Central Eastside News

[brandonpdx]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

this is GOOFY!! the last thing portland needs is a green/eco friendly high rise storage facility on the river. last time i checked, we did not have a huge lack of storage space......

Actually there aren't many places to moore a boat in downtown Portland. All those rich condo owners need to be able to moore their boats somewhere.

[pdxstreetcar]

wow one of these towers would be the taller than all these 325 footers

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by pdxstreetcar

wow one of these towers would be the taller than all these 325 footers

[PDX City-State]

The Hannas are loaded. They also own Yo Cream and Skibowl. Financing won't be a problem.

[tworivers]

The more I think about it, the less sure I feel about the scale of these towers relative to their location. I like the current two-tower design much better than the old circular one, and of course I like the eco-friendly features (starting with the footprint), but I can't help but wonder if they'll just look out of place and scale. Portland already has the skyline of an awkward adolescent, with Big Pink representing some sort of arrested sexual development, lots of peach fuzz in the form of all the undeveloped land between the towers of South Waterfront and downtown, and acne in the form of the Lloyd District. Now some rich guy is going to throw up two of the tallest towers in the city next to the Ross Island Bridge on the eastside? For storage? I'm just a little skeptical.

[zilfondel]

It's a strange, strange world we live in. =D

[pdxman]

How likely is it that these towers get built? What other hurdles does this project face?

[65MAX]

Well, let's see....

Financing? Check.
Hanna can self-finance this.

Community Buy-in? Check.
He already has the endorsement of all the affected neighborhood associations, the business community, SoWa's residents (who will be storing their big toys here), and city bigwigs.

Business Plan? Check.
Hanna knows this is a risky venture (he's pioneering a new building type here), but he's obviously willing to take the risks in the hopes of a huge ROI.

Design Review? Check.
This is zoned Heavy Industrial with a Greenway overlay. He's already addressed the greenway, removing an old seawall, restoring the bank to a more natural state and allowing public access along the entire site for a continuation of the Eastbank Esplanade. Mega bonus points with the city. And Heavy Industrial zones have almost no design limitations, including no height limits. Only usage limitations, of which storage is one of the allowed uses. The Land Use Review is only a Type II, practically a formality.

I don't see ANY hurdles here. Am I missing anything?

I hope they're planning a large viewing area for all of the tourists and locals who want to come and watch this building in action.

[pdxman]

^^Yeah, thanks 65...this just seems like one of those projects that are too good to be true. Everything comes together too smoothly and without protest-so i guess i'm just waiting for something to derail this. Hopefully not...

[Drmyeyes]

tworivers, I hear you about your concerns relative to the scale of the towers. Mainly, I'm reserving my opinion about them for now. I've heard that the neighborhood association (Brooklyn/Abernethey, is it?) does not oppose them. One possible reason opposition isn't so readily forthcoming in this location compared to others, is that people live some distance from them. It's a bit of blank slate. On the other hand, I wonder to what degree people from the neighborhood closest to the tower site have considered how the towers might impact their neighborhood.

Scale is relative. Most likely more buildings will be built along the river near these towers. Could be it will be company in the form of more tall buildings. Together, they'll be defining they're own new place, if that's what people want to happen.

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by Drmyeyes

Scale is relative. Most likely more buildings will be built along the river near these towers. Could be it will be company in the form of more tall buildings. Together, they'll be defining they're own new place, if that's what people want to happen.

Works for me....

[zilfondel]

You forgot something: the towers are going to be covered in solar panels, so it helps the city's green-energy initiative. Double-check.

Originally Posted by Drmyeyes

Scale is relative. Most likely more buildings will be built along the river near these towers. Could be it will be company in the form of more tall buildings. Together, they'll be defining they're own new place, if that's what people want to happen.

I kind of doubt it; the towers are very close to the cement manufacturing plant. Not exactly a pleasant place to be, with all the cement trucks, machinery, and dump trucks going in and out. Not to mention the new freight rail tracks they laid down next to it, the Big Pipe CSO project, and MLK Viaduct Replacement, and MAX Caruthers Bridge/Milwaukie extension... it's a pretty busy, industrial site!

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

You forgot something: the towers are going to be covered in solar panels, so it helps the city's green-energy initiative. Double-check.

That's right! AND it's going for LEED Platinum. Major bonus points.

[Drmyeyes]

100,000 sq ft of solar panels on the south sides of the buildings and the roofs. That sounds like a lot. I wonder how much power those components can produce. No data on the website that I could find. Wonder if they'd respond to an email. Accessing those panels for maintenance might be interesting. I suppose it would involve something similar to window washer apparatus.

tworivers must have figured out by now that the site is way south of the Ross Island Br. A good thing. Correction: Monday 3/19...sometimes I can't concentrate for beans....Max is right about the site being North of the Ross Island....I was thinking the Hawthorne, saw the site map and could see it clearly wasn't north of it...completely blanked the Ross Island from my mind...anyway, this location is still relatively a good thing.

zilfondel, you make sense about people not wanting to live in tall towers in that area, assuming that's what you meant.

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by Drmyeyes

100,000 sq ft of solar panels on the south sides of the buildings and the roofs. That sounds like a lot. I wonder how much power those components can produce. No data on the website that I could find. Wonder if they'd respond to an email. Accessing those panels for maintenance might be interesting. I suppose it would involve something similar to window washer apparatus.

tworivers must have figured out by now that the site is way south of the Ross Island Br. A good thing.

zilfondel, you make sense about people not wanting to live in tall towers in that area, assuming that's what you meant.

I bet they would respond to an e-mail, they're very upfront about everything and PR savvy. I imagine it would be enough to fully power the building and sell the excess back to PGE.
Oh, and this site is a few blocks NORTH of the Ross Island Bridge.

[JoshYent]

nice!

[JoshYent]

Should be interesting to watch the different types of towers that are going to be built in Portland in the coming years! hopefully these two will spawn the growth of some other interesting types!

[kvalk]

Are you sure they have provided the "public access" for a continuation of the Eastbank Esplanade. I actually heard the opposite that they were still fighting that and in oppostion to the idea... which could be a major roadblock with design review and the neighborhood.

I also believe that the HAND neighborhood has not offered a final backing, as they are meeting this week, March 20th is the date I heard.

[anp]

Originally Posted by kvalk

Are you sure they have provided the "public access" for a continuation of the Eastbank Esplanade. I actually heard the opposite that they were still fighting that and in oppostion to the idea... which could be a major roadblock with design review and the neighborhood.

I also believe that the HAND neighborhood has not offered a final backing, as they are meeting this week, March 20th is the date I heard.

You're referring to the SK Northwest proposal, which is proposed to be built on a neighboring parcel.

[NJD]

EDIT: ANP got it