The Lovejoy (Pearl Safeway) | Complete

[tworivers]

I have a feeling that we might see a New Seasons in the Burnside Bridgehead.
They would do great anywhere near PSU, too. Maybe the Montgomery Blocks? On the streetcar line... they'd draw people from accross downtown and the west hills, and down to Sowa...
I guarantee you they are looking at the inner city.
Personally I try and support the eastside food co-ops, but shop at Daily Grind (relatively cheap) and New Seasons too, where the meat/fish/dairy selection is unparalleled. Whole Foods is the doppelganger to Wild Oats, they can kiss my ass. Good place to graze for free though.

From an interview with Paul Hawken, author of "Natural Capitalism" (interesting how most of the U.S. business models he likes are in PDX, huh?):

What are some companies that you think are successfully forging new, sustainable corporate practices?

Hmm ... uh, well ... there aren't too many, and people don't know them so well. Hartmann in Denmark, they do molded-fiber packaging. Uh, let's see. Natura in Brazil is a cosmetic company that works very closely with indigenous people and farmers in Brazil. It works with poor people to develop cash crops that are productive and sustainable for their cultures. Novo Nordisk, they do a lot of work with enzymes that save energy and eliminate chemical use. There's Plambeck in Germany that does great wind parks. STMicroelectronics is a company doing very interesting stuff with a new solar photovoltaic technology that could make solar energy cheaper than all other forms of electricity. Svenska Cellulosa is doing some great things with respect to sustainable forestry. Vestas, the big wind company in Denmark. Easto, a large organic produce company in Europe which does a lot of biodynamic stuff. And of course there is ShoreBank, the enterprise work that Ecotrust is doing, Patagonia, Cooperative Bank in England, and more.

So it doesn't sound like there are many companies in America that you're excited about. Can you compare some of these European companies to American companies? For instance, can you elaborate on why, say, Whole Foods doesn't strike you as an example of a good company?

Whole Foods dismantles local food webs and doesn't foster what the organic movement is about. The organic and natural-food movement that I helped kick off in the late '60s was the beginning of recreating regional food webs. Local stores started all around the country and they began to source locally, and whatever they couldn't get locally they got regionally, and whatever they couldn't get regionally they got nationally. In terms of produce and bakery goods and other food items, there was a huge diversity of suppliers in the United States because there was a huge diversity of stores. Whole Foods went in and bought out the bigger, more successful stores and then rebranded them and did centralized purchasing for produce, which now comes from Chile and New Zealand and places like that. In the process, many local organic producers went out of business. Massive scale and centralization of power and capital is the antithesis of what we had in mind when we started the natural and organic-food business in the U.S.

But does that totally discredit the positive things they are doing?

Good deeds don't erase bad outcomes. But let's talk about the positive things they are doing.

Well, let's say they use recycled packaging and keep pesticides out of the soil. Isn't large-scale organic farming better than non-organic factory farms?

Yes, but still it's large-scale agribusiness.

But they're better than Safeway.

They are guided by profit. So are small companies. So far so good. But when a company gets large and dominant, the same instincts to survive and prosper can become unintentionally harmful. The natural-food movement is being bought up by Phillip Morris and H.J. Heinz and Jimmy Dean. That dog won't hunt. It leads to a lowering of standards, and emphasis on price as opposed to cost. It leads to uniformity, power, concentration, and control. Luckily, there's a slow food movement in the U.S. and lots of things happening that counter that.

And I guess what's more troubling is that Whole Foods can get away with it more easily than Safeway because everybody thinks of them as green. The branding is so powerful that nobody thinks to question it.

To me the company that is exemplary is the New Seasons Market in Portland, Ore. They buy everything they can locally. These are real community food stores with wonderful food and fresh produce and fish. They know the purveyors, they talk about them. They really feed and enhance the local food web of Oregon and southern Washington and Northern California. They are to me your model of what a grocery store can do to help farmers and citizens and communities. And they're price-competitive. I asked them why they didn't come to the Bay area [where I live] and they said, "No! We're local!"

So how could we push this model nationally? Can we introduce federal-level incentives?

Not really -- it's about culture and community. Anyone can do a New Seasons if they are in a community that wants it. And the people who started it -- they have the DNA, they understand what it means to be socially and culturally responsible.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by edgepdx

The Pearl Safeway will definately be competing with Freaky Freds for both the Pearl and NW area. I could see lots of NW Portland apartment dwellers going to down to the Pearl Safeway rather than braving Freddies. I've seen all kinds of weird crap go down in front of that Freddies and try to avoid it at all costs.

I guess it has that reputation, but I think it's completely undeserved. I shop there all the time and I've never had any untoward experiences. Hell, while I was in college I worked there for several years. There were some funny moments, but nothing ever truly scary and it's only become more tame over the years. In fact, after work the other night I stopped in at the Beaverton Fred Meyer and thought it was pretty depressing. Then I stopped at the Burnside Freddy's (Beaverton was out of something) and thought "ah, back to real life!" LOL.

Anyway, I suppose I look forward to the Safeway on Lovejoy - at least I look forward to the added street activity, and I'm glad the Pearl will have an alternative to Whole Foods, but I'll probably continue shopping at Fred's (they're exactly equidistant from me).

[PacificNW]

I was just in Freds at Burnside.... I like the store and the people who hang around... It's the city... We shouldn't insulate ourselves from the "real world" a diverse city can have on display, IMO. I like diversity. How can a person who drives to and from work/shopping, etc. get a real feeling on what's happening to their fellow comrades without getting down and dirty?

[edgepdx]

Originally Posted by PacificNW

I was just in Freds at Burnside.... I like the store and the people who hang around... It's the city... We shouldn't insulate ourselves from the "real world" a diverse city can have on display, IMO. I like diversity. How can a person who drives to and from work/shopping, etc. get a real feeling on what's happening to their fellow comrades without getting down and dirty?

I agree about experiencing the city, quirks and all, but the parking garage at that store just attracts some scary elements. One incident I saw this tweaker looking guy push someone down, take their bike and ride off right in front of the store.

[Drmyeyes]

"One incident I saw this tweaker looking guy push someone down, take their bike and ride off right in front of the store." edgepdx

Wouldn't sweat that crap too much unless you saw weapons bared. Sounds like one low-life tweaker taxing another low-life tweaker. Unless what you saw definitely contradicts that theory. There's been a few edgy types that eyed me, but they've never been ballsy or stupid enough to do anything.

I agree with some of the others about accepting the reality of the urban environment. It helps also to develop a steely personal boundry. Most street folks know the limits on what they can do in public. Having a certain amount of edginess around helps to keep it in the public's mind that we have problems that need to be taken care of. Things can get so clean and spiffy that people forget about that.

[bvpcvm]

about half the time i walk there, but when i do drive, i almost always get a spot right in front of the door (in the garage). never had any problems so far.

when i worked there, there was a notorious couple who looked to be older hippies who'd overindulged on LSD. the woman may not have actually been, physically, a woman; it was hard to tell. anyway, they were a little crazy, and one time they pushed one of the employees down the escalator, then came up to the customer service desk (when it was where the floral section is now) and the woman told them: "call security - i wanna fight!" well, security came down and said, ok, take your swing, she did, and they arrested her. that was about as weird as things ever got. sure there are bums, but you can pretty safely ignore them.

my favorite bum, stanley, used to stand outside with his cart and read things like biographies of mao (he's always at the library) and yell at other bums for not reading or doing anything else intellectual.

i did particularly enjoy the worried faces of the mercedes drivers when they found themselves in line next to a grocery cart driver.

no, the stadium freddy's is ok. looking forward to when it's time for the next remodel; rumor is, they'll tear it out and build with apts/condos on top, like the jefferson safeway.

[pdxstreetcar]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

no, the stadium freddy's is ok. looking forward to when it's time for the next remodel; rumor is, they'll tear it out and build with apts/condos on top, like the jefferson safeway.

That would be great, maybe they can make the store larger too and carry the departments that the suburban stores have like a full line of electronics. Apparently Stadium Fred Meyer is one of the smallest stores in the chain. I would imagine this new Safeway competition would push Freddie's to remodel sooner rather than later.

[mcbaby]

are there any local supermarkets left in nw portland besides food front?

[PDX City-State]

Wild Oats and company are still in their safe little organic niche markets right now

Wild Oats isn't doing too hot. New Seasons has been eating WO's lunch in PDX. I would love to see New Seasons downtown or in the Central Eastside.

are there any local supermarkets left in nw portland besides food front?

City Market on 21st and Elephant's. Zupans is also local I believe.

I do most of my shoppinng at Freddy's on Burnside--it's candyland compared to the old Safeway store. The prices are cheaper than Safeway.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

New Season's doesn't serve as large an area as the grocery conglomerates require before locating a store. Their stores are a bit smaller than the major chains, and they can attract destination shoppers from the neighborhoods they border...sounds like a New Season's would be good for SoWa?

Exactly. Thus why do we want larger and larger stores downtown, when not only is space limited, but who destination shops at grocery stores? Most people just go to the nearest one, and thus it makes sense for it to more closely match the scale of the neighborhood.

[MarkDaMan]

CB Richard Ellis arranges equity for Lovejoy project
Portland Business Journal - 12:57 PM PDT Friday, March 23, 2007

The Seattle and Portland offices of CBRE/Melody Capital Markets have arranged a $22.56 million equity venture for Unico Properties' two-block project in the Pearl District.

The Lovejoy development will include a 47,200-square-foot Safeway as well as 19,600 square feet of office space and 82,500 square feet of Class A office space. There is also parking and a 234-unit apartment building.

The $121.4 million project, bordered by Northwest 12th and 14th avenues and by Northwest Lovejoy and Marshall streets, should be completed in 2008.

Unico Properties Inc., based in Seattle, is expanding into the Pearl District from downtown Portland, where it is managing owner of U.S. Bancorp Tower. It owns and operates more than 6 million square feet throughout the western United States.

The equity venture is between Unico and Cigna Realty Investors, a subsidiary of CIGNA Investments Inc., which in turn is a subsidiary of Cigna Corp.
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2007/03/19/daily37.html?f=et75&hbx=e_du

[Drew-Ski]

This is big....at least for Safeway!.......this Safeway Store is not your common grocery store format. Safeway currently has almost 1800 stores throughout the country and there are just a handful of stores with this urban footprint. As you know, most supermarkets are usually found in strip-mall developments. I can only think of a few stores in Safeway's line-up nationwide, that deviate as this project does. Having worked for Safeway "backstage" for 26 years, this store opening will definitely create a " Buzz". When this store opens, I imagine the CEO and every dignitary associated with the company will be there at ribbon cutting. When the new Downtown Jefferson Store opened up, many company backstage employees were sent to visit Portland to tour the new store. Wa-la, Portland instantly became a darling Division. People had no idea about Portland and were absolutely shocked!!!! I expect another stampede to visit Portland for this event.

[pdxman]

Is there going to be any underground parking for the lovejoy apartments? Or are both of the buildings going to have above ground parking?

[ATR]

Nope -- both the Lovejoy and the Safeway block have above-ground parking.

[MarkDaMan]

Lovejoy on right, the Safeway monstrosity was updated since this rendering, but the Lovejoy, from what I've seen, is the same.

http://www.tndwest.com/pearldistrict.html

[pdxstreetcar]

the crane is going up

[Drew-Ski]

This is a very anticipated project for Safeway........I can't wait for this project to be completed.

[Pearl_Steve]

Here's some more pics I got today from the construction site. They seem to be building these two large concrete towers on the south side of the block first, the rest of the block isn't out of the ground yet. A little different from how the rest of the building in the pearl are going up. Anyone know why they're doing this?

[Leo]

Those concrete towers look really bizarre. Looks more like they're building a fortress than a Safeway!

[zilfondel]

I wonder if the rest of the building will be steel construction then? The concrete cores usually precede the steel floors in mixed-type construction, as steel goes up so much faster and concrete needs to cure.