Broadway Corridor (Post Office Redevelopment) | Proposed

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

tell me the reason its not happening-Lack of interest,money? just curious

What isn't happening?

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

What isn't happening?

If you are truly interested in my opinion you can always PM me.

[WestCoast]

ok ok ok, break up the school yard fight.

--
The new post office by the airport is well under construction. When I drove by last a few weeks ago, foundation was done and 1/3 of the walls were up already.

My total guess is the building is finished this winter, but that it will take them a while (how long I have not the faintest) to set up the equipment, get it all fitted out inside.

So, again, no knowledge (which is why I asked), but, I wonder when the building will be operational and they close down the downtown one.


Anyone know the timeline there?

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

tell me the reason its not happening-Lack of interest,money? just curious

Zoning, construction costs, demand vs profit. Medium size buildings are much safer to build when a developer is wanting a lower risk to profits building.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Zoning, construction costs, demand vs profit. Medium size buildings are much safer to build when a developer is wanting a lower risk to profits building.

I'm confused, 58rhodes asked why it isn't happening, I assume in reference to the Post Office redevelopment? Isn't it just because this is a new proposal, and they just started construction on the replacement post office at the airport?

[downtownpdx]

Oops, I guess it was in general reference to a taller skyline, sorry for the pointless thread bump!

[maccoinnich]

On Design Commission agenda for June 15th:

Overview of public process and development planning for the Broadway Corridor area in NW Portland, including the 14-acre U.S. Postal Service (USPS) property. Briefing includes review of key assumptions from the Broadway Corridor Framework Plan (adopted by City Council Oct 2015) pertaining to the USPS property, including: extending the street plan at NW Park Avenue and NW Johnson through the site; increasing the height and FAR consistent with Central City 2035 recommendations; and reserving 30% of residential units for affordable housing. The update will also provide an overview of the public engagement process to prepare a Master Plan and to negotiate subsequent community benefit and development related agreements.

[maccoinnich]

Post office move out of the Pearl now looking like mid-2018, up from the previously anticipated late-2018.

[WestCoast]

^^^^

Such good news.

[urbanlife]

That is good news, I am still not expecting to see this happen any time soon, but them moving out sooner is a positive sign.

[Rhome]

Amazon is looking to create a 2nd headquarters (different city from Seattle) with 50,000 jobs and is looking for proposals from cities. Anybody know if the Post Office site would work for such an urban campus?

[innovativethinking]

Originally Posted by Rhome

Amazon is looking to create a 2nd headquarters (different city from Seattle) with 50,000 jobs and is looking for proposals from cities. Anybody know if the Post Office site would work for such an urban campus?

It would but they certainly won't pick us

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by Rhome

Amazon is looking to create a 2nd headquarters (different city from Seattle) with 50,000 jobs and is looking for proposals from cities. Anybody know if the Post Office site would work for such an urban campus?

According to the RFP they're looking for a site that can accommodate 500,000+ sq ft of office space in 2019, and up to 8,000,000 sq ft of office space beyond 2027.

The Broadway Corridor Framework Plan assumes about 3,800,000 sq ft of development on the USPS site. At a very conceptual level the plan assumed around 2,000,000 sq ft of residential development, 580,000 sq ft of office and 77,000 sq ft of medical/research. The split between office, residential and other uses is obviously going to depend on market conditions, but I don't think there's an any desire to make it 100% office. Firstly, the Housing Bureau helped finance the purchase, and therefore has the right to develop a certain amount of affordable housing on the site. Secondly, a site that was all office would likely be dead at the evenings and weekends, which is exactly what the city wants to avoid.

So in short, yes, the USPS would work for Amazon's immediate term needs. Longer term they'd need more space than the USPS can fit. That said, there's still a lot of developable land in proximity of the USPS site, some of which is already publicly owned. The RFP says that sites "do not have to be contiguous, but should be in proximity to each other to foster a sense of place and be pedestrian-friendly."

Will it go to Portland? Probably not. But I'd be surprised if someone at Prosper Portland didn't already do the same calculations today, in somewhat more detail.

[eric cantona]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

...and up to 8,000,000 sq ft

holy shit, batman, that's a lot of footages. wiki tells me that the US Bancorp bldg has 740,000 sf of office space. so Bezos and Co. are looking for a place that can accommodate 10+ bldgs of that size?

world domination requires a lot of employees, apparently.

[geohiker]

Would You Live in This 300-Foot-Tall Wooden Skyscraper?
The tallest timber structure in the country is already underway in Portland. PATH Architecture’s Carbon12, standing 85 feet tall on North Williams and Fremont and erected from cross-laminated timber (CLT), could spell the future of design and construction in our city.

Now, there’s Spar, a proposed 300-foot engineered timber structure anchoring the North Park Blocks on Northwest Lovejoy. We sat down with the highrise’s chief cheerleader and PATH owner, Ben Kaiser, to talk about replicating timber structures on a grand scale and how the economy and environment might benefit.

Interview at: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/2017/9/27/would-you-live-in-this-300-foot-wooden-skyscraper

[Leo]

Originally Posted by geohiker

Interview at: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/2017/9/27/would-you-live-in-this-300-foot-wooden-skyscraper

Cool picture, but this kind of gibberish in the article doesn't inspire confidence ...

"Timber is easier to work with. It goes back to humans’ natural understanding of wood. There’s something innate in us. We understand wood. Due to great innovations, concrete and steel allowed us to build skyscrapers in the first place, the pendulum swung so far over that we can only build tall buildings in steel and concrete, when it fact, we used to know how to do it, we used to build tall wood buildings."

[maccoinnich]

Portland to offer Amazon former post office site

Offer will be included among other potential location in the region to be submitted by Great Portland, Inc.




Portland will offer Amazon the opportunity to purchase land in the downtown U.S. Post Office distribution center for its proposed new national headquarters.

According to Portland Housing Bureau Director Kurt Creager, the offer will not include any special incentives.

Creager briefly discussed the offer while speaking before the Columbia Corridor Association (CCA) last Wednesday. The bureau and Prosper Portland, formerly known as the Portland Development Commission, jointly bought the 13.4-acre site last year for $88 million and are planning to redevelop it.

"We're going to say who we are, what's going on, but not put too much effort into it," said Creager, whose agency contributed $15 million to the purchase.

...continues at the Portland Tribune.

[urbanlife]

That would be my best guess for the Amazon headquarters to go. If they are looking to keep it in the northwest, then it will wind up here, but if they are looking for areas outside of the northwest, then it isn't worth putting too much effort into trying to get.

[johnliu]

Aren't there various parcels to the north of the Post Office site, not contiguous but within 1/2 mile or so, that are also developable . . . Or could be repurposed. Montgomery Park?

[Leo]

Originally Posted by johnliu

Aren't there various parcels to the north of the Post Office site, not contiguous but within 1/2 mile or so, that are also developable . . . Or could be repurposed. Montgomery Park?

Dude, Montgomery Park is like 2 miles from the post office ...You might as well include South Waterfront!