Broadway Corridor (Post Office Redevelopment) | Proposed

[Leo]

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

I'd like to see the infrastructure built, street grid restored, some new architecture, and perhaps a few new companies come into the region. This isn't supposed to a high-end housing development. I'm sure some percentage of new housing will also be subsidized affordable housing, so that's good as well. None of that can begin until the site is cleared.

I'm even less optimistic about demand for office space than about demand for luxury housing ... One of the few positives about the C19 epidemic has been that it demonstrated that companies can function very effectively without spending huge sums of money on office space. While I can certainly imagine more rich people moving to Portland to fill luxury apartments, I find it harder to imagine rich corporations spending money on expensive downtown office space.

And let's be realistic, despite the developer's need or desire to conform to inclusionary housing policy, that post office site is prime real estate. Whether it is office space or housing, it is going to be high-end.

Also, most of the plans I've seen don't really restore the street grid. There's maybe one extra row of street grid, but that will dead end on the north side due to the Broadway bridge ramp. As it is, 9th Ave between Lovejoy and Hoyt isn't really utilized fully; extending 8th Ave from Hoyt to a dead end under the Lovejoy/Broadway ramp won't really be all that useful to anyone (especially since that street would be immediately blocked by construction work for the next 4-5 years).

[uncommon.name]

Originally Posted by Leo

I'm not sure I see what the hurry is ... We've got a whole neighborhood of high-end apartments still rising in Slabtown. I'm not in a rush to see a glut of luxury apartments in the city.

Oregon Insight: Plunge in Portland building permits signals major slowdown in housing and office development

The number of new building permits filed in Portland last year plunged by 27%, falling even below the trough of the Great Recession. A slowdown was already underway before the coronavirus pandemic hit, following a boom in new hotel and office construction in downtown Portland and new regulations on apartment builders.

Read more here...

I think this is definitely a reason they should pick up the pace. The housing shortage isn't going away and even if they are luxury apartments, that opens up availability to more mid-to-lower income apartments. That big development boom we saw over the last decade is slowing to a crawl.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

I'd like to see the infrastructure built, street grid restored, some new architecture, and perhaps a few new companies come into the region. This isn't supposed to a high-end housing development. I'm sure some percentage of new housing will also be subsidized affordable housing, so that's good as well. None of that can begin until the site is cleared.

I get how you feel, we have been talking about the site being redeveloped since the early 2000s when I first moved here. I honestly thought it would have already been underway by now with new buildings and a new street grid by now.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Leo

I'm even less optimistic about demand for office space than about demand for luxury housing ... One of the few positives about the C19 epidemic has been that it demonstrated that companies can function very effectively without spending huge sums of money on office space. While I can certainly imagine more rich people moving to Portland to fill luxury apartments, I find it harder to imagine rich corporations spending money on expensive downtown office space.

And let's be realistic, despite the developer's need or desire to conform to inclusionary housing policy, that post office site is prime real estate. Whether it is office space or housing, it is going to be high-end.

Also, most of the plans I've seen don't really restore the street grid. There's maybe one extra row of street grid, but that will dead end on the north side due to the Broadway bridge ramp. As it is, 9th Ave between Lovejoy and Hoyt isn't really utilized fully; extending 8th Ave from Hoyt to a dead end under the Lovejoy/Broadway ramp won't really be all that useful to anyone (especially since that street would be immediately blocked by construction work for the next 4-5 years).

I have a feeling that the office industry that learned most employees can work from home is probably going to come back to a hybrid system where they are only have some people come into work some time. So this will call a need for more shareable desks and conference spaces. This is where downtown becomes more interesting is it would cost less for less office space to have to show off and use in a downtown highrise for clients.

This will probably put any new office buildings on hold for the foreseeable future. Much of what we will start see getting developed will be larger rental units because another thing this pandemic taught us is that tiny apartments aren't always great when you have to work from home and spend more time at home.

[MNTimberjack]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I have a feeling that the office industry that learned most employees can work from home is probably going to come back to a hybrid system where they are only have some people come into work some time. So this will call a need for more shareable desks and conference spaces. This is where downtown becomes more interesting is it would cost less for less office space to have to show off and use in a downtown highrise for clients.

This will probably put any new office buildings on hold for the foreseeable future. Much of what we will start see getting developed will be larger rental units because another thing this pandemic taught us is that tiny apartments aren't always great when you have to work from home and spend more time at home.

My company is planning a move this Fall and will be reducing SF by about 60%. What we've heard is that my company doesn't expect anyone to be forced to go back when the pandemic subsides. We're generally envisioning staff coming to the office for 2-3 day per week to collaborate and hold meetings with clients.

[bvpcvm]

I too think that the office market is in trouble with WFH becoming the new norm. OTOH, I was recently talking with someone who is deeply involved in commercial real estate and this person's opinion is that office occupancy will be back to about 80% of what it was. BUT: offices over the last four decades have been reconfigured, first from private offices to cubicles and then from cubicles to open concept (think startups with everyone sitting across from each other at long folding tables, so basically, hell on earth). The issue though is that people who go back to the office will refuse to sit in such tight quarters and companies will be forced to seat people farther apart - resulting in a wash when it comes to leased square footage. That's one peron's theory, anyway.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by MNTimberjack

My company is planning a move this Fall and will be reducing SF by about 60%. What we've heard is that my company doesn't expect anyone to be forced to go back when the pandemic subsides. We're generally envisioning staff coming to the office for 2-3 day per week to collaborate and hold meetings with clients.

Yeah, now that businesses have had a taste for how work at home works for them, I think we are going to see a more hybrid system. This won't be good for the office space in the city since businesses will need less space and want space that can be used for more flex uses. So it will be interesting to see how things change.

I can also see people looking for more space for their living space to include office space. I also wouldn't be surprised to see more neighborhood WeWork style spaces pop up once the pandemic is over where people can easily go to someplace in their own neighborhood to feel like they are "going to work" without having to commute all the way into the office or work from home.

[CorbinWarrick]

Just build a bunch of residential point towers there and be done with it. This is Portland does anybody think they wouldn’t be filled to full capacity?

[maccoinnich]

Press release:

Prosper Portland and Continuum Partners end negotiations on Broadway Corridor redevelopment

Prosper Portland and Continuum Partners have reached mutual agreement to end negotiations for Continuum to redevelop the initial phases of the Broadway Corridor development on a portion of the former Post Office property.

In 2018, after an extensive selection process, a community-led evaluation committee along with city staff jointly recommended the Denver, Colorado-based company to serve as the project’s development advisor.

The role of development advisor for Broadway Corridor included two key elements. First was to serve as an advisor to Prosper Portland, the Portland Housing Bureau, and project consultant ZGF Architects on the potential development opportunities within the project area as the team worked to create a master plan. Second, Continuum would have an opportunity to negotiate a development agreement (after adoption of the master plan).

Portland City Council approved a project term sheet in September 2020, the master plan is complete and site preparation is underway. Today’s announcement means the developer will forego the opportunity to be first to pursue development of select Broadway Corridor parcels.

Kimberly Branam, Prosper Portland executive director, said “We’re thankful for Continuum’s significant expertise and partnership as development advisor throughout the master planning and steering committee process. I also appreciate Continuum’s steady engagement, alongside the Healthy Communities Coalition, on an ambitious effort to weave community benefits into every facet of the planned development. We look forward to continuing to work with them as our development advisor in the coming months and to finding opportunities to partner in the future.”

Mark Falcone, CEO and founder of Continuum Partners said, “We’ve appreciated our partnership with Prosper Portland and the many people and organizations that have engaged in the project. We’ve been proud to play a role in this values-centered development project. But given the reality of a challenging real estate market environment and the complexities of the project, we realized that we need to focus on other projects for now.”

Shannon Callahan, Portland Housing Bureau director said, “The City’s commitment to providing affordable housing within the Broadway Corridor remains the same and is not impacted by this decision. We will continue to move forward with Prosper Portland on this historic opportunity to create a new, vibrant neighborhood that is equitable and inclusive, and welcomes Portlanders of all incomes.”

According to Branam, “We expect the near-term Broadway Corridor schedule will remain unchanged. Given that demolition of the post office facility and construction of new streets and utilities are necessary prior to development of the individual parcels, we will continue to focus on those key next steps and will identify one or more development partners in the future. We look forward to advancing this once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

[CorbinWarrick]

Wow what does this mean? Why isn’t this atleast demo’d by now? Smh

[johnliu]

Originally Posted by CorbinWarrick

Wow what does this mean? Why isn’t this atleast demo’d by now? Smh

It sounds like PP will try to do the demo and street grid, to keep things moving.

The project was supposed to include office, retail, market rate housing and affordable housing.

I think the industry is not ready to build central city office in a big way, with downtown vacancy rates and work pattern uncertainty what they are.

Retail development wouldn’t seem too attractive right now. Looking around the city, we seem to have a glut of street level retail.

Affordable housing is the loss-leader, that needs something profitable to lead.

So it comes down to market rate housing. I would guess that the industry is watching the presales interest at the other downtown highrise residential projects, and deciding if it likes what it sees. Remember when AAT gave up on new highrise development in Oregon Square, and the other Lloyd multifamily projects died? Would the economics look any better in the postal blocks now?

Finally, there’s the downtown specific issues. Homelessness, drug use, gun violence, taxes. I can’t imagine the downtown property owners are feeling good about the direction of those things.

As far as what sort of projects money is flowing too, from what I see, it seems to be single family rental, SFR flip, and mid-range multifamily in states not like Oregon.

[CorbinWarrick]

Damn that makes sense. Portland’s reputation is so bad right now and this adds to it. This is sad we were just extremely popular less than 2 years ago and all that headway we made this last decade seems to have evaporated.

Hopefully we see a new partner emerge with bold visions in the next few years. It’s an amazing opportunity for such huge prime real estate in a major American cities downtown…

[subterranean]

I remember doing some quick back-of-the-napkin math on this with its 50% affordable housing goal (not the 20% required) and recall a virtually impossible financial challenge without huge subsidies.

[Derek]

“The City That Works”

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by subterranean

I remember doing some quick back-of-the-napkin math on this with its 50% affordable housing goal (not the 20% required) and recall a virtually impossible financial challenge without huge subsidies.

Unless I missed something, I don't believe there's a 50% affordable housing goal. The Portland Housing Bureau owns one parcel, which will get developed at some point by an affordable housing developer. The private development is subject to the same IZ rules that the rest of the Central City is.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Unless I missed something, I don't believe there's a 50% affordable housing goal. The Portland Housing Bureau owns one parcel, which will get developed at some point by an affordable housing developer. The private development is subject to the same IZ rules that the rest of the Central City is.

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8264360&postcount=374

[maccoinnich]

Some people advocated for that yes, but that's not in the final Community Benefits Agreement (scroll to page 12).

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by CorbinWarrick

Damn that makes sense. Portland’s reputation is so bad right now and this adds to it.

No, this doesn't add to it. This is a huge chunk of land with even more huge potential, but waiting longer to develop it will not negatively effect 99.999% of Portlanders. This is not what people care about right now. Don't get me wrong, I've been waiting for this project for over 17 years. I remember touring a loft in the Honeyman Hardware building back in 2004, and I passed on the apartment because I didn't want to be that close to the post office site if redevelopment started. HA! ...still, it's better to do it right than to do it fast.

It would harm Portland's reputation more to develop this site before the market is ready. Affordable apartments would be scooped up immediately, but would the rest? What about office space and retail?

Timing matters.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Some people advocated for that yes, but that's not in the final Community Benefits Agreement (scroll to page 12).

That link is a file on your personal drive, not a web address.

[maccoinnich]

Ugh. New computer with different settings. Fixed.