Portland Infill | Northeast Portland

[maccoinnich]

Applicant Presentation [31 MB] for the Dairy Apartments.

[geohiker]

I like the direction of this project. The inspiration of basalt columns for the facade is a nice geographical tie-in. Do the drawings show metal shudders over some of the windows? I've never seen those before. Are there any other buildings in Portland that use metal shudders?

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by geohiker

Are there any other buildings in Portland that use metal shudders?

Theory 33, also by Hacker.

[maccoinnich]

Morningstar at Laurelhurst DAR #2 drawings [7 MB]

[maccoinnich]

The TwentyTwenty condominiums are now rental apartments.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

The TwentyTwenty condominiums are now rental apartments.

The 2 bedroom unit that is about the same size as my 2 bedroom apartment is about three times the amount I am paying.

[geohiker]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

The TwentyTwenty condominiums are now rental apartments.

Yikes! Seems like there was a large misread on the demand for luxury condos sitting on I-84. I doubt that the switch to apartments will save them at that price point. There is already a large inventory throughout the city for cheaper apartments with better location.

[BrG]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

The TwentyTwenty condominiums are now rental apartments.

I remember back in 2007/8/9 when condo projects that were failing in the sale phase either went 'full flip' to apartments (The Wyatt, 2121 Belmont, etc.) or in some cases sold some individually as planned and refinanced the unsold units under one entity, and rented them in the interim.

Turning into a tough outing for Pat Kessi. He's been there before on 937 (slow sale phase), but managed to sell all of those through the recession without rentals.

EDIT: I should add, really elegant design by Hacker. Well done.

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2019...tal-apartments-weeks-before-opening.html

NE Portland condo building suspends sales, switches to rental apartments weeks before opening
Updated 11:57 AM; Today 11:47 AM
By Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

A condominium building under construction near the Lloyd District has switched to rental apartments weeks before its scheduled opening.

The developer of the Twenty Twenty building at 2020 N.E. Multnomah St. chalked up the switch to a softer real-estate market that had emerged in the two years since construction began.

It’s a move reminiscent of the end of Portland’s condo boom in the 2000s, when thousands of under-construction condo units switched to rentals after sales came to a stop.

But today’s market is fundamentally different. The broader real-estate market in Portland remains active, albeit slower than recent years. Meanwhile, condo construction never really came back. The seven-story, 162-unit Twenty Twenty building was the only large condo building of its type under construction in Portland when it switched to rentals.

The project also is in an unusual location for luxury condominiums, trading the Pearl District or South Waterfront for a residential pocket east of the Lloyd District on a lot that backs up to Interstate 84. It aimed for a lower price point than buildings in the more centrally located high-rise districts.

...(continues)

[johnliu]

https://www.theweek.com/articles/792153/astonishing-retreat-chinese-investment-america

Chinese investment in US real estate fell 90% year over year in 2018, as of the middle of that year. As of March 2019, Chinese investment in US real estate was down another 36% year over year. Many reasons for this. Unlikely to snap back quickly.

This condo building was to be marketed to Asian investors, which basically means Chinese investors. Kind of top ticked it with that marketing plan.

Will the developer release existing buyers from purchase contracts? Normally people buying condos are not happy when the building is turned into apartments. For one thing, a single corporate entity will now control the HOA and its interests may be different from the individual owners. Good luck pursuing any construction defect claims. For another thing, the individual owners' units have now been devalued and are less salable. Something of a bait and switch pulled on the early buyers.

https://independentamericancommunities.c...loper-turns-hoa-into-a-rental-community/

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by johnliu

https://www.theweek.com/articles/792153/astonishing-retreat-chinese-investment-america

Chinese investment in US real estate fell 90% year over year in 2018, as of the middle of that year. As of March 2019, Chinese investment in US real estate was down another 36% year over year. Many reasons for this. Unlikely to snap back quickly.

This condo building was to be marketed to Asian investors, which basically means Chinese investors. Kind of top ticked it with that marketing plan.

Will the developer release existing buyers from purchase contracts? Normally people buying condos are not happy when the building is turned into apartments. For one thing, a single corporate entity will now control the HOA and its interests may be different from the individual owners. Good luck pursuing any construction defect claims. For another thing, the individual owners' units have now been devalued and are less salable. Something of a bait and switch pulled on the early buyers.

https://independentamericancommunities.c...loper-turns-hoa-into-a-rental-community/

Typically what happens is the people that bought on into the condo building will get their deposits back and the sale will be void.

[BrG]

Originally Posted by johnliu

https://www.theweek.com/articles/792153/astonishing-retreat-chinese-investment-america

Chinese investment in US real estate fell 90% year over year in 2018, as of the middle of that year. As of March 2019, Chinese investment in US real estate was down another 36% year over year. Many reasons for this. Unlikely to snap back quickly.

This condo building was to be marketed to Asian investors, which basically means Chinese investors. Kind of top ticked it with that marketing plan.

Will the developer release existing buyers from purchase contracts? Normally people buying condos are not happy when the building is turned into apartments. For one thing, a single corporate entity will now control the HOA and its interests may be different from the individual owners. Good luck pursuing any construction defect claims. For another thing, the individual owners' units have now been devalued and are less salable. Something of a bait and switch pulled on the early buyers.

https://independentamericancommunities.c...loper-turns-hoa-into-a-rental-community/

Thanks for posting those articles. The Week was particularly insightful about Chinese investment in US property.

My presumption is that deposits will be returned however if anyone closed a sale on a deal... I would think they will be stuck. I've seen it before in one specific case where 1 unit was sold and the remainder were sold to an entity for rentals. Tough deal for the '1' person, early adopter.

I was involved in design of a 100+ unit condo in 2007, that flipped right at the end of construction like this... and all pre-sale deposits were returned by the developer and the property was acquired by a REIT to close out the construction loan. Has remained a rental ever since but like Twenty Twenty, is ready made to flip to for-sale in the future.

Different time and reasons then, but relevant.

Kessi appears to be ready to hold (vs. sell) the property as a rental as he's used Coast Management as an operator on others. I'd be surprised if any units are closed on, but that is my conjecture.

[johnliu]

Thanks for the insights.

I'm curious to see how economically viable the project is as a rental. As a condo building it was in theory addressing an undersupplied market. As an high-priced apartment building it is entering an oversupplied market.

How successful are conversions of large apartment building to condos? Are there examples of this in Portland? Will the various renter protection laws (RELO, FAIR, etc) recently enacted be a new obstacle?

[pdxsg34]

Originally Posted by NickO2

Via the King Neighborhood page:

"Representatives from Solterra (www.solterra.com) presented plans for a new 60-foot tall, five-story building at 1130 NE Alberta Street (across the street from The Radio Room).

The new building will cover the lot where the existing building stands (which will be demolished) as well as the parking lot.

The building is described as having the following features:

* Two stories of co-housing with lofts. 85-90 units of housing have been proposed. The smallest unit is 350 square feet. The developer stated that each co-housing unit can be leased for a day or a year.

* Hotel and wellness center

* Ground-floor retail

* One story of office space

* Underground parking for about 30 vehicles

No affordable housing units are proposed. The developer is seeking bonus provisions (presumably to be able to build a 60-foot building in a CM2 zone) for affordable commercial space."

Does anyone know any more about this? It looks like a big one!,

Came across this rendering recently by Lever...

[NOPO]

I highly dislike that such a big project has no affordable units.

[maccoinnich]

Notice Of A Type II Proposal for 1130 NE Alberta (above).

[NESteve]

Solterra always seems to come up with oddly-configured projects that are just strange. I'm all for innovation, but a lot of their stuff seems to be devised to skirt things like IZ. Their project on Williams is an example and this one is as well. Is it a hotel? No. Is it an apartment building? No. So it doesn't have to meet the criteria for either one? In the mean time the neighborhood is left with a wonky project that won't age well.

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by NESteve

Solterra always seems to come up with oddly-configured projects that are just strange ... their stuff seems to be devised to skirt things like IZ ... In the mean time the neighborhood is left with a wonky project that won't age well.

The unintended consequences of well intentioned regulation.


I'm all for finding solutions to the housing crisis. I'm not inherently opposed to state and local governments putting in place policies to attempt to remedy it, but the devil is in the details. Any policy that constricts supply (as it would appear IZ does) seems pretty counter productive. I have many friends personally who are struggling to find affordable housing and I think that issue is probably the most important facing the region. But I've always been skeptical of IZ as the answer, and as the policy plays I wouldn't say I'm warming up to it.

[NOPO]

Originally Posted by RainDog

The unintended consequences of well intentioned regulation.


I'm all for finding solutions to the housing crisis. I'm not inherently opposed to state and local governments putting in place policies to attempt to remedy it, but the devil is in the details. Any policy that constricts supply (as it would appear IZ does) seems pretty counter productive. I have many friends personally who are struggling to find affordable housing and I think that issue is probably the most important facing the region. But I've always been skeptical of IZ as the answer, and as the policy plays I wouldn't say I'm warming up to it.

Why can’t we require new projects to have a floor level of the amount of units required so IZ will always be triggered?

[maccoinnich]

Dairy Apartments Design Review Drawings [148 MB] and Staff Report, which does not yet recommend approval.