Block 216 Tower - Ritz Hotel and Condos | 459'-11 1/2" | 35 floors | Complete

[AdamUrbanist]

As I understand the fee-in-lieu is based on the approximate cost for PHB to deliver the required number of subsidized units (PHB has a higher delivery cost than most private developers). The mandatory subsidized units must be the same in size and finish as other units in the building, so a developer creating relatively modest studio apartments would generally be better off just selling or renting some of the units for below market value, but if the units are large, ultra-luxury condos co-branded with a 5-star hotel, selling them for 60% AMI prices is a very deep discount. I assume that at that level of discount the proforma works better with the fee option. If IZ simply required creating a certain number of modest but dignified apartments I think the developer would save a lot of money by just building the units into the building.

[maccoinnich]

The residential units in the building are planned as condos. Portland Housing Bureau's IZ regulations are completely unworkable on for-sale units.

[maccoinnich]

Here's the presentation [48 MB] that GBD gave this afternoon. One new rendering on page 69. I think the preferred level 1 plan on page 45 (which would necessitate rotating the tower, to make the core work) is a big improvement over what was shown at the Pre-App. It'll be interesting to hear what the Design Commission thought.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Here's the presentation [48 MB] that GBD gave this afternoon. One new rendering on page 69. I think the preferred level 1 plan on page 45 (which would necessitate rotating the tower, to make the core work) is a big improvement over what was shown at the Pre-App. It'll be interesting to hear what the Design Commission thought.

I have to agree with both parts, the preferred level 1 plan is much better having the food hall along 9th rather than a loading dock. The rendering looks really sharp for a rendering. It does make me wish this was the new tallest because the overall design is looking to be very dynamic, especially if it is a glass tower.

[maccoinnich]

Downtown tower proposal works to fit in



A massive skyscraper proposed for downtown Portland’s West End is already giving rise to questions as the first test case of a major project governed by the city’s new zoning rules.

The tower would replace dozens of food carts and a surface parking lot on Block 216, which is bounded by Southwest Ninth and 10th avenues and Alder and Washington streets. The building will be the first large project governed by the city’s newly adopted Central City 2035 plan.

The project was the subject of a Design Commission meeting Thursday. Conversations between the project team and commissioners revealed the nascent project remains at an early stage despite an aggressive development schedule.

A second design advice meeting will be held in August. The project team plans to proceed to formal Type III design review in October with a goal of breaking ground in May 2019. “That’s pretty fast for a project of this scale,” said Phil Beyl, president of GBD Architects.

Yet Beyl confessed the design team had been engaged on the project only “a couple of months.” Architects showed only early massing drawings, not realistic renderings. A landscape architect has not yet been hired.

...continues at the DJC (temporarily unlocked).

[subterranean]

Now that article says "approaching 460 feet".

[subterranean]

Side thought. If built, this should fill in a little bit of that gap in the skyline between Park Avenue West and Big Pink, especially as viewed from the west.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Now that article says "approaching 460 feet".

It is probably still too early to tell what it's height is going to be if what we have seen is only just massing models.

[maccoinnich]

A last minute change to the Central City plan means that they're allowed to go up 460', from the 410' they had been assuming.

I think it would be really great if they created Portland's first viewing deck, an attraction that many other cities already have. I'm not under any illusions about how difficult it would be to make something like that work, but I can still dream about somewhere I can take out-of-town visitors to get a panoramic view of Portland.

[AcmeGreg]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

A last minute change to the Central City plan means that they're allowed to go up 460', from the 410' they had been assuming.

The article states that at this height the new tower would be slightly shorter than PAW at 503'. If I were GBD I'd plant a 44' stick on top.

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I think it would be really great if they created Portland's first viewing deck, an attraction that many other cities already have. I'm not under any illusions about how difficult it would be to make something like that work, but I can still dream about somewhere I can take out-of-town visitors to get a panoramic view of Portland.

Dream no more... aerial tram to the Kohler bldg. deck!

[Rob Nob]

SW 9th seems more like the service and loading frontage to me. Alder, Washington, and 10th seem like better Retail and Restaurant frontages.

[maccoinnich]

SW 9th is envisioned as being being part of the future Green Loop. Looking at google maps, there isn't a single existing garage or loading entry along 9th between the North and South Park Blocks. That creates a huge opportunity to re-imagine it as a pedestrian / bike oriented street.

I also agree with GBD that the required 12' setback from 9th, a new addition to the code, makes no sense. After this project very few if any of the block faces along the midtown park blocks are likely to redevelop. If the new code were imposed without modification/adjustment that would leave one building with a large setback, for no discernible reason. It would also upset one of the things that make SW Park/9th special: the fact that they're platted at just 50' wide, rather the 60' that's standard throughout Portland. Many of the most interesting streets in great cities are the narrow ones, where they become really intimate. With the food hall oriented to 9th it's not hard to image the activity from this spilling out on to the street (maybe even with a nice synergy with the restaurant that's going in to the former Johnny Sole space at the Woodlark, across the street?).

[subterranean]

^I was thinking the same thing about the setback. Hopefully they don’t press the issue.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Rob Nob

SW 9th seems more like the service and loading frontage to me. Alder, Washington, and 10th seem like better Retail and Restaurant frontages.

You would actually be wrong, historically, Portland streets have been East/West streets were considered service streets, and the North/South streets have been more the commercial fronts. The reasoning for this was getting goods up from the river happened along the East/West streets.

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

A last minute change to the Central City plan means that they're allowed to go up 460', from the 410' they had been assuming.

I think it would be really great if they created Portland's first viewing deck, an attraction that many other cities already have. I'm not under any illusions about how difficult it would be to make something like that work, but I can still dream about somewhere I can take out-of-town visitors to get a panoramic view of Portland.

As much as I love Portland's natural viewing areas like Pittock Mansion, Washington Park, and my personal hidden favorite location, it would be great to have a viewing deck or floor in downtown because it is beautiful to see the city from Pittock Mansion, but it is also cool to be high above a city in an tower.

[Rob Nob]

Not speaking Historically, but looking at the stretch of SW 9th between Oak and Morrison in google street view, and having live in the area, it looks pretty sleepy for retail on that frontage. That's all I am saying. The other three sides of this particular block seem like better opportunities for Retail. I hope the planned green loop success whenever it comes to fruition though.

[maccoinnich]

DAR #1 Summary Memo

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

DAR #1 Summary Memo

I like the massing changes, this building design is moving in the right direction.

[maccoinnich]

The Disappearing Food Cart
Cheap Lunches are a Portland Food Cart Staple, But Is Rampant Development Signaling the Death of the Pod?



Deepak Saxena says that when he opened his DesiPDX cart at Northeast 15th and Alberta in 2015, he knew the corner—with a Bamboo Sushi and a Barista not far away—was ripe for redevelopment.

So it didn’t come as a surprise when he was told the land was for sale—although learning he had just six weeks to find a new place to serve his cardamom chai chicken and pakora waffles was a shock. Fortunately, he said, the owner of Prost! on North Mississippi, with its thriving food cart pod outside, made him an offer and he happily jumped.

“I really wanted that security of moving somewhere and not having to move again in a couple of years,” Saxena says. “It’s a little frustrating. I know people are moving here and are drawn to Portland because of our food cart pods and our culture. But because they’re moving here, all these food cart pods are being torn down.”

...continues at the Portland Mercury.

[maccoinnich]

Block 216 has been submitted for design review:

Full-block building is a 35-story tower with a mix of office, hotel and residential uses. The proposed height is 460 feet. Parking will be configured below-grade in 4 levels. Access for the parking is proposed from SW Washington. The access to the loading dock is proposed from SW Alder St. The floor area is approximately 807,000 square feet above grade and 161,000 square feet below grade. The project will be entitled in accordance with the CC 2035 amendments. Stormwater will be disposed in accordance with City of Portland Stormwater Manual.

[cailes]