[zilfondel]

Enough 'Couve bashing!

There are actually some very well educated, well-paid people who live there. I've been to a few neighborhoods in town where the houses cost in excess of 3/4 of a million $. Unfortunately, they were kind of sprawled all over the place.

For condo districts to succeed they need to draw in people with enough money or equity to afford a unit, and if you're lucky the city can leverage that to build affordable units and mix the incomes up a bit.

But yeah, luxury condos in the 'Couve is not a primary real estate market and can't really compete with the amenities in downtown Portland... (all the more reason to get light rail over there to help boost land value and increase convenience!). Also, the main draw to live in the 'Couve in the first place is the large lots so building a dense neighborhood is contrary to the reason most people live there.

Vancouver, I would imagine, has a long way to go to create a kick-ass urban environment. Good luck to 'em!