dundee but likes living in the city. Knowing Tanner Springs was coming in played a big part in her decision to buy a condo in the Pearl, Clinkscales says.

“It’s really difficult for me to think about living in such a densely populated area without access to some contemplative nature scene,” Clinkscales says. “I think something like (Tanner Springs) was needed in this neighborhood, and I wouldn’t want to live in this neighborhood if it wasn’t here.”

Chance encounters?

“Most of the people living in this neighborhood don’t need social interaction,” Clinkscales says. “They’re busy people, and that’s why they chose to live here. The Pearl attracts people who are not interested in that reaching-out-socially part of their lives.”

Solitude’s a draw in itself
On a bench in the middle of Tanner Springs a young man, who won’t provide his name but says he is a Portland State University graduate student, sits alone, leafing through day trader documents.

“I like this park a lot,” he says. “It’s different than the rest of them.”

Has he noticed the lack of children? “That’s not so bad,” he says. “Maybe that’s part of what makes it attractive. There aren’t any people using it.”

Erin Braithwaite is walking fast past the park’s north side. She’s got Madison, her Pomeranian, on a leash.

“If they allowed dogs in I’d be in there all the time” says Braithwaite, a medical student at Oregon Health & Science University. But they don’t allow dogs, not even on leashes. So Braithwaite, who lives in a nearby apartment, walks Madison on the sidewalk around the park’s perimeter every day. And Madison, Braithwaite says, “longingly looks at the grass.”

Braithwaite says she has seen condo owners yell out their windows at dog owners who dared to take their pets into the park, toward the enticing grass.

“It’s kind of a strange park,” she says. “It’s more like something I just observe.”

Jamison Park bustles
Observing is more than Shag Johnson and his fellow construction workers are willing to do at this point. “If there were kids here there would be girls here and maybe husbands here,” he says. “It would be alive. It looks like a waste of money, a dead space.”

What would make Johnson turn around and take his lunch facing the park? Activity, he says. And energy. “Even the laughter of kids,” he says.

There are plenty of kids a block away at Jamison Park.

At 3 o’clock on a recent hot Sunday afternoon in July there were 110 people at Jamison Park, from young children splashing around in the cascading water to adults lounging in the grass. There was even a woman selling ice cream bars from a cooler near the water.

At the same time there were six people in Tanner Springs – one man reading on a park bench, two women sitting on the terraced lawn at the park’s north edge, two people strolling and a homeless man sleeping under a tree.

Henry Kunowski, program manager for Portland Parks & Recreation, doesn’t think the Portland Tribune’s informal survey tells a complete story. The city doesn’t keep tabs on how many people use each park, Kunowski says, and one of the reasons is that the parks don’t operate individually but as pieces of an ensemble.

Fields may fill popular need
A third Pearl District park, called the Fields and scheduled to open in about three years, will have grass and trees and a field on which children can play, Kunowski says. It also will feature a play area for dogs. Tanner Springs, he says, serves a different need. Jamison Park is mostly what he calls “hardscape.” Tanner he calls mostly “greenscape.”

“With Tanner we felt that in a high-density area you need a sense of green relief, and not looking out your window and seeing a mass of people gathering on a hard surface,” Kunowski says.

Kunowski points out that the final plan for Tanner Springs was arrived at after three public workshops, each of which was attended by at least 150 Pearl residents. And they liked the idea of a contemplative, ecological park.

“It was virtually unanimous: ‘We want this park,’ ” Kunowski says.

[cab]

I think this park will end up being the best one of the bunch when when it matures. Cities are about choices. this park gives a choice to those who want a little deeper experience then hot chicks and kids shouting. I noticed someone painting in this park the other day. The Grass comment is really funny. Does everything have to be pefectly mancured to be beautiful? I love the flowing grass. At night when you get a breeze it gives off sounds so rare in the city. But I guess it doesnt compare to the raw power of a roaring lawn mower culling grass into the man made form desired.