So, just a thought regarding that potential tunnel to PCC-Sylvania... of the community college campuses in the area, Sylvania, Rock Creek, CCC and, to a slightly lesser extent, MHCC, are all pretty isolated from, well, pretty much everything. They serve a lot of students, currently - CCC about 25,000, MHCC 32,000, Sylvania 26,000 (not sure about Rock Creek). It's unclear what their role will be in the future, given the push for distance learning.
OK, so, Metro is looking at a tunnel to PCC, which would cost about $515 million. Now, I'm all for underground trains, but I wonder if there isn't a better solution? As things sit, it will always be out of the way for transit and difficult to access. And what if we build a tunnel and distance learning becomes enough of a thing that the campus actually loses students (at least students that have to physically go there)?
How about instead of building that tunnel, we just move the entire campus down to the Tigard Triangle? (Most of Sylvania is just one or two stories, right? So we're really talking about 3-4 four-story office buildings; there's space down there for that.) Or, if it can be squeezed in, downtown Tigard? I can imagine that all those students would make Tigard's main street come alive, that's for sure. Then the land on top of Sylvania can be redeveloped with a 🞵🞵🞵🞵 ton of McMansions, just to make the libertarians happy, and that can go toward relocation costs.
Would it be expensive? Of course. Currently, per Portland Maps, Sylvania has about 676,000 sf of space, not including parking, mechanical, etc. I'm not sure how much it costs to build 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 suburban office buildings, but there's a retail development on Kruse Way that's running about $23m @62,000 sf, or $380/sf * 676,000 = about $257m. That's a lot, but in the same breath we're talking about $515m for a tunnel to something that could conceivably disappear, and if it doesn't, will always be awkward to access. In fact, all of those campuses should be encouraged to pull up and and move to areas next to MAX. Look at all that empty land near Civic Dr in Gresham: wouldn't having MHCC there make a lot more sense than leaving it out on Stark and 257th? etc, etc. Crazy idea? Stupid idea? Just wondering.
Threaded Mode