Portland Infill | Northwest Portland

[Drmyeyes]

Too true....




http://f7.yahoofs.com/users/WGE7GBPc52Nk/__sr_/a6bc.jpg?tkn=phMFI7FBYZ0emqIu&saveas=Stark+St+bathhouse+sign

http://f7.yahoofs.com/users/WGE7GBPc52Nk/__sr_/8c3c.jpg?tkn=phMFI7FBdul.xPyx&saveas=Stark+St+bahthouse

[tworivers]

Check out this Backbridge rendering from Sam Adam's blog. The parking area from this perspective looks larger than I was expecting, but I still like the design overall.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/127/412301556_d08c1b0d85_o.jpg

Original post, complete with the usual comment insanity, here:
http://commissionersam.com/node/1235

[der Reisender]

There is also a 24-unit condo project proposed for 8310 N Interstate, just a block or two down from the good ol' Dancin Bare in the Kenton neighborhood. Glad to see some development like this hitting the light rail line, particularly in Kenton, which has a great little main street area. Design looks decent

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=149094

[Urbanpdx]

Miller Hull does some really nice work.

http://www.millerhull.com/html/index.htm

I am surprised to see them on such a small Portland project. This is one to watch!

[MarkDaMan]

School site's suitor gets nod
Retail space and condominiums proposed for long-vacant Washington Monroe High building in Southeast
By Jennifer Anderson
The Portland Tribune, Mar 6, 2007

After sitting vacant for several years, the hulking behemoth of red brick in the Buckman neighborhood known as the former Washington Monroe High School is finally on track for redevelopment.

The Portland school board last week approved the Portland Schools Real Estate Trust’s selection of Beam Development LLC to take on the project. The district still is negotiating with Beam on the terms of the sale, which could take four months.

Beam has proposed to pay the district a total of $9.25 million for the 2.6 acres of land at the northeast and southeast corners of the site, which border Southeast 14th Avenue and Stark Street.

Under the reins of Brad Malsin — known for his creative reuse work in the central east side — Beam proposes to turn the existing building into a five-story mixed-use building with commercial space on the ground floor and four floors (72 units) of one-, two- and three-bedroom condominiums.

The entire building shell would be preserved and restored, and the interior architectural elements would be maintained, restored or reused in the project. In addition, Beam would put two rows of town houses at the west end of the property, all with sustainable building and design practices.

Malsin says that if all goes well with the negotiations, crews could break ground in four to six months and construction likely will take 12 to 18 months. Beam proposes to work with MCA Architects and Walsh Construction, and solicit design ideas from community members along the way.

Susan Lindsay, chairwoman of the Buckman Neighborhood Association, said she’s thrilled to see that Beam has stepped up with a plan to creatively restore the old high school.

But she said she and other neighbors are concerned that the space will not be able to accommodate the traffic that the proposed retail space would draw, especially since the city has committed to building a community center on the west end of the property.

“We never wanted a lot of retail in the space,” she said. “We primarily wanted it to be stable, owner-occupied units for families. We’ve got to have parking on-site. There’s going to be some very interesting negotiations taking place around that.”

Malsin said he doesn’t anticipate that the retail space would produce any problem; if anything, it should cut down on vehicle traffic and attract more foot traffic to the building.

“We feel that the retail space is absolutely necessary to activate the site,” he said. “The goal is to encourage people to use public transportation and walk, ride bikes. The idea behind the whole development is to activate the streets, become engaged and connected to the neighborhood, make the streets safer.”

Malsin said he’s begun talking with representatives of the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office about listing the site, and they were enthusiastic.

“I love historic buildings,” he said. “I see this as a great opportunity to preserve a building that is still well within its utilitarian life span. It’s exciting to take part of history and make it into something people can become a part of.”

The high school closed in 1981, after which district administrators and nonprofit organizations used part of the building for office space. The building was completely vacated in 2004, after the city bought the west side of the property with the intent to build a community center.

The school was temporarily reopened in 2005 to serve victims of Hurricane Katrina, but other than that it has sat empty, with its windows boarded up and some vandalism on the exterior.

The timeline for the community center still is unknown; a spokeswoman for Portland Parks & Recreation said the bureau is looking for money in the city budget to do a feasibility study on the project.

For now, Lindsay is glad to see at least one piece of the property getting some TLC. “The inner east-side neighborhoods have been neglected for a long time,” she said, “and they’re an essential part of the health and welfare of the city.”

jenniferanderson@portlandtribune.com
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=117313617017071800

[asher519]

:previous:

I just read about this last night in the Southeast Examimer and, aside from some unfounded traffic concerns, the neighborhood generally seems excited abou this project. As am I. I can't wait to see renderings!

[sirsimon]

^ Definitely should be a good project for SE. If they can maintain some of the original school character inside the building, it could be very cool (ala McMenamin's Kennedy School).

[alexjon]

hmmm, could have been worded better, but I agree, this is the end of the 70's built gay district in Portland. Had Club Portland's owners cleaned up the block years earlier, this could have been a different outcome...

They're being funneled, thankfully, into old town/chinatown-- that's a place that will duck gentrification for a while, at LEAST until the transit mall is fixed

Oh, and I mean the clubs around there, not club portland.

[MarkDaMan]

^I think the height limits will preserve the smaller feel of OTCT district. Portland is lacking a night life district, and since there is a mix of gay and straight clubs sprouting up almost weekly in the OTCT district, I see it only growing stronger as the evening destination of choice for downtown goers.

You know if the Silverado is closing or relocating? That leaves only two gay bars on Stark, twas six or seven when I moved back here 5 years ago.

[MarkDaMan]

Former retirement community to become artist work/live space
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Kennedy Smith
03/07/2007


A former retirement community in Northeast Portland will soon be home to work/live spaces for artists now that Beam Development has purchased Baptist Manor for $2.2 million.

“We’re converting it into an art incubator community,” said Brad Malsin, CEO of Beam Development. “Artists can live and work in the small but functional spaces.”

Rental rates for the 250- to 300-square-foot apartments, Malsin said, would start at $200 to $300 per month. About 50 of the projected 160 units, he said, would be for sale starting around $95,000. Larger, for-lease units would be around 400 square feet, he said.

Malsin is working with the office of Portland Commissioner Sam Adams, who announced a desire to turn the property into artist space in January. Other stakeholders include Portland Affordable Housing Preservation Trust, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and Works Partnership Architecture.

Adams has been “championing the idea for finding space for artists since he was first elected,” said Jesse Beason, a senior policy director in the commissioner’s office. “When we discovered that this was a possibility, Sam agreed to help facilitate for the developers the need for this kind of housing.”

Adams’ office last year conducted a survey among artists and discovered “there was huge demand,” Beason said. “Folks were interested in being among other artists, co-locating, and living in raw spaces.” The survey, Beason said, also showed artists preferred rehabilitated buildings over newly constructed spaces.

“Obviously, not all types of artists will fit into the units,” Malsin said. “Some units will be appropriate for industrial-type endeavors, but mostly the goal is to have nontoxic, nonintrusive kinds of artists.”

The community, Malsin said, would also provide business counseling for residents.

“There are plenty of great artists, but they can’t always translate that into supporting themselves in a sustainable manner,” he said. “This would allow the physical presence of business training to learn how to be independent business people.”

Located at 900 N.E. 81st Ave., the 150-unit retirement home was built in 1931.

http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=29022&userID=1

[zilfondel]

Miller Hull does some really nice work.

http://www.millerhull.com/html/index.htm

I am surprised to see them on such a small Portland project. This is one to watch!

That Tillamook Forestry Center is really cool - I would love to go visit it:

http://www.millerhull.com/images/institutional/tillamook_03.jpg

http://www.millerhull.com/images/institutional/tillamook_02.jpg

[zilfondel]

^I think the height limits will preserve the smaller feel of OTCT district. Portland is lacking a night life district, and since there is a mix of gay and straight clubs sprouting up almost weekly in the OTCT district, I see it only growing stronger as the evening destination of choice for downtown goers.

You know if the Silverado is closing or relocating? That leaves only two gay bars on Stark, twas six or seven when I moved back here 5 years ago.

That area is actually designated by the City of Portland planning dept as the nightlife district. Kid you not... their goal is to make it like New Orleans, and has been for years.

[MarkDaMan]

^it might have taken them years, but it seems to be coming to fruition...finally...one of Portland's weaknesses is that we've been lacking a nightlife entertainment district.

[nehalem5]

That Tillamook Forestry Center is really cool - I would love to go visit it

It's awesome...given Oregon's reputation for doing things on the cheap it is very well done and first rate museum. Seeing the forestry museum I wouldn't mind seeing more miller hull infill projects in Portland. I am not in the architecture field but their style seems to embody a "northwest" sense, with the wood, simplicity, and lots of glass to capture our precious light.

[Urbanpdx]

There have been at least a couple of books done on Miller-Hull's work. They have excellent photos.

[alexjon]

^I think the height limits will preserve the smaller feel of OTCT district. Portland is lacking a night life district, and since there is a mix of gay and straight clubs sprouting up almost weekly in the OTCT district, I see it only growing stronger as the evening destination of choice for downtown goers.

You know if the Silverado is closing or relocating? That leaves only two gay bars on Stark, twas six or seven when I moved back here 5 years ago.

Silverado will have to close, and friends of the owners have more or less confirmed that he'll have an idea soon enough as to when

[65MAX]

That leaves only two gay bars on Stark, twas six or seven when I moved back here 5 years ago.

Scandals, Red Cap and Boxxes are still there. Don't know if Silverado is closing permanently or not, but they seem to have a large, loyal clientele that would follow them to OT/CT if they chose to relocate.

[der Reisender]

as OT/CT continues to grow into its role as the nightlife area for downtown, it'd be nice to see some of those empty lots fill in. seems like it would be a great area for young people and students, who would appreciate the proximity to bars and such as well as the convenient transit connections it offers. Add to that the UO campus that will be opening soon and there's a lot of potential for housing for a more 'adventurous' young crowd willing to put up with hobos and the like. wonder if anyone will make the investment

[pdxtraveler]

What, put up with Hobo's? I LOVE Hobo's.. oh..you meant that kind of hobos. ;)

[65MAX]

^^^^ I thought the same thing. Hobo's is a nice bar/restaurant. I didn't know anybody still used the word "hobo", kind of an old-timey term.

[Dougall5505]

is this old news?
http://pdc.us/images/ura/interstate/crown-motel/northwest-elevation_1-23-07.jpg
http://pdc.us/ura/interstate/crownmotel.asp

[PDX City-State]

I've never seen it before. Looks like an ugly PDC project.

[WonderlandPark]

so so, would still rather see the density happen on Interstate. Better than some of the early stuff on MLK.

[MOPIdaho]

They need to incorporate the old crown motel sign into their plan.

[MarkDaMan]

have we seen this one?

City Plaza from Myhre Group Architect

Myhre Group Architects will be responsible for the architectural design and planning entitlements for this mixed-use development in the Portland Metropolitan Area. The design includes 90 affordable housing units, office and commercial/retail space, 104 on-site parking spaces, and a gym and daycare for residents. To create a sense of community among residents, the building is structured around a central, elevated gathering courtyard space. The project contains a total of 169,700 square feet and is located on a 2.28 urban site.

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/couch_plaza-large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Couch_back-large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Couch_close-large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Couch-Birdseye-Large.jpg

[Dougall5505]

looks familiar but i don't have any info on it

[NJD]

^ post # 155

[der Reisender]

Planned Parenthood HQ, gym proposed for MLK
Revival - An empty stretch of the boulevard could be the site for the nonprofit clinic's regional headquarters


• MLK changes
Related Documents (PDF):
1
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
RYAN FRANK

Portland's attempts to revive a symbolic corridor through the heart of the city's African American community might bring Planned Parenthood's regional headquarters and a 24 Hour Fitness to Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette would bring 140 workers and its Northeast clinic to the boulevard. But the nonprofit's move stirred some concerns among African American church leaders, given the agency's small but controversial abortion practice.

"If they would bring a clinic that does abortions, that would be a big issue in our community," said the Rev. LeRoy Haynes Jr., pastor at the nearby Allen Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church "It is a moral, faith-based issue to me."

The Portland Development Commission, the city's urban renewal agency, will get its first look today at the proposed Planned Parenthood deal and will vote on an extended timeline to start work on the 24 Hour Fitness at Alberta Street.

City officials hope Planned Parenthood's move to a grassy field at Beech Street would liven up a stretch of MLK from Fremont to Killingsworth streets that has struggled to recover from 1960s race riots and decades of neglect that followed.

The street is lined with empty lots, vacant buildings, trash and windows covered with security bars. Most nights, the street is dark and empty, even as MLK's south end has taken off with a Nike outlet store and the north end is busy with a Walgreens and Safeway.

Planned Parenthood wants to make the move after a recent growth spurt fueled by increased federal and state spending on family planning, said David Greenberg, president of the group's local chapter.

The group ran out of space at its headquarters in Southeast Portland, and its existing Northeast Portland clinic at 15th Avenue and Fremont Street MLK D3

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1173835545261250.xml&coll=7

[mcbaby]

They need to incorporate the old crown motel sign into their plan.
the sign should be given historical preservation status

[PDX City-State]

I agree--except that instutional building next to such a cool sign would make for a strange juxtaposition.

[MarkDaMan]

Suburbanites fight Planned Parenthood's move to MLK
PDC meeting - Most who speak against a new clinic live outside the Northeast neighborhood
Friday, March 16, 2007
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian

White suburbanites' flight to fight Planned Parenthood's potential move to Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard offends African American business leaders in a debate of morality vs. economics.

"We all leave legacies, and all of you are no different," Bill Diss of Beaverton told the board of Portland's urban renewal agency. "Are you going to be remembered for helping minorities and children with a good formal education? . . . Or are you going to vote in favor of killing minority children and teaching children how to be promiscuous?"

Harold Williams Sr., an African American leader, objected to people from outside Portland trying to drive the city's agenda.

He said Diss and four others from Lake Oswego, Beaverton and Hillsboro who attended the Wednesday night meeting before the Portland Development Commission oppose the deal because they're against abortion. But the same people have been absent in helping the community with housing, jobs and education.

"Where are these people on those issues?" Williams asked. "Now, if they come on those issues and are willing to put money on those issues, then they can come and challenge and talk about their liberalism and their open heart against abortion.

"But if they are not about that issue, my suggestion to them is to shut up and stay out of the way and let economic development come to the forefront in this community. That is the history and the goal of Martin Luther King, to let all people get at the table."

The debate played out in the first public airing for the Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette's proposed deal with the PDC. The board will vote in April on whether to sell the land at MLK and Beech Street to a developer who would build the nonprofit's new offices.

Planned Parenthood wants to consolidate its regional headquarters with its Northeast Portland clinic, a few blocks east. The agency provides cancer, pregnancy and sexual disease prevention services for mostly women, many of them poor. Their work also includes 3,000 to 3,500 abortions a year in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

"We can't change who we are, but we may be misunderstood," said David Greenberg, the nonprofit's local president.

City officials like the agency's move because it would bring good-paying jobs, a building with a high-end design and ground-floor shops to a stagnant stretch of MLK without taxpayer subsidy. Until recently, the city's urban renewal agency hasn't been able to entice much redevelopment between Fremont and Killingsworth streets, a span that cuts through the heart of Portland's African American community.

Six people spoke out against the project and five for it. All but one opponent said they live in the suburbs.

W.G. Hardy Jr., senior pastor at Highland Christian Center in Northeast Portland, said that even if less than 5 percent of the agency's services include abortions, it's too many for a street named for the civil rights leader.

"Martin Luther King Jr., that boulevard, was not designed for that 5 percent," Hardy said. "I think Martin Luther King stood for integrity, people, lives, working together and definitely families."

Diss said he was a member of the "concerned citizens of Portland umbrella group for various neighborhoods and churches fighting to keep abortions, eugenics and promiscuous sex education out of Portland." He said he's a leader at the Knights of Columbus that plans to spend thousands of dollars to fight Planned Parenthood.

Diss read a graphic description of sexual intercourse that he said came from Planned Parenthood's Web site.

"Mr. Diss, this is not helping public information on the subject," PDC Chairman Mark Rosenbaum said.

"Well, if you're sponsoring a facility that does that . . ." Diss said.

"I'm not sponsoring anything," Rosenbaum said firmly. "I'm considering the transfer of property. I get your point, but let's move past that."

Supporters from the North/Northeast Business Association said the economic and medical benefits Planned Parenthood would bring to MLK outweighed any social costs.

Matt Hennessee, former PDC chairman and senior pastor at Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, sent a letter supporting the project, saying he was impressed with the agency's family planning work with the poor.

When his turn came, Greenberg pointed out that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America had honored King in 1966 before his death with the Margaret Sanger Award for furthering reproductive health.

"For the Negro, therefore, intelligent guides of family planning are a profoundly important ingredient in his quest for security and a decent life," King said in his acceptance speech, according to Planned Parenthood's Web site.

After the debate, Greenberg had no second thoughts. "Actually, it was very civil," he said. He and city officials plan to talk further with community and church leaders. "In other communities people would have been much less rational."

What do you think of Planned Parenthood's proposal? Register your comments on The Oregonian's City Hall blog at http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandcityhall/ Ryan Frank: 503-221-8564; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1174015546278420.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

The infill thread is getting a bit crowded, so for districts seeing a lot of infill, or other changes, it is probably best to subdivide out the threads. Anyway, this one is for NW Portland.



Parking squeeze
Council vote, paving have shop owners worried
By peter korn
The Portland Tribune, Mar 16, 2007

With construction continuing on the nearby 104-unit Westerly (top) and extensive repaving scheduled for next year, some Northwest 23rd Avenue business owners, like Blush Beauty Bar’s Deborah Haynes, are wondering where their customers will park.
Schucks Auto Supply

Kim Lane, owner of the Bee and Thistle boutique at 2328 N.W. Westover Road, would like the dust to settle.

It’s been three weeks since the Portland City Council, in a surprise 3-2 vote, upheld an appeal that has stopped construction of a long-planned parking garage behind Papa Haydn near Northwest 23rd Avenue and Irving Street.

Lane wanted that garage. And now she wants progress on alternative solutions to the parking mess that she’s afraid is going to drive some Northwest 23rd Avenue shop owners out of business.

But as far as Lane is concerned, the dust isn’t settling anytime soon, either politically or literally. The vote against the parking garage was only one of a number of factors combining to make parking in Northwest even more of an issue than it has been before.

It’s been an issue dividing the neighborhood association and area shop owners, led by Richard Singer – landlord to many of those shops – for years.

The unexpected ruling on the Irving Street garage has altered the political landscape in Northwest Portland. Singer said he has not yet decided whether he will continue to fight for the garage. But neighborhood officials opposing the garage have begun to discuss potential solutions to the parking problems in Northwest Portland without it. And they are clear that they will support other garages in the neighborhood.

“It’s been a long time since somebody said no parking (garages),” said Juliet Hyams, vice president of the neighborhood association. Hyams said there probably will be at least one garage, along with meters or permits as some part of an overall parking plan.

The lines in the sand for the neighborhood association – there are two of them, according to a number of members – are no parking structures west of 23rd Avenue, which is where the proposed Irving Street garage would be, and no parking lots without a comprehensive plan that includes meters and residential permits.

Area shop owners say they have more immediate concerns than garages that may or may not be built. Construction on the Westerly, a 104-unit condominium on Northwest 24th Avenue and Everett Street, has made parking even more scarce, with construction and construction workers taking up available parking spaces.

“I think this has taken it to the next level of not having enough parking available,” Lane said of the construction.
Road slated for a redo

And there’s another level still to come that worries Lane even more. This fall the city is going to take bids on a $3.2 million project to completely reconstruct Northwest 23rd Avenue.

The project, scheduled to begin in January and continue through most of 2008, will mean four-block sections of the road will have single lanes of one-way traffic for months at a time.

Each four-block section under construction will cost the Nob Hill neighborhood an estimated 64 more parking spaces on 23rd Avenue.

Those lost spaces worry Mary Laase-Celik, owner of Turkish Imports at 816 N.W. 23rd Ave. She said she’s run her shop for five years, and the parking problem has steadily worsened.

“Many of my friends won’t even come down now because of the parking,” Laase-Celik said. “I tell them, ‘If you’re willing to walk two blocks you can find a space.’ It’s not always true, but that’s what I tell them.”

The most likely location for a parking garage, according to Chris Smith, ex-chairman of the neighborhood association transportation committee, is a surface lot next to the Metropolitan Learning Center on Northwest Glisan Street.

In the city’s zoning plan for the neighborhood, six sites were selected for zoning as eventual garages. All but the Irving Street property already served as surface lots.

Among the other sites are the surface lot outside of Trader Joe’s on Glisan and a nearby lot belonging to the Flanders Medical Center.

The neighborhood association, Smith said, probably will push the Metropolitan Learning Center site. “Of all the sites we looked at, the one that was least objectionable was the MLC site – 110 spaces on two levels,” Smith said.

While the Metropolitan Learning Center site would not be as close to 23rd Avenue shops as the Irving Street location, it would, Smith said, serve as parking for moviegoers at the nearby Cinema 21.

“If the city got moving today I’d bet we could get a parking structure behind MLC in two years,” Smith said. “But probably not quicker than that.”
2 years, 2 blocks, too much?

Two years might not be quick enough for some of the shops along Northwest 23rd to survive, said Deborah Haynes, owner of Blush Beauty Bar at 513 N.W. 23rd Ave. And the Metropolitan Learning Center site, just east of 21st Avenue and a little more than two blocks from Blush, may not even help in the long run, she said.

“Most people I know aren’t going to walk that far,” Haynes said.

As for the 23rd Avenue reconstruction worries, Haynes and Lane have begun meeting with City of Portland Office of Transportation officials hoping to find ways to mitigate the disruption the project is expected to cause.

They talk about hosting sales and special events, and possibly operating a shuttle bus along the avenue. But even Haynes knows those solutions won’t be enough.

“I don’t know what the answer is,” Haynes said.
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=117399177142237400

[urbanlife]

I for one like Planned Parenthood, they seem to be one of the few smart organizations. Much better than most mindless church going suburbanites who are confused when they find out their teenage daughters get knocked up.

[Drmyeyes]

"Diss said he was a member of the "concerned citizens of Portland umbrella group for various neighborhoods and churches fighting to keep abortions, eugenics and promiscuous sex education out of Portland." He said he's a leader at the Knights of Columbus that plans to spend thousands of dollars to fight Planned Parenthood.

Diss read a graphic description of sexual intercourse that he said came from Planned Parenthood's Web site." from the article above.

Mr. Diss. What a fine citizen. Wouldn't be surprized if he's one of the porn shop's best customers.

[GreenCity]

Bigoted people finding whatever venue they can to air out their viewpoints. Ignore the fact that Planned Parenthood is the main source of contraceptives for a large number of people, especially those with lower incomes, thus lowering the demand for abortions by *gasp* preventing pregnancies in the first place. But then again some of these same people view contraceptives as immoral as well. There's always going to be someone...

[mcbaby]

don't let Diss dis on planned parenthood

[MarkDaMan]

it shouldn't even be about planner parenthood. Another developer is building a building and planned parenthood has decided to be the primary tenant. I don't think the PDC/City Council can (or should) look at prospective tenants when selling the land and approving the design.

[mSeattle]

Planned Parenthood. What's in a name?

These opposition people love the global human-kindling economic system because they're the same ones wanting to cut taxes and programs (unless they're so-called "faith-based"...), suppress family-wage jobs etc.

Humans are not machines. They're going to want to have sex and there are mistakes. Planned Parenthood and such organizations have a logical and humanitarian approach of prevention with reality-based perspective on human sexuality.

[sirsimon]

^ Well said.

[65MAX]

It always amazes me when "concerned" citizens are more concerned with other peoples lives than their own. It must be hell not to have a life of their own to worry about. I pity them. :(

[edgepdx]

Ok, I got to say, I think planned parenthood is a fine organization, but what does this have to do with skyscrapers? Remember UrbanPDX was banned due to his off topic political rants and the board seems much better since, so IMHO let's try and keep things on topic.

[65MAX]

That's a good point. Plus, this group isn't protesting the development itself, but the tenant that's going to be leasing the space. So forget them, let's hear more about the actual development. Any renderings?

[mcbaby]

yes, i'd like to see some renderings as well.

[MarkDaMan]

Portland struggles to make room for families
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Alison Ryan
03/20/2007


Empty nesters or singles might jump at the chance to rent a one-bedroom, one-bath loft in inner Portland – but a family wouldn't want, or be able, to ink such a lease. And that's a growing concern for neighborhoods and school districts.

Cost, developers say, plays the biggest part in keeping infill development that's attractive and affordable to families out of close-in Portland neighborhoods.

"The cost of the land is the cost of the land," said Gary Whitehill-Baziuk, a broker at Realty Trust and developer of inner eastside Portland properties. "The cost of a two-by-four is the cost of a two-by-four."

A 50-by-90 lot in the Hollywood district zoned for two units, he said, just sold for $285,000. Factors of building costs and reasonable profit put final cost at four times the value of the land – about $600,000 for each of the two units.

"And I can do that," he said. "I can put a product there that is quality infill, that looks like it belongs in the neighborhood, and it'll sell. But I can't put a family on there."

Neighborhoods where land is cheaper, such as outer Southeast Portland, have attracted more family-friendly infill projects. Lincoln Woods, developed by nonprofit group Human Solutions, brought 70 units of green, affordable family housing to an infill lot along Southeast Division Street. Most of Lincoln Woods' units include three-plus bedrooms; spaces are reserved for families making less than 50 percent of the area median income – $34,000 for a family of four.

"The issue of land use and infill is a very real question, with regards to questions of affordability," Dorene Warner, housing director at Human Solutions, said.

Families have jumped at the opportunities. But the influx of housing has meant a rush of students into school districts such as southeast Portland's David Douglas and a dearth of students in districts such as Portland Public Schools.

"Even though the number of units are up and the number of people are up throughout the city, there have been shifts as to where the kids are," Rich Rodgers, coordinator of a "Schools, Families, Housing" initiative introduced in June by City Commissioner Erik Sten, told a crowd of about 50 Saturday at a city-sponsored panel discussion on infill development.

Those shifts, Warner said, are a reality – but creating family-oriented communities at reasonable prices is the focus for Human Solutions.

"How crowded or un-crowded a particular school is is a factor," Warner said, "but it's not something I can look at as the main factor in my deciding to buy or not buy a piece of land."

Putting more families into areas that are under-populated by children is a focus for an upcoming design competition, part of the "Schools, Families, Housing" initiative, that will ask architects and designers to take a look at shared court, common green, and other layouts that offer play space. Human Solutions, Warner said, puts shared space into its site plan for each development as a place for kids to play.

"We find it gives a huge sense of community, because we site that space so, as often as possible, the kitchen or living room windows overlook that space," she said.

Some of what the initiative is trying to do is a start, said Debbie Bischoff, a Planning Bureau liaison to two Northeast Portland neighborhood coalitions. Developers in the area she works with – primarily close-in Northeast neighborhoods – are trying to be responsive, she said, but costs mean new development isn't usually aimed at families.

"We need to get at creative approaches, or ways to assist developers in putting in family-friendly housing," she said.

Incentives from lending institutions, or tax credits, Whitehill-Baziuk said, could make a difference from a development perspective. Creating more public facilities – or opening facilities for public use – may also make alternative space for yardless developments. And, said Jim Labbe, Portland Audubon Society's urban conservationist, creating community spaces in the public right-of-way – such those the City Repair Project makes in shared urban spaces – could create spots for recreation as well.

"You start to look at these areas," he said, "as a real opportunity."
http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=29092&userID=1

[zilfondel]

Can you say... FLATS?

Didn't think so - we'd rather have a super-expensive pretty building that only rich people can afford to something ugly and affordable. Oh well...

[CouvScott]

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e214/couvttocs/NE39thandTillamook.jpg

[bvpcvm]

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=151125

Location: 103 N IVY ST

Proposal:
4 buildings ranging from 4-6 stories. Total of 333,000 square feet. Retail
at grade with housing and office above. Proposing 192 structured parking spaces.

[bvpcvm]

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=151124

Location: 1605 NE CLACKAMAS ST

Proposal:
7-story, 23 unit independent living facility in association with Holladay Park Plaza. 21 space structured parking at the ground level.
it's currently a vacant lot

[bvpcvm]

also the building CouvScott posted a picture of a couple posts up:

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=150701

[MarkDaMan]

Buckman sees walls to renewal come down
Thursday, March 22, 2007
By Kimberly A.C. Wilson
The Oregonian

Maureen Caviness leans back on her front step, watching a construction crane tear down a chunk of the old Washington High School gym's eastern wall. Softly falling rain dampens her face.

"Perfect," says the 40-year-old garden designer. "That school, that property, needs to be used. It's ridiculous for four city blocks to be empty and cordoned off."

Destruction is the latest step toward a communitywide goal to restore the stately, long-shuttered school and grounds into a playing field, community center and housing.

In recent years, other Portland schools have found new lives after closing: Kennedy School, now a popular hotel, theater and pub; Glenhaven Elementary, now a pet hospital, dog park and corporate headquarters; Kenton Elementary, now home to a parochial school; and Linnton School, reborn as high-style townhouses.

Buckman residents hope their turn at transformation is nigh, with Portland Public Schools' deal to sell two parcels of the property to a developer with a track record of giving historic buildings fresh purpose.

Brad Malsin, owner of Beam Development, would convert the 85-year-old school into a mixed-use project with market-rate and "work force" condos over street-level retail. Early plans call for about 160 one- to three-bedroom units -- 60 in the school building and 100 townhouses nearby.

Still to negotiate: the price. A 2006 appraisal valued the two 1.3-acre parcels, bordering Southeast 14th Avenue and Stark Street, at $9.25 million. Malsin wants to shave off about $2 million through historic tax credits, a lower price tag and a profit-sharing agreement with schools.

Much of his plans have the community's blessing.

"I am really happy that the Beam team has come forward with a plan that will preserve that historic building," says Buckman Community Association chair Susan Lindsay.

But she's troubled by the retail component. "There isn't any plan for traffic and parking."

And that's the rub.

The city bought a 4.5-acre chunk in the middle of the property three years ago, earmarked for a neighborhood center that still awaits funding. Malsin envisions building an underground parking lot beneath the central playing field. But no master plan connects his housing project, the community center and their joint traffic and parking demands.

Still, residents are clear about what they want.

"In order to change the neighborhood for the good and stabilize it, you've got to have families," says Jack Inglis, 47, owner of Floyd's Coffee Shop at Southeast Morrison and 15th.

Visitors to Buckman might imagine who lives in its walk-up apartment houses and 19th century Queen Anne cottages painted in sorbet colors. The answer: typically renters and singles. The neighborhood has among the city's lowest concentration of homeowners and families with children.

"A big project could change the fabric of the area because it's more people," says Nicolas Hall, 41, pouring coffee at the Three Friends Coffeehouse & Cafe.

Caviness agrees there's room for a new demographic. She's ready for new neighbors.

Her shingled cottage stares across Southeast 14th Avenue at the school and its grounds. She moved in two years ago and awakens occasionally to late-night arguments on the old track and the sight of discarded needles.

"I'm done with the freaked-out meth heads and the broken glass and the needles," she says. "This community deserves better."

The school's long-winding pedigree seems to call for it. A public school first opened on the site in 1876, a year that also saw the founding of the University of Oregon and the initial printing of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."

The present four-story brick school was built in 1922 and closed for good in 1981.

Its most illustrious student, Linus Pauling, is the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes, one for chemistry in 1954 and the second in 1962 for his peace efforts.

Kimberly Wilson: 503-412-7017; kimberlywilson@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1174002907249800.xml&coll=7

[asher519]

Bakery rises again
Developers target 'Bakery Blocks' for redevelopment
Portland Business Journal - March 23, 2007
by Wendy Culverwell, Business Journal staff writer

Northeast Portland reminds architect Ben Kaiser of his hometown of Cleveland.
View Larger A blighted Northeast Portland intersection will become the Bakery Blocks as two different developers bring ambitious plans to install new commercial and residential buildings.

The district, just north of Legacy Emanuel Hospital, is taking its name from the former Continental Bakery. The two-block property is largely closed and has been sold to a Seattle developer who apparently intends to demolish the old building and replace it with a mixed-use development.

Another developer, Northeast Portland architect Ben Kaiser, has his own plans for the Bakery Blocks neighborhood, which is roughly centered along North Fremont Street between North Williams and North Vancouver avenues.

A Kelly's Tire shop one occupied the lot across Fremont from the bakery. A long-closed gas station stands on the lot across Vancouver and is enjoying a second life as a popular neighborhood car wash. The intersection is one of Portland's busiest bicycle corridors.

Kaiser, through his architectural firm and his development business, has remade dozens of old apartments into new condos within a 15-block radius of the Bakery Blocks neighborhood. Now, he's graduating from condominium converter into full-fledged developer, and the Bakery Blocks neighborhood is his launch point.

The Kaiser Group Inc.'s first project is BackBridge Station, a $14 million commercial and residential condominium project that starts construction around mid-May. BackBridge Station will bring 41 units to the former tire shop site, which Kaiser bought a few years ago before the latest run-up in property prices.

Kaiser's architecture studio is a few blocks away, above a nursery business on North Mississippi Avenue.

The project is somewhat unusual -- buyers can use their units as residences or commercial space. The five buyers so far say they plan to use the property for business.

Kaiser also owns property across the corner, bordered by Fremont and Williams. There, he plans to extend the BackBridge brand with a 39-loft project called BackBridge Lofts. Because of zoning, it will be residential.

Kaiser said he chose to call his dual projects "BackBridge" to reflect the neighborhood, which serves as a bridge between the freeway and the popular Irvington community.

A native of Cleveland, Kaiser said he's long been attracted to Northeast Portland because it reminds him of home.

In the past, he's specialized in rehabilitating blighted apartments into low-cost condos priced at $125,000 or below. He enjoys watching the way a redevelopment sparks neighborhood pride.

When work crews show up to improve a blighted property, neighbors perk up. They start to mow lawns and perform other maintenance.

"No one wants to live in a bad neighborhood," he said. "It's amazing to see."

But as prices for multifamily property rose, apartments for condominium conversion were no longer financially feasible. He began to turn his attention to larger opportunities and bought the former tire store site in 2004.

BackBridge has been two years in development. At one point, Kaiser even hoped to pair it with a bakery renovation.

He hoped to buy the former Continental Bakery, which had been owned by Interstate Bakeries Corp. The Kansas City, Mo., maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and the Portland baker was one of the casualties.

The property, which includes a bakery thrift shop, was sold in a telephone auction for an as-yet unrecorded price. Sierra Construction, based in the Seattle area, outbid the local buyers.

Kaiser doesn't regret losing to Sierra -- in fact, he welcomes the investment, figuring a significant investment out of Seattle validates his long-held belief that Northeast Portland is the Rose City's sleeper hit.

"It's the most interesting of the four quadrants," he said.

Sierra officials weren't available to discuss their plans, but they did meet with Portland Development Commission officials earlier this week.

Byron Estes, a PDC urban renewal manager who oversees Northeast Portland, said the new owners are trying to figure out what to build, but indicated it will be some sort of mixed-use development.

"That's exciting. That's a large site," he said, calling the Vancouver/Fremont district a "fulcrum of development interest."

Under area codes, the developer could build as much as 360,000 square feet of new construction where the bakery building and thrift shop now stand.

Scores of developers are increasingly interested in Northeast Portland. Among them is Jim Winkler, the prominent Portland developer with broad tastes.

Winkler bought property at North Mississippi and Fremont a few years ago, deciding to buy it the second he saw it. He's been studying it lately to see if the time has come to build.

"This is clearly a very hip area," he said.

There are obvious challenges, including the premium builders can get for projects in the Pearl District and the ever-increasing price of construction materials.

He expects to make a decision about the 45,000-square-foot, L-shaped property in a few months.

Winkler, who attended grade school at Irvington, gives Northeast Portland a thumbs up.

"We've just been waiting for the marketplace to mature a little," he said.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415

[MarkDaMan]

The amount of infill in NE-SE absolutely amazes me. The big names and height are downtown, but the real high density housing for everday Portlanders is being built in massive numbers on the east side of the Willylambette...this thread has grown to 10 pages quick!

[bvpcvm]

http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/entertainment/117468692297130.xml&coll=7&thispage=2

NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE FUTURE

The company's Northwest Portland property is the perfect blank palette for a 21st-century twist -
Sunday, March 25, 2007RANDY GRAGG
The Oregonian

Between the Pearl District and the Northwest District lies the perfect blank piece of land to create a new 21st-century model for the working-class neighborhood.
That's because at the center of the land sit 1,000 members of the 21st-century working class.
Let's name the neighborhood right now: Con-way.
Con-way?
That's the owner of the land, the employer of the workers and the company that can make it all happen.
Trucking enthusiasts and longtime Portlanders know Con-way is all that may soon be left of the dwindling Consolidated Freightways, the trucking company started by Portlander Leland James in 1929. The history of mergers and spinoffs is tangled, but the bottom line is that the truck-building Consolidated Freightways has mostly been off-shored to Mexico while the transportation and logistics company Con-way thrives.
Recently named one of Forbes magazine's most-admired companies, the $4-billion company is based in San Mateo, Calif. But the entire company's technological nerve center sits at Northwest Thurman and 21st Avenue, surrounded by 15 acres of mostly empty land mainly used for parking.
"We have this property," says J. Craig Boretz, Con-way's vice president of corporate development. "We don't need it for our business. It's become valuable. We'd like to redevelop it, but in a way that will be a good experience for our employees."
Con-way's goal is to attract the best employees, Boretz says.
"Let's face it, transportation isn't as sexy as Nike or Intel," he says. "So we want to be here, in the heart of Northwest, surrounded by amenities and good places to live."
Simple as that may sound, it's actually a tall order.
Con-way's land is zoned for mixed-use buildings -- retail with either commercial or housing on top -- the same as the Pearl District next door. But Con-way's land has lower height and bulk limits and fewer available bonuses to go above and beyond them.
One of the only bonuses the city offers, in fact, is to build smaller -- for buildings with 10,000 and 20,000-square-foot footprints. That's a lovely idea: an attempt to social engineer this land, a la Christopher Alexander-style "pattern language," with small-grain apartment buildings like those in the Northwest District. The only problem is, the economics don't work. Current construction prices make building small more expensive, plus whoever develops this land will have to pay for way more than just the buildings.
The Northwest District Plan, for instance, calls for a neighborhood park and a community center on the land. The only mass transportation to the site is one bus line. And then there's parking. Most of Con-way's employees drive. The company leases parts of its vast surface parking lots to such nearby employers as Good Samaritan Hospital. So, even with improved mass transit, Con-way needs parking for at least 1,000 cars. That's $25,000 for every parking stall -- $35,000 if it goes, as it should, underground -- so, $25 million to $35 million for starters.
Though Con-way's average wage is, Boretz estimates, "somewhere north of $50,000," that doesn't buy much in today's inner-city housing market. Land and construction prices have skyrocketed to the point where even middle-class urban housing has to be subsidized, cheaply built or tiny.
Boretz hired an initial design team: John Spencer (a private planning consultant), Gerding/Edlen Development and GBD Architects. They studied several housing types like townhouses and courtyard apartments. They pondered a potential streetcar extension linking Con-way to other transit-starved areas nearby like the north Pearl District and Montgomery Park. Under current zoning, only 1,500 to 2,000 units of housing are possible.
But the real opportunity -- if not the necessity -- is to look at this land for what it is: a blank slate.
What would this future neighborhood look like with no rules but two basic goals: 1) to produce as much energy as it consumes; and 2) offer housing options and amenities affordable to all of Con-way's workers, whether a vice president or a janitor, whether a young single or the head of a family of five?
There's no paved road to follow to success in these times. Maybe the buildings would be low, maybe tall. With the area already gridded with super-blocks, maybe we could build true Vancouver-style "point towers" -- thin skyscrapers that rise from five- or six-story buildings topped by roof gardens, some serving as family-supportive daycare playgrounds. Maybe they're very small units arranged in buildings with more common rooms and pocket parks for communal recreation. Maybe they're an entirely new kind of flex-space buildings where people buy raw space to live in, work in or rent as they need for growing and shrinking families and businesses.
Whatever. The key is to drive the process with aspirations rather than limits, to consider models beyond our own and maybe even develop some new ones.
Randy Gragg: 503-221-8575; randygragg@news.oregonian.com


©2007 The Oregonian

[PDX City-State]

This article says absolutely nothing. Typical Randy.

[asher519]

I don't think it's trying to, except that the owner of the land is interested in developing it. He's simply asking us to consider the possibilities.

[PDX City-State]

Old news. Why is everyone on this forum so fond of this guy? He doesn't write that well, he recycles nearly everything from other writers in town, and is generally considered to be a self-important ass by local architects. Only in Portland could a guy like this be employed.

[brandonpdx]

I enjoy reading his columns...anyway back to the topic:
I think the commissioners should consider opening it up for this piece of property. However, it is the Northwest neighborhood association where this property lies, so I'm sure if they start talking point towers the NIMBYs will be out in full force.

[tworivers]

I also generally enjoy reading his columns, although I do feel like I've noticed a change in style after his return from Harvard. He definitely seems to be much more friendly to the powers-that-be in the development world, and I agree that he can have an air of smug self-importance. I was also really disappointed by that free lecture that he gave last month. If his meanderings on the subject of "deep history" are any indication of the depth of his intellect... well, he has a lot of studying to do.

I am both concerned and intrigued by his suggestions recently that we alter some of our long-held planning models. The whole article was mostly a vehicle for this last line:

The key is to drive the process with aspirations rather than limits, to consider models beyond our own and maybe even develop some new ones.

Back to the topic, the NIMBY's are probably organizing already! But I highly doubt point towers are going to get built over there any time soon, particularly given the seeming weakness (fickleness, at least) of the market here. We can't even get a point tower built elsewhere in the city.

[dkealoha]

This may not be about development, but did anyone notice the fireworks tonight in NW Portland? It looked like they were coming from near the top of Burnside above Zupans.

[pdxman]

Point towers? I wish--not with the NW neighbors controlling that area...I could see some nice 5-6 story brownstone rowhousing with community gardens-kind of like something you'd see in london area or manhattan(not orenco style). Something dense...

[sirsimon]

^ That's a nice image, and one that would fit well with the rest of NW. :)

[MarkDaMan]

I'm not so sure the neighborhood is going to be that opposed. As dumb as that sounds considering their Riverplace objections. This area has been planned for higher density and zoning changes have been requested for some time now, over a year, and opposition isn't flaring. Maybe when renderings come out people will start paying attention. However, if they can come out with something that provides as much affordable housing as Con-Way says it wants to develop, the neighborhood association will look like an ass opposing it. I see neighborhood buy-in will mostly depend on what Con-Way and the selected developer put on the table, parks, community center, streetcar lines, and condos starting at $125,000 will go a long way to getting neighborhood acceptance of pointy towers.

[JoshYent]

yeah it doesnt say much.....but i guess thats how it goes sometimes...

it did however make me aware that there could be a nice new development, or a really crappy one that is n0t as dense or of the quality Portland deserves....

[MarkDaMan]

Old-school gym pumped up for a threat
Loprinzi's loyalists hope a land-use appeal to the city will protect the funky Southeast Portland gym from a mismatch with a 33,000-square-foot Gold's
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
KIMBERLY A.C. WILSON
The Oregonian

Across the cracked, green concrete floors, past the jumbo bottle of antacid on the front counter and the signed publicity shots of Jesse Ventura and Jack La Lanne, beyond the globe dumbbells and the 10-gallon bucket of hand chalk, through the door of the second-floor ladies' changing room, there stands a vibrating belt machine, plugged in and ready to shake your fat away.

A pewter-colored monument to dubious midcentury health claims once ubiquitous in fitness clubs, the machine has been a fixture at Loprinzi's Gym for decades. Most of the equipment and many of the members have been there longer still. Not much has changed since founder Sam Loprinzi -- a Mr. Universe runner-up dubbed "The Most Muscular Man in America" -- opened its doors in 1948.

While other fitness clubs offer light boxes to battle depression, glycemic peels and child care by the hour, Loprinzi's, just off Portland's Southeast Division Street and 41st Avenue, offers the same thing it did when it was one of the West Coast's pre-eminent weightlifting clubs, back when gyms were sweaty man caves of curses, grunts and free weights: an owner who greets you by name, membership without a contract, Patsy Cline on the radio and the distilled funk of exertion, not wholly unpleasant. You can show up in jeans, sweep the floors in exchange for the $8 fee and answer the phone when the owner's gone to breakfast.

Think "Cheers" with very defined deltoids.

Ten blocks away, in an empty 33,000-square-foot building that recently housed a Wild Oats market, Gold's Gym wants to settle in. If the city adjustment committee gives the green light, Loprinzi's owner Bob Hill thinks his fate is sealed.

But more than fear of competition fuels Hill's opposition to a franchise of the world's largest health club chain. In a city that treasures small, locally owned businesses, Gold's, based in California, has lumbered into a debate here over what constitutes local and small. Just a year ago, community activists wrapped up just such a defining discussion and asked City Hall to turn their ideas into official regulation.

A "beauty contest"

Now some of the same people against big development along Division are ready to welcome Gold's, whose would-be landlord is a local business legend, and whose owner is a Eugene health club veteran with franchises around the state. Neighbors who say they want the option of a modern, full-service gym have given the project their blessing. The city says that turnaround smacks of "beauty contest" planning, development by popularity.

At Loprinzi's, Hill counts about 300 members, an intimate enough group that he knows each personally and doesn't hesitate to leave the gym in members' hands when he strolls to Joe's for the French toast special every morning with his 86-year-old mother.

"It's completely different from any other type of gym," says Hill, 59, a bullet of a man with a cowl of steel fuzz around his head and, no surprise, the body of a younger athlete.

Across the Willamette River in Northwest Portland at the city's only Gold's Gym, Troy Finfrock is waiting for word that he can expand to Southeast.

Finfrock owns Gold's franchises just outside the Pearl District, in Eugene, Keizer, Salem and Springfield, and he plans to bring a full-service health and fitness club to Southeast 30th and Division.

"Very simply, we live in Oregon, all of our stores are locally owned," Finfrock says. "We market to a core group of people trying to improve their health."

Positive mega-business

His gym was granted a variance in February to a year-old regulation limiting commercial ventures, other than grocery stores, that are larger than 10,000 square feet.

Forest Hofer, Hill's longtime lifting partner, appealed. "There's only one legal argument: A big gym doesn't jibe with the ordinance," Hofer says.

Or as a beret-wearing Curtis Salgado, who works out at Loprinzi's, puts it: "It doesn't go with the flow of the neighborhood; it's gonna punch right through, and it isn't hip."

Stan Amy demurs.

"I believe that this is a very good community use of an asset, and I believe it has the support of the vast majority of the neighbors as well as the neighborhood board," says Amy, managing partner of Appropriate Development Group, which owns the grocery building. "My understanding is the regulation was not about keeping out corporately owned businesses. It's about not having negative mega-businesses."

Land-use board members seem confused by the regulation's unclear descriptions of what's allowed on Division. Really, what do "small scale" and "local serving" mean?

The street is sprinkled with clusters of mom-and-pop storefronts, fine vegetarian dining and creative resale shops. Lately, it's also awash in retail vacancies. And as much as anyplace in Portland, Division embodies the city's anarchic indie streak -- remember in 2004, when someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the 20th Avenue Starbucks, heralded as a sign of unwelcome corporatization and gentrification?

But Amy and others point to the arrival of corporate storefronts without messy consequences. When Starbucks opened, it didn't bring the death of neighborhood coffee joints such as Haven and Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and the community health-food store People's Co-op weathered the arrival of New Seasons.

Nevertheless, Hofer says, Wild Oats, which bought out Nature's, the grocery store Amy helped found, didn't survive after New Seasons arrived.

A hulk of a man, Hofer drives twice a week to Loprinzi's from his home in White Salmon, Wash. He got his start in weightlifting at the gym and is trying to regain the world record he briefly held last May for bench pressing 573 pounds. He also ran Loprinzi's for two years in the '90s, until a Gold's Gym franchise launched a member drive from a trailer in Hollywood, stealing a chunk of his core membership, he says, and souring him on the chain.

Dueling 'serious' workouts

But Gold's, the dynasty, began as a Gold's, the gym, as much a magnet for strong men in Venice Beach, Calif., as Loprinzi's was for strong men in Portland. Joe Gold's gym garnered international attention in 1977 when it appeared in Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno's cult phenomenon on bodybuilding, "Pumping Iron." The Web site for Synergy's Gold's Gym on Northwest Overton Street in Portland describes that flagship gym as "the place for the 'serious' workout. No frills, just the best atmosphere with the best equipment to build your body."

That's the kind of gym Sam Loprinzi built.

La Lanne remembers.

"He had every piece of equipment that you can imagine. It was the most modern gym that has ever been," the 92-year-old exercise icon says from his home in Northern California.

La Lanne met Sam and Joe Loprinzi during World War II, when the brothers outfitted a makeshift gym during a training program for sailors at Treasure Island, Calif. After the war, after Sam was runner-up for Mr. America 1946, La Lanne visited Loprinzi's in Portland. Joe Gold visited, too.

Back then, the emphasis was on bodybuilding. Boxers and wrestlers were the mainstay of its members. Ventura, long before he became Minnesota's governor, earned his bodybuilding chops at Loprinzi's. And Walt Nagel, a competitive weightlifter for 52 years, still makes it to the gym four or five times each week. He's 86.

Eventually, La Lanne sold his 100 gyms to Bally Total Fitness. Gold sold his gym to a health club company, which claims to be the world's biggest. Today, Gold's has 610-plus facilities and nearly 3 million members in 41 states and 28 countries. The company boasts that its members climb 1.7 million flights of stairs a day, equal to 11,000 Empire State Buildings.

In Portland, Loprinzi sold his business to a couple who sold it to Hill.

Grab a broom

That was the '90s and the gym's focus had swung to general fitness. Gay, buttoned-down, mangy, matronly, the membership reflected its working-class neighbors.

"This is not a niche-market gym," Hofer says. "We've got old, we've got young, somebody comes in and can't afford a membership, Bob says, 'Well, you can come in and clean in return.' "

Still, there are nearly 40,000 people living within walking distance of Loprinzi's. Fewer than 1 percent belong to Loprinzi's, buying punch cards for 10 visits at $50 or paying up to $350 for a year's worth of workouts.

"There are people that love Loprinzi's and would go nowhere else, and there are people who would want a different choice," says Nancy Chapin, who staffs the local business association.

Finfrock figures at least 3,000 are waiting for another option.

Allen Field, chairman of the Richmond neighbors group, thinks so, too.

"I don't think it's gonna put Loprinzi's out of business," says Field.

His words have added weight since he is a regular at Hill's establishment.

"A gym," he says, "is a place where you go to sweat."

Kimberly Wilson: 503-412-7017; kimberlywilson@ news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1174971316253450.xml&coll=7

[MitchE]

^ I can't wait for that gym to open. I live in SE and I'm tired of having to ride my bike 4 miles to the gym. (the ride is a workout in itself). I tried really hard to like Loprinzi's gym but it's not was I'm looking for (and many others feel the same) I'm really saddened by his position on this. Personally I think the two gyms will coexist just fine. He is just being protectionist. If he's so afraid of going out of business then he needs a different business model.

[MitchE]

Construction has started on those "long" condos along Belmont/Morrison/23rd.

http://www.sinecosine.org/forums/Infill/P1010581.JPG

[kvalk]

yes that's the old Tice Electirc site...anybody have any renderings of what is going in?

[der Reisender]

took some pictures of Randy's Clinton Condos down on 26th/Division. The last floor is being worked on now and hopefully they will be doing more exterior work so we can see how it will actually look

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/440450236_2b4702ce2b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/440450240_7d4cc0893a.jpg

and i think they finally painted the Burnside Rocket, I will try to swing by there, weather permitting, on a bike ride soon

[zilfondel]

^^^ I live right next to the Clinton, been keeping my eye on this awesome project. Actually, about 2 weeks ago I got a tour of the project and got to hang out on the top floor... pretty good views of downtown! Even better than when the new buyers move in, since it was a 360 pano...

===========================

Here's a pic of that new building going up in Northwest Portland, on 18th or 19th(?) - it's ICF w/light steel framing.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1671/northwestfunkyvs1.jpg

[der Reisender]

more photo updates of some eastside stuff...

12 and a Half (NE 7th/Knott)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/241/443776892_bab4ceaf38.jpg

Graham Street Lofts (NE Graham/MLK)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/214/443776904_10bc894f7a.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/443776908_619fceb70a.jpg

Burnside Rocket (NE 11th/Burnside)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/250/443776924_f7eb8df376.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/194/443776914_381c1eb4c3.jpg

I am a big fan of how the rocket is turning out, and 12 and a Half is starting to look really sharp and clean now that the plaster is up...waiting for the wood to come soon (i hope)

[MarkDaMan]

Concordia maneuvers to build at Whitaker
Thursday, April 12, 2007
By Stephen Beaven
The Oregonian

In its latest bid for expansion, Concordia University has been courting neighborhood groups, City Hall and Portland Public Schools officials in hopes of building a community center and athletic facility on the site of the old Whitaker Middle School.

Demolition of the school, which closed in 2001, is expected to be complete by the end of the month. The school district plans to retain part of the property at 5700 N.E. 39th Ave., most likely to build another school. But the district may sell nearly six acres for redevelopment, and Concordia has been busy garnering support for its plan.

Last month, the Concordia Neighborhood Association voted to back the school's proposal to build a $10 million to $12 million sports facility that would be available to the public.

"When it comes to these types of facilities, we're really underserved," says Tony Fuentes, co-chair of the neighborhood association. "It would be well-used."

The proposal for the community center follows Concordia's announcement late last year of a $22 million expansion that will consume two blocks of homes north of campus to make way for a library, amphitheater and sports fields. The school has raised a third of the money for that project and hopes to break ground by the end of the year.

The Whitaker proposal remains in the early stages. After the school board declares the 5.8 acres surplus property, perhaps by the end of the school year, the district will begin a public discussion before opening the site up for bids, according to Matt Shelby, a district spokesman.

Because funding for a new school is tight, the district has talked about using money from the redevelopment to help pay for the school. The value of the land set for redevelopment has been estimated at $3.5 million to $4.5 million.

In addition to the 5.8 acres, the district plans to retain 3.4 acres. The rest of the 12.9-acre property is owned by the Portland Bureau of Parks & Recreation.

Concordia probably won't be alone in its interest in the site. Discussions about building affordable housing on the site date to 2002, Shelby says.

"It behooves the district to have more affordable housing in the city," he says. "It brings more families in."

But officials from Concordia, a Lutheran school with 1,600 students, have been aggressive in pursuing the site. They've met three times with the school district, made the rounds at City Hall and met with neighborhood groups in Cully and Concordia, as well as business owners in the area.

Potential donors have shown interest, says Denny Stoecklin, Concordia's chief financial officer. But it's too early to solicit pledges, he says.

"We need to develop this a little further before we could go with hat in hand and make a formal presentation."

Stephen Beaven: 503-294-7663; stevebeaven@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1175808311137910.xml&coll=7

[tworivers]

I heard recently that there is a multi-story mixed-use development in the works for 38th and Belmont. Indeed, the Asian grocery complex there has a 'closing' sign up. I think the neighborhood is in support.

[mcbaby]

that would be awesome.

[mcbaby]

hey, does anyone know about the project being built on the corner of alberta and north vancouver avenue?

[MarkDaMan]

Nonprofit builder's goal: 1,000 homes
10-year plan - Host seeks $10 million to help keep young families in Portland
Friday, April 13, 2007
FRED LEESON
The Oregonian

Portland's largest nonprofit builder of houses for low-income families hopes to boost production and finish 1,000 homes in 10 years to bolster school enrollment and maintain the city's family friendly reputation.

Host Development -- short for Home Ownership a Street at a Time -- is trying to raise $10 million to buy vacant lots, pay development costs and meet its 1,000-home target by 2017.

"This is an unprecedented time in Portland history," said Ted Gilbert, Host's chairman and an organizing founder. He said the city's prices are driving young families to the suburbs to find affordable houses.

The result, he said, is a decline in school enrollment and less vitality in Portland neighborhoods and parks. "We could be on our way to becoming a childless city like San Francisco," he said.

Although David Wynde, a Portland School Board member, agreed that housing prices drive some families away, he said lower birth rates and smaller families also contribute to declining enrollment.

Wynde said the district knows that homeowners tend to be more stable than renters. "Kids enroll in school and stay there," he said. He called Host's goal "a wonderful thing for the city, and it's a great thing for the school district."

Since its start in 1989, Host has developed and sold 300 homes. Most buyers fell in the 70 percent to 100 percent range of regional median income. Gilbert said a recent study found that those owners have gained $29 million in equity.

Host has 72 houses in the works this year, surpassing its previous annual peak of 50. "But that's still a drop in the bucket" of Portland's needs, Gilbert said.

Host buys land and builds houses just like any other developer. But it sells the houses for minimal gain and takes advantage of low-interest loans. It also benefits from volunteer help from real estate agents and lawyers. As a result, Gilbert said, Host can sell a house for at least 20 percent less than a for-profit builder.

Gilbert sees a connection between housing prices and declining school enrollment. From 2001 to 2006, Portland Public Schools' student population fell from 54,000 to 46,000, while median housing prices rose from $170,000 to $275,000. A family of four earning the median income, he said, can afford only a $175,000 house.

"If there's no product young families can afford," Gilbert said, "they will go where they can find something."

He said many families are choosing Vancouver, Gresham and other suburbs.

Host has sold houses in the $140,000 to $220,000 range.

Gilbert said Host has raised $3.1 million of the $10 million it needs to meet land acquisition and development costs for 10 years. The agency has received grants from several banks, he said, and $500,000 in an innovative long-term, low-interest loan from Meyer Memorial Trust.

Douglas Stamm, director of the Meyer trust, said the line of credit helps Host meet its goals while allowing the trust to increase its charitable giving. The trust can extend the loan past 2009 if it wishes, he said.

Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/117643294293430.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

NORTHWEST
Portland Tribune
Garage plan reborn

Just when it appeared that developer Richard Singer’s proposed parking garage behind the Papa Haydn restaurant on Northwest 23rd Avenue was dead, unexpected City Council maneuvering Thursday appears to have given it a breath of life.

In February, the council voted 3-2 to uphold an appeal by the Northwest Portland neighborhood association that denied approval for the garage.

Council members appeared to agree with the neighborhood association’s contention that the site on Northwest Irving Street would endanger pedestrians.

On Thursday, Singer won a round when – after urging the city council members – neighborhood association representatives agreed to meet with Singer and a city-supplied outside mediator in an attempt to find a compromise that would allow the garage to proceed.

But Juliet Hyams, acting president of the neighborhood association, said Friday she does not see much room for compromise, and was puzzled why City Council members wanted the mediation.

“The fact that they (council members) want to devote city money to this is baffling to me,” Hyams said.
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=117676392494960600

[CouvScott]

http://www.salparebay.com/index.php

[der Reisender]

Some pictures of the Westerly under construction just off 23rd. It looks like its coming along quickly, and while it does seem a little big for the neighborhood, its a better use of the land than a parking lot

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/228/467446248_7696b71f5b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/467446244_bc8621f750.jpg?v=1177186153

[der Reisender]

Some photo updates from close-in SW projects. I skipped SOWA since Dougall covers it so well already. First up is the Jefferson Condos, which I am anxiously awaiting the completion of. The brick they're putting up is a little dark, but i'm anxious to see how the glass looks

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/467446242_73f29a9359.jpg?v=0

The Morrison Apartments going in next to the Civic. Looking forward to seeing what sort of space they put between the two

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/188/467446236_e5e5998819.jpg?v=0

Sophia's View condos and townhouses just off of Macadam

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/467464095_78d6e84c90.jpg?v=0

I have no idea what this project is or how it is supposed to turn out looking. Does anyone know more? Its at Corbett and Mitchell

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/467446252_17e733f0ab.jpg?v=0

Corbett Condos on (surprise) Corbett and Bancroft. The building has an open staircase in the middle...kind of weird

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/467464107_ca6688a2fc.jpg?v=1177186454

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/467464103_351a10f339.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/467464145_a5428809e6.jpg?v=1177186431

And finally, from the other side of town at Fremont and 50th, there are the Beaumont Village Lofts. It came out okay, nothing special, not thrilled with the details of it

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/466852898_08dc82606f.jpg?v=0

boring...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/466852908_e4a42d6a68.jpg?v=0

one plus i saw was the use of what i'm guessing will be bioswales. the street interaction of the building actually looks pretty good as far as landscape, pavement, etc.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/466852912_847024bc61.jpg?v=1177140673

[Dougall5505]

Some photo updates from close-in SW projects. I skipped SOWA since Dougall covers it so well already.
if you took sowa pics could you post them anyway. any update is a good update. and you take some great pictures! It's nice to have more then one person take pictures of a neighborhood because each photographer has a different style. usually I just take pictures of the whole building, while someone else like tworivers really captures the architecture in more artey pics. anyway I like it when I'm not the only one taking pics. great update!

oh and here is the corbett crescent from sowa last week
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/239/462153421_c8ae368d2b.jpg?v=0

[der Reisender]

well i was down in sowa, but primarily to use the tram as a transportation tool b/c i was not going to bother biking up those hills, going down is nicer. didn't get any pictures though (thats what i meant by skipped) but will do so the next time i'm there. but for updates, i saw people beginning to move into the John Ross. wanted to go in but did not bring a lock for the bike, so oh well. and its courtyard space is shaping up really nicely.

[Dougall5505]

the streets are pretty dead still I don't know how much you need to worry about crime. although I would probably of done the same thing. btw what happened to that guy that had access to one of the sowa buildings and he posted some pics but then never came back, i wished he posted reguraly

[westsider]

How is it big for the neighborhood? Just blocks away are the highrises at Park and Vista, the Envoy is practically across the street, the only thing different is that it's the first built in the last 30 years.

[Leo]

How is it big for the neighborhood? Just blocks away are the highrises at Park and Vista, the Envoy is practically across the street, the only thing different is that it's the first built in the last 30 years.

True, the Envoy has about the same visual mass, but it's at the foot of a steep hill and set back by a full block from the nearest pedestrian thoroughfare. And Park and Vista are just plain eyesores, so comparing the Westerly to those buildings does not do it any favors, in my opinion.

The Westerly just "feels" obtrusive to me ... Have you walked in that area now that the building is filling out? There just seems to be a lot of sunlight missing; the corner of NW Everett and NW Westover now feels like an alleyway...

It would be a great location to live. But for >$500/sf, the floorplans in the building are just uninspired ...

[westsider]

I might be a little apathetic because I don't live right there, but I don't really sweat the issues of shadows and "boxing". Northwest neighborhood is a dense area that is only getting denser and problems like that are unavoidable. Its quite difficult to have nearly any changes to an area that won't adversly affect some, so the only thing you could do is put a moritourm on building or declare every structure in the city historical.

[der Reisender]

http://www.portlandonline.com/bds/index.cfm?a=153082&c=42262

can't get .pdfs to work today, so here's a link to the BDS application for a four story condo building at 47th and Burnside. Looks like it'll be called the Laurelview, there are some renders on the link

[MitchE]

I was riding the Yellow line yesterday and noticed site prep work at the old Thunderbird motel site across from Memorial Coliseum. I went to portlandmaps and found they have numerous "Commercial or Multi-Family Dwelling/Structure" permits approved and in the works. Anybody know anything.

1225 N THUNDERBIRD WAY
http://www.portlandmaps.com/shared/cfm/frontage_photo.cfm?id=642&small=yes

[Dougall5505]

There is probably something on the PDC website but I haven't heard anything

[65MAX]

Doesn't Paul Allen own the old Thunderbird site?

[PacificNW]

⬆ I was under the same impression that Allen owned that site.

[BrG]

Doesn't Paul Allen own the old Thunderbird site?

Yes. It's a Vulcan property.

[BrG]

I was riding the Yellow line yesterday and noticed site prep work at the old Thunderbird motel site across from Memorial Coliseum. I went to portlandmaps and found they have numerous "Commercial or Multi-Family Dwelling/Structure" permits approved and in the works. Anybody know anything.

1225 N THUNDERBIRD WAY
http://www.portlandmaps.com/shared/cfm/frontage_photo.cfm?id=642&small=yes


Vulcan has studied numerous configurations for development, there. Not certain where it stands today. I can ask a couple people who have a good chance of knowing, though.

[pdx2m2]

this is a vulcan site and most recent studies that i'm aware of were for office buildings developed with gerding edlen...that was years ago....

[BrG]

More recently, Vulcan has looked at housing possibilities, but that has gone quiet.

[Dougall5505]

just a suggestion for this thread: it would be cool if it were similar to the boom rundown lists in which on the first page every project is listed because it is so hard to keep track of them all otherwise, and if another project is announced it could be added to the front page. And maybe even classify as under construction, proposed etc. Unfortunately I did not start this thread so I can't go back and edit the first post. Mark can you do this? if you don't feel like doing the work I can do it and you can just copy and paste it onto the first post...
anyway here is a quick rundown of all of myhre group's project since I was just browsing their site most of these have probably already been posted before but feel free to point out any new ones or ones that are dead...
http://www.myhregroup.com/

20th & Morrison
Portland
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design, interior design, and planning entitlements for this market-rate, mixed-use development in Southeast Portland, Oregon. The building is four stories in height and is constructed of light-gauge steel framing over a below-grade concrete parking structure. The design includes 40 condominium units and ground-floor commercial spaces, as well as full-site parking. The exterior of the building features large areas of glazing, exterior decks, and an architectural composition befitting of a multi-block development. The project contains a total of 81,000 square feet and is located on a 13,400-square-foot urban site. Construction is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2007 and is expected to be complete in the summer of 2008. The total construction cost of the project is $10 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/20th_MorrNewView-Large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/20thMorrSE-Large.jpg

Barbur Condos
Portland
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design and planning entitlements for these market-rate condominiums in the Lair Hill neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Notable for its involvement in the Green Building Council’s LEED-H (housing) sustainable building pilot program, the project would be the first of its kind adapting the standards for single family residential design for a low-rise multifamily building. The building is 4 stories in height and built of concrete and traditional wood frame construction. The design includes 18 dwelling units with aerial windows, traditional lap siding, and expressive translucent polycarbonate scrim. The project contains a total of 21,746 square feet building area on an 8,536-square-foot site. The total construction cost of the project is $2.4 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/BarburClassARend-Large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/BarburClose-Large.jpg

The Béranger
Gresham
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design and planning entitlements for this market-rate commercial/retail and apartment community in Gresham, Oregon. The building is four stories in height and is constructed of a wood frame over a concrete slab-on-grade. The project consists of ground-floor retail, "tuck-under" parking, and 30 dwelling units. Of those 30 dwelling units, the second-story floorplan is particularly unique-each unit has a large floor plan with a loft. The building contains a total of 37,825 square feet of space located on a 23,520-square-foot site, and is located directly adjacent to the new Gresham Performing Arts Center. The project is currently in the schematic design phase. The estimated construction cost of the project is $3.5 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/CP2_3.jpg

Civic Neighborhood
Gresham
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the conceptual architectural design for this market-rate, mixed-use development in Gresham, Oregon. The two condominium buildings will be five to six stories in height over retail space and a below-grade concrete parking structure. In addition, there are live/work townhouses, with individual two-car garages, and the pedestrian-friendly Station Plaza and Central Canal Zone, which feature harvested rainwater features. The design includes approximately 180 dwelling units and 30,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space on a 4.35-acre urban site. The development is architecturally-responsive to the design created for Phase I of this project—the Crossings at Gresham Station (completed in spring 2006).
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/CivicNightLarge.jpg

Milwaukie Town Center
Milwaukie
Myhre Group Architects, in partnership with KemperCo, LLC, is responsible for the architectural design, master planning, interior design, and planning entitlements for this full-block, mixed-use condominium/retail community located in downtown Milwaukie, Oregon. The building is five stories in height along McLoughlin, stepping down to three stories along Main Street and will be constructed of post-tensioned concrete slab and light-gauge steel framing. The design includes structured parking, a central green space, harvested rainwater landscape features, 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, and 76 dwelling units. The project contains a total of 114,800 square feet and is located on a .96-acre site. The total construction cost of the project is estimated at $14 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Milwaukie-TC-Persp-Large.jpg
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Milwaukie-TC-Elev-Large.jpg

The Montanas
Myhre Group Architects will be responsible for the architectural design and planning entitlements for this market-rate, condominium development in Northeast Portland, Oregon. The six-floor building will contain a mix of studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units and features an eco-roof and a 14 below-grade parking spaces. All of the 22 units will feature balconies and views of either the West Hills or the Cascades. This project contains a total of 26,000 square feet and will be the first high-density residential project in the Arbor Lodge neighborhood, setting a precedent for Transit Oriented Development in this area.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/MontanasClassA-Large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/MontanasWest-Large.jpg

Grant Place
Portland
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design, interior design, and planning entitlements for this market-rate condominium community in the Hollywood District of Northeast Portland, Oregon. The building is six stories in height with a set-back penthouse level, and is constructed of post-tensioned concrete slab and light-gauge steel framing. The design includes structured parking behind a row of retail in a sloped to below-grade configuration, and 31 condominium units with large expanses of glazing and exterior decks. The project contains a total of 73,300 square feet and is located on a 13,835-square-foot urban site. Construction is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2007 and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2008. The total construction cost of the project is $10 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/39thClassARender-Large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Elevation2-large.jpg

Lake Oswego D-Avenue
Lake Oswego
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design, interior design, and planning entitlements for this market-rate condominium community in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The building is four stories in height over a daylit basement parking structure, and is constructed of post-tensioned concrete slab and light-gauge steel framing. The design includes a visitor drop-off area, exterior residential plazas, many LEED elements, and a total of 24 dwelling units. The project contains a total of 57,345 square feet and is located on a 14,000-square-foot site edging the perimeter of Lake Oswego. This ideal location is nestled near the banks of the majestic Willamette River. The project is expected to start construction in the fall of 2007. The estimated total construction cost of the project is $13.6 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/LO-Perspective-_2-large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Winkler-So-Elev_4.jpg

Multnomah Village Lofts
Portland
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design, interior design, and planning entitlements for this market-rate condominium community in Southwest Portland, Oregon. The building is four stories in height and is constructed of post-tensioned concrete slab and traditional wood framing. The design includes structured parking in a daylight basement configuration, 23 condominium units with a butterfly roof, large areas of glazing, and exterior decks. The project contains a total of 31,805 square feet and is located on a 17,812-square-foot urban site. Construction is expected to be complete in the spring of 2007. The total construction cost of the project is $3.65 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Mulnomah-pers-large.jpg
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Detail-Image_2.jpg

Murray & Jenkins
Beaverton
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design, master planning, and planning entitlements for this eight-building, high-density condominium community located in Beaverton, Oregon. The buildings are all eight stories in height and are constructed of post-tensioned concrete slab and light-gage steel framing. The design includes 366 condominium flats, 18 townhomes, 761 parking spaces, spas, pools, barbeque pavilions, community clubhouses, and exercise rooms. The project contains a total of 672,858 square feet and is located on a 10-acre site. The estimated construction cost of the project is $56.4 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/MJ_2.jpg

NE 181st
Portland
Myhre Group Architects will be responsible for the architectural design and planning entitlements for this mixed-use development in the Portland Metropolitan Area. The design includes 90 affordable housing units, office and commercial/retail space, 104 on-site parking spaces, and a gym and daycare for residents. To create a sense of community among residents, the building is structured around a central, elevated gathering courtyard space. The project contains a total of 169,700 square feet and is located on a 2.28 urban site.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/couch_plaza-large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Couch_back-large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Couch_close-large.jpg

North Main
Milwaukie
Myhre Group Architects, in partnership with Kemperco, LLC, was responsible for the architectural design, master planning, interior design, and planning entitlements for this six-building, market-rate, commercial/retail, apartment, rowhouse, and condominium community located in Downtown Milwaukie, Oregon. The buildings are all between two and four stories in height and are constructed of traditional wood framing, post-tensioned concrete slab, and light-gauge steel framing. The design includes surface and structured parking, a central green space, harvested rainwater landscape features, 8,468 square feet of ground-floor retail, and 97 dwelling units. The project contains a total of 109,602 square feet and is located on a 1.95-acre site. The total construction cost of the project is estimated at $10 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/MMUnight-large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/MMUsouth-large.jpg

Overton
Portland
Myhre Group Architects was responsible for the architectural design, interior design, and planning entitlements for this market-rate condominium development in Northwest Portland, Oregon. The building is seven stories in height and is constructed of a combination of post-tensioned concrete, and a composite steel joist and concrete deck floor system. The design includes a full-site, below-grade, structured parking level, and 71 condominium units split between two towers with large areas of glazing, exterior decks, and a traditional Portland architectural style. The project contains a total of 115,000 square feet and is located on an 18,500-square-foot urban site. Construction is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2007 and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2008. The total construction cost of the project is $16.2 million.
http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/Overton_Large.jpg

http://www.myhregroup.com/images/projects/OvertonAerialLarge.jpg
now some of Holst's stuff http://www.holstarc.com/
NE 7th and Knott Townhomes
Portland
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture1-13.png?t=1177981962

Meranti Lofts
Portland
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture2-10.png?t=1177982021

Clintin Condominiums
Portland
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture3-9.png?t=1177982027

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture4-7.png?t=1177982088

Kurisu International
Portland
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture5-6.png?t=1177982107

Burnside Rocket
Portland
http://chatterbox.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/burnside_rocket_1_1.jpg
H45
Portland
http://www.h45online.com/images/indexImgMain.jpg

Backbridge Station
Portland
http://static.flickr.com/134/322749176_2fd7106426_o.jpg

Beech 15
Portland
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture7.png?t=1168712492

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/Picture8.png?t=1168712506

Lane 1919
Portland
http://www.sinecosine.org/forums/NW/P1010238.JPG

Sophia's View
Portland
http://www.sophiasview.com/images/index/home_img.jpg
I know I missed some please post any I missed

[kvalk]

Dougall.
what you have labeled as "Backbridge Station" is incorrect.

I believe the project you are showing is actually proposed for upper Hawthorne, near JaCivas Bakery...

[zilfondel]

It's great to see all those projects... boy, a lot will be built from 2007-2008... wonder how many will actually go through tho? 50%? All? Hmm...

[MarkDaMan]

Unfortunately I did not start this thread so I can't go back and edit the first post. Mark can you do this? if you don't feel like doing the work I can do it and you can just copy and paste it onto the first post...

great idea Dougall, and thanks for the start! I will begin updating the first post in a couple of days when things quiet down here.

[PeterSmith]

What's the deal with the artsy windows on this project?

http://chatterbox.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/burnside_rocket_1_1.jpg

[PDX City-State]

I walked by the Rocket last night. They've painted a graffiti mural near the entrance. It's not as hideous from the street level.