Old Town/Chinatown News

[maccoinnich]

Old Town strip club will get a facelift, become office and retail space



The slow-but-steady revamp of Old Town Chinatown will take another step forward with the redevelopment of a dilapidated and abandoned warehouse building that's long been home to a strip club.

Will Sing LLC recently purchased the Overland Warehouse Company building, a 30,000-square-foot property at 205-219 N.W. Fourth Ave., for $1.64 million. Robert Black, a senior vice president with NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, represented the buyer in the purchase of the historical building. Redevelopment of the property will be managed by Urban Development Partners.

For decades the OWC was home to the Magic Garden, a strip club, as well as a series of nightclubs. In recent years, the OWC was abandoned, which led to deterioration and structural issues. In early 2014, strip club proposals for the OWC ignited neighborhood backlash.

...continues at Portland Business Journal.

[downtownpdx]

Nice, so good to see OTCT steadily revitalizing.

[maccoinnich]

I decided to count all the major projects going on in Old Town Chinatown right now. It's actually a fair number:

• Society Hotel: conversion to boutique hotel [U/C]
• Grove Hotel: conversion to hostel [planned]
• Baggage & Carriage building: conversion to indoor market with office space above [planned]
• Gerding Edlen project at 1st & Davis: new building on vacant lot with offices, apartments and space for the University of Oregon [planned]
• Oregon Casket / Whidden & Lewis building: conversion to office with new build addition and ground floor retail [planned]
• Multnomah County Health dept: new building on vacant lot adjacent to Bud Clark Commons [planned]
• Erickson Saloon & Fritz Hotel: conversion to mixed income apartments [U/C]
• Overland Warehouse Company, 205-219 N.W. Fourth Ave: conversion to office / retail [planned]
• Wyndham vacation rentals: new build timeshares on vacant lot fronting Naito Parkway [planned]
• Smiths block: interior renovation and new restaurant/cafe [planned]

[Derek]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I decided to count all the major projects going on in Old Town Chinatown right now. It's actually a fair number:


[*]Multnomah County Health dept: new building on vacant lot adjacent to Bud Clark Commons

Is this actually underway or is it still in the planning stages?

[maccoinnich]

Construction starts fall 2015 according to this. I've edited my post above to make it clearer which projects are under construction and which (most of them) are planned.

[RED_PDXer]

I really wish there were more condos in OTCT. As of now, there is one building and the HOA fees are through the roof. I'd like to eventually buy something there in a couple of years if there were more buildings.

[PDX City-State]

[QUOTE]Redevelopment of the property will be managed by Urban Development Partners.[QUOTE]

This is interesting. UDP does great work, have partnered with some great design firms like WPA, and mostly has done apartments and residential in Portland. They also tend to do multiple projects in particular neighborhoods--like on Division Street where they've done multiple buildings. So can't help but wonder if there will be more apartment projects announced by them to come soon. Would love to see that giant parking super block go away!

[nevernude]

I think you could see a SOMA-type transformation for Old Town, especially with UO and AirBnb moving in. A lot of the tech companies moving into town or forming in-town are looking for creative loft-like spaces and Old Town has some good ones. I think the key is getting more people living in the area to get a critical mass of non-transient activity.

[maccoinnich]

Design Review Drawings [PDF, 42 MB] for Block 8L, the Ankrom Moisan / Gerding Edlen project at NW 1st & Davis.

[maccoinnich]

A NEW OLD TOWN II



After two design advice sessions, Gerding Edlen Development is pushing ahead their Block 8L mixed-use development in Old Town in design review. Poised to become the new headquarters of Ankrom Moisan, the project’s architect, the building will have additional space for the University of Oregon’s graduate programs, 70 small residential units on the top two floors, and retail in the NW corner of the ground floor.

The newest proposal reduces the height of the overall form to the nearby Bickel Block’s roofline and massing by setting back the 6th floor and changing the proposed materiality to a more uniform palette. The window bays and entrances have also been modified to further match their older surroundings, and the previously proposed structural frame expression has been removed from the exterior. In an attempt to utilize some of the city’s stored cast iron pieces, a small “cast iron museum” of columns and pilasters will grace the unused ROW along Naito Parkway in the front of the building, with a few pieces also incorporated into the project’s alleyway.

...continues at Places over Time.

[downtownpdx]

Nice -- maybe not exciting architecture but it's great infill and a welcome bit of new construction in Old Town.

[tworivers]

Overall the project looks cleaner and more respectful to its immediate surroundings, something the design commission staff had been pressing the design team on. The staff tend to lean toward the ‘blend in’ approach to historic district preservation rather than the more European, and my own preferred, ‘stand out’ approach that is exactly the opposite. This project is rather bland to me, even compared to the nearby Mercy Corps headquarters built in 2009, and even that design falls too much into the historic mimicry dialogue for my tastes. Regardless, I welcome this development as a vast improvement to the existing conditions, and it will be another boost to Old Town and the waterfront, which have both been greatly neglected in the past decades.

Really curious who the author is. I find myself in complete agreement with so much of what he/she writes.

[maccoinnich]

I found myself in complete agreement with that paragraph too.

[eric cantona]

the design commission is hell-bent on making olde town the most architecturally boring neighborhood in the city. this was "reasonably dull" when we first saw it. now it is dull as shit. hoorah, design commission. job done.

[maccoinnich]

I think the Historic Landmarks Commission gets the blame for that one.

[eric cantona]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I think the Historic Landmarks Commission gets the blame for that one.

kinda figured that, but was too lazy to look beyond the article. ...but, doesn't the design commission have some latitude or standing to oppose the historic folks? or do they have carte blanche to dictate all aspect of the design?

[maccoinnich]

I don't think so. From the Design Commission page on the BDS website (emphasis mine):

The Commission powers and dutes include:

1. Recommending the establishment, amendment, or removal of a design district to the Planning Commission and City Council, except Historic Districts and Conservation Districts;
2. Developing design guidelines for adoption by City Council for all design districts except Historic Districts and Conservation Districts;
3. Reviewing major developments within design districts, except those projects involving or located within the following:
a) Historic Districts;
b) Conservation Districts;
c) Historic Landmarks; and
d) Conservation Landmarks
4. Reviewing other land use requests assigned to the Design Commission; and
5. Providing advice on design matters to the Hearings Officer, Planning Commission, Historic Landmarks Commission, Portland Development Commission, and City Council.

[maccoinnich]

New Pop-Up Shops in Oldtown Chinatown this Holiday Season



Three new pop-up shops are taking over Old Town Chinatown through Dec. 24 for the PDX Pop-Ups program.

Local designers and brands have turned an empty retail space into temporary stores for this holiday season.

The Draplin Design Company pop-up, features beanies, posters and Northwest-specific items. The pop up is also selling the entire Field Notes product line. Coudal Partners of Chicago and Draplin Design Company, came together to create the memo book brand in hopes of offering “an honest memo book worth fillin’ up with good information," as their slogan says.

...continues at Go Local PDX.

[eric cantona]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I don't think so. From the Design Commission page on the BDS website (emphasis mine):

wow. thanks for the edification.

while I'm very much on the side of preservation, I think it gets a little out of control when so much power is wielded over NEW construction. it's not like some of the original designs for this building were at all outlandish. it's gone from being "OK" to completely nondescript. given its location in a very visible and important location I'd say that's a real shame.

history is important in architecture, but it should not deny good design.

[maccoinnich]

End of an era: Naitos sell family's last Old Town buildings



With the sale of a three-property portfolio, the Naito family has all but left Old Town Chinatown after owning properties in the historic neighborhood for decades.

The 83,145-square-foot portfolio, which was on the market for about two years, comprises the Norton House, Captain Couch and Merchant Hotel buildings in the center of Old Town Chinatown.

John Beardsley, head of Beardsley Building Development, purchased the property. A longtime Portland real estate investor, Beardsley has owned historic properties in the city since the 1960s.

...continues at Portland Business Journal.