Multnomah County (Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview, etc.)
 

Metro wants towers on empty lots

Gresham - The regional government plans to build condos on the light-rail line
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 CATHERINE TREVISON
The Oregonian

Metro is betting that a trendy combination of restaurant and movie theater, more shopping and cutting-edge condominiums can energize a mixed-use center on Gresham's light-rail line, filling in blank lots and bringing more people and activity to the Civic Neighborhood.

The plan, which includes several condominium towers of six stories and more, could eventually give this low-to-the-ground city its own small skyline, planners say.

The projects involve two of the three plots of land that Metro, the regional government, bought about five years ago -- on the light-rail line where it crosses Civic Drive near City Hall. Metro hopes that by selling the parcels at a discount and helping with other subsidies, it can get private developers to build taller, more attractive projects that concentrate activity near regional transit centers.

Last year, Metro's first such project on Civic Drive became Gresham's tallest building, The Crossings. The five-story structure contains apartments over shops and offices and underground parking. Metro ultimately didn't charge developer Mike Rossman of Peak Development for the land, and it helped obtain several other subsidies, said Phil Whitmore, Metro's transit-oriented development manager.

The next two projects should be even more "aspirational," Whitmore said, with taller buildings, eye-catching architecture and people magnets such as a department store or specialty grocer. Metro planners aren't sure what kind of discounts or subsidies the new projects would receive. A Metro committee chose the developers in November, Whitmore said.
One of them, Fred Bruning of CenterCal Properties, said his plans hinge on whether he can negotiate a shared parking agreement with the city. His proposed tenants, including the theater, would need more room for parking, he said. CenterCal wants to build a parking lot on land the city owns and pay the city rent. The city and a public charter school would use it during the day, while retailers or the theater would use it at night.

Bruning's plan includes the theater and other restaurants and retailers, and two or three condominium towers of six to eight stories each on the hill north of a proposed light-rail station at Civic Drive. The towers would have "enormous views" that could include the Portland skyline, he said.

Bruning also co-owns additional land on the east side of Civic Drive; Metro would like to buy out Bruning's partner and help attract a department store or specialty grocer to that land.

Bruning's vision could cost about $50 million to build, he said. If everything proceeds smoothly, buildings could start opening at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009, he said.

The other developer is Rossman of Peak Development. Peak has proposed a $30 million development, if fully built out, opposite The Crossings on the south side of the light-rail line. Metro would like him to build about three or four towers of about six to eight stories; the first project would include a six-story condominium and retail tower with an edgy cantilevered design -- wider on top than on the bottom.

But Rossman said first he must do a feasibility study to see whether the Gresham market would support that many condominiums.

"It's a unique site. It's a rare opportunity. But it comes down to the economics," he said.


©2007 The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/metro_east_news/1169607329282690.xml&coll=7

it's nice to see that they are finally making high density a reality in the light rail corridor. let's hope that the acres of parking lots go underground or become unnecessary as more people take advantage of transit and tennis shoes.

Nice try! :cool:

Gresham begins Rockwood redevelopment
 

I'm encouraged about this. Gresham has got a new young 'urban minded' 34 or 35 year old mayor. He only took office in January but I do think he will come up with a high density idea for this property soon.

Rockwood: The future starts here
The site of a beloved Fred Meyer store could be the starting point for Rockwood's renewal
Thursday, March 22, 2007
ROBIN FRANZEN
The Oregonian

Nearly 50 years ago, the Rockwood Fred Meyer store opened in rural East Multnomah County, to great fanfare.

Now, several years after the one-stop shopping center closed its doors, the old structure is coming down -- piece by piece -- to make way for urban redevelopment at the key intersection of 185th Avenue and Stark Street.

But sentimentality remains.

Kathie Minden, who grew up in Rockwood, remembers shopping there with her mother for the polished cotton fabric that was so popular for skirts back in 1958. "You could get everything you needed and wanted," she said of the Rockwood store. "I always associated it with the beginning of school."

As the longtime neighborhood grocery and retail outlet fades into memory, however, the question of what might replace it -- and when -- looms large. Rockwood, after all, has struggled against poverty and crime, and some residents -- like Minden, a former member of the city's urban renewal advisory committee -- view the site as the starting point for renewed economic opportunity.

She imagines a multistory mix of housing and retail that will have the area humming with activity from morning until night.

"Change is opportunity," Minden said. "I think this is the catalyst to get things moving."
http://www.oregonlive.com/emweekly/orego...ro_east_news/1174573537280480.xml&coll=7

Once the building is down, what's going to be there?
Development - Gresham is content to take its time to ensure next step is the right one
Thursday, March 22, 2007
CATHERINE TREVISON
The Oregonian

A few weeks from now, the old Rockwood Fred Meyer will become a gravel lot.

There is no timeline for what happens next, no firm plan spelling out exactly what will take its place at the center of Rockwood.

Instead, planners for this urban renewal project are taking their time, talking to developers and studying their next steps.

"We want to make sure we do it right. We're promoting patience on this project," said Rebecca Ocken, the city's urban renewal manager.

Gresham's Redevelopment Commission won't build the project by itself, but instead hopes to interest developers in a public-private partnership, in which the city retains some control over the design.

The commission -- made up of the members of the Gresham City Council -- calls the 6.5 acres of the old Fred Meyer property "Catalyst Site 1." Anything built here, they say, has tremendous potential to influence the rest of the area.

"The ground that it covers is substantial," said Gresham City Counselor Karylinn Echols, the vice chairwoman of the commission. "It's at the pinnacle of all those roads coming together. . . . It sets a standard for the rest of that area."

In 2005, some community leaders wanted that catalyst to be Plaza Montana, a large education center mixed with several other uses. As first proposed, the project was estimated to cost $82 million; but the urban renewal area is expected to receive $92 million from taxes during its 20-year life span, Ocken said.

Voters rejected a Mount Hood Community College bond measure that could have helped pay part of the Plaza Montana price, Ocken said.

"That doesn't mean the educational component is a lost idea, but the huge Plaza Montana concept, because of the cost, cannot go on this site," he said.

Other ideas abound. At a meeting for the public, residents voiced a variety of desires: a grocery, a community center, a new library, a year-round farmers market, a school, a hardware store, a destination restaurant, a continued police presence. Some noted that the building should generate some taxes to help support the rest of the urban renewal area.

From the commission's standpoint, five objectives must be met:

Design: The design must reflect cultural diversity, embrace light rail and reinforce pedestrian activity in the neighborhood, the goals say. It must use quality materials and "invigorate" the area around it.

Public streets: Once the Fred Meyer building is gone, the commission can put public streets through the property. A consultant also recommended turning Burnside into a pedestrian-friendly main street, with wide sidewalks, large trees and public art. Planners are looking for grant money to help them reconstruct the outdated light-rail shelter, tripling its footprint, Ocken said.

New housing at a variety of prices: A 2004 study estimated that the surrounding town center area could support 367 more homes and 586 more apartments by 2014. But a 2006 ECONorthwest analysis pointed out that private developers haven't been offering good-quality homes in Rockwood; the commission needs to step in and make up for that gap, Ocken said. It will emphasize home ownership rather than rentals.

Public spaces and amenities, including an energetic public plaza with activity in the day and evening.

Commercial and office space.

City officials, Ocken said, keep calling on developers, talking about the land and asking them to consider what they could bring to a public-private development partnership.

That is the reason that it was important to demolish the building now, even though no immediate plans to build exist, Ocken said.

It was expensive to maintain the empty building. And the old Fred Meyer, once the center of Rockwood, had become an obstacle for people trying to imagine the area's future.

Rick Dwyer, a member of the commission's advisory committee, agreed.

Before, "a developer sees an old, run-down building," Dwyer said. "Here, we're going to gut the thing, and have an empty lot. Now a developer can see whatever he wants to see."

Catherine Trevison: 503-294-5971 [email protected]
http://www.oregonlive.com/emweekly/orego...ro_east_news/1174573508280480.xml&coll=7

"Green" razing of old structure relies on deconstruction, recycling
Preparation of the site of the old Rockwood store marks Gresham's entry into a green type of project
Thursday, March 22, 2007
ROBIN FRANZEN
The Oregonian

GRESHAM -- Mike Green still remembers his childhood trips to the Rockwood Fred Meyer, pushing the cart with his mom as they cruised up and down the gleaming aisles.

"I wonder," he said nostalgically last week, "how many miles we did in that store."

Thirty years later, Green, a civil engineer with the city of Gresham, is overseeing the store's destruction to make way for redevelopment of the 6.5-acre site in the Rockwood Town Center.

Actually, the word is "deconstruction."

The teardown is the city's first foray into "green" demolition, a project expected to result in a clean slate for redevelopment and more than 97 percent of the 85,000-square-foot building being recycled or reused.

In early March, Konell Construction and Demolition of Sandy, the low bidder, began dismantling the store piece by piece under a $91,373 contract with the Gresham Redevelopment Commission.

First, workers ripped into the interior, carefully hauling out copper pipe, electrical wiring and reusable wood, and separating each type of material into orderly piles.

Last week, they began picking off the main roof timbers and knocking down the exterior.

By April 20, the store, which was built in 1957 and closed in 2003, is scheduled to be completely gone, replaced by a vacant lot that city officials hope will capture the imagination of developers.

In the end, more than 2,500 tons of concrete rubble, 71 tons of metal and 30 tons of wood will have been recycled or reused, Steve Konell, the company's president estimates. He makes his profit by selling the deconstructed building materials to local markets he's cultivated in the past 12 years or reusing it himself on construction jobs.

The store's old roof timbers, for instance, already have buyers.

Some of the wood eventually may end up in Mexico, he says; the metal also could be sold to China to fuel that country's rapid modernization. An old sliding window from the store's on-site bank likely will serve as a windbreak at Konell's home in Central Oregon.

Konell, who has 65 employees and works about 30 wrecking jobs a year, started in demolition 25 years ago with a gas station and "worked his way up," he said. His resume includes a long list of major razing jobs, including seven Fred Meyers.

Green demolition became his norm about a dozen years ago when he discovered he could save money by crushing concrete on one project and using it elsewhere as part of his construction business. It reduced his disposal costs and was cheaper than buying crushed rock from a gravel pit.

"It started out as a money-saving thing for us," he said. "Now it's more about the environment." As natural resources become more scarce, Konell said, the hulking timbers that he used to burn as firewood now command around $6,000 each.

Today, green demolition is becoming so popular that Metro, the regional government, recently launched a new Web site, www.boneyardnw.com, an online commercial building exchange linking buyers and sellers of recycled building materials. Konell, one of the larger demolition companies in the region, helped test the free service before its debut about a month ago.

Metro estimates that 60 percent of the approximately 250,000 tons of construction and demolition debris that Portland-area contractors disposed of in 2004 was recyclable or reusable. Konell hopes wreckage salvaged from the Rockwood Fred Meyer earns him $50,000 to $75,000.

"There's hardly any job anymore where we don't salvage," Konell said. "It just doesn't make sense not to -- copper wire goes for $2 a pound." If they can strip the insulation off, make that $2.50 a pound.

Robin Franzen: 503-294-5943; [email protected].
http://www.oregonlive.com/emweekly/orego...ro_east_news/1174573528280480.xml&coll=7

I still remember what some kids I knew from Gresham called Rockwood: Rape Central. Any change is good change.

Yea, I was just thinking of a nice shiny new Wal-Mart, but sounds like they actually have higher aspirations than that...

Forgot that Gresham wasn't Beaverton. Ba-Ding!

^Actually Gresham peeps have been vocally opposed and quite successful at stopping a WalMart on I think 182nd and Division. Gresham is finally maturing as an urban counterpart to Portland. I can't wait to see some height added into their central city.

I am gonna laugh when Gresham surpasses Beaverton as the second city to the region (within state boundaries that is).

Beaverton has a lot of adjacent territory that it's actively trying to annex. I read last year that their population could surpass 300,000 if they absorb all of that land. Gresham's already bumped up against the UGB and other cities, there's very little left in East County for them to annex. They have nowhere to go but up.

now that time has passed, it would have been smarter for Gresham to annex Damascus rather than allowed that town to form into an incorporated city. There's too many NIMBYs, CPI types to make anything workable.

...continues at the Business Tribune. There are also more images at the YBA website.

Any more news on this project?

https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/2018...eighborhoods-build-its-way-to-prosperity

Not really news, but more perspective on the "Rockwood Rising" project by Randy Gragg, from the April 2018 Portland Monthly (includes image).

This was my MAX station when I was a kid, and the construction site was the Fred Meyer I would walk to to buy tapes for my walkman. I hope this project is able to do at least some of the things it says it will, and I'm glad a local kid is at the helm.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2019...od-rising-development-gets-underway.html

...(continues)

Hi everyone, my business is looking to make some multi-family investments in the greater Portland area (nothing huge that would get this forum excited, just acquiring some older properties between 50-100 units and renovating the units). I am a fairly regular contributor on many of the Utah pages and I've learned that nobody has a better sense for what is going on development wise locally than member of Skyscraper Forum.

Regarding Multnomah County, what would you say are the most up and coming (or will be) areas? I sense that the whole area is generally blue collar, but really quite strong. Troutdale seems nice, Rockwood seems to be on the upswing. Are there areas of Gresham that are on the up swing, or areas that you all would avoid?

Any local insight would be much appreciated. If you had money to invest in a particular neighborhood, where would it be?

additional renderings and full article: https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2019...omplex-on-max-green-line-in-gresham.html

...(continues)

Great news! I used to live in that area and use the Civic MAX stop frequently. I always thought it was a shame to have all that underutilized land there next to the MAX stop.

Also in the article....
"The city of Gresham is also hoping to jump-start redevelopment of a vacant former Kmart nearby."

There is a lot of potential there too. The parking lot for that old Kmart is MASSIVE.

(paywall) https://www.oregonlive.com/eastportland/...second-largest-location-for-gresham.html

...(continues)

It's been an open secret for a while, but the architect is David Adjaye.

Wow, Gresham is about to up its architectural game with this. Whatever he designs is gonna make for a great urban centerpiece for Gresham.