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  #41  
Old Posted Aug 5, 2005, 3:34 PM
edirp edirp is offline
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Madison Office Condominiums

Madison Office Condominiums, Portland, OR.

This boutique commercial building will offer four floors of office space for sale above ground floor retail. The project sits on a 6,500 square foot site with access from SW 11th Avenue to the west and a vibrant, new pedestrian plaza to the south. The design takes a bold and refreshing approach using a palette of primary colors. Blue metal panels will wrap most of the building and the steel structural beams, exposed at the base and cap of the building, will be painted a bright yellow. Glass roll-up doors on the south facade will open the retail space (expected to be a restaurant) onto the new pedestrian plaza. The building will feature extensive glazing, operable windows, high ceilings and many sustainable design elements, including bio-planters to capture and filter rainwater from the roof, high efficiency mechanical systems, dual-flush toilets, low VOC products, use of recycled and recyclable materials, and more. The Madison Office Condominiums is the final piece of the three-block redevelopment project referred to as Museum Place, which includes the St. Francis Apartments, Museum Place Lofts & Townhouses, YWCA Downtown Center, and the Eliot Tower condominiums.
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  #42  
Old Posted Aug 5, 2005, 3:52 PM
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Oh, I didn't realize it was to be built across the street. I thought it was in between the YWCA and the tower. Actually, I haven't even been over there to see what it looks like in quite some time...
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  #43  
Old Posted Aug 5, 2005, 4:06 PM
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Madison Office Condominiums

Hi Mark,

It'll be across the plaza from the Eliot Tower's rowhouses (not across the street).

It touches the YMCA on one side, and the St. Francis Apartments on the other.

check this out:

http://www.sojpdx.com/madison.pdf
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  #44  
Old Posted Aug 5, 2005, 4:19 PM
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Thanks edirp!

I would have never figured that out had you not posted the link.:nuts:
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  #45  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2005, 6:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by article above
He said it's essential that construction begin by August
So what's the deal with this, they have all their final approvals, no? I thought the construction had to start no later than this month, but it doesn't even look like they have begun any sort of prep work. Anybody hear any news?
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  #46  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2005, 9:21 PM
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The Georgian Room closes in mid-February 2006.
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  #47  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2005, 10:17 PM
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hmmmm....that doesn't sound very promising. I thought by Christmas the upper floors would be demolished except the outter walls?
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  #48  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2005, 11:30 PM
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As it stands right now I wouldn't be too concerned. The Federated/May merger is not going to be ok'd by the Federal Government until later this year (2005).

Federated may be wanting to change some of the plans for the retail portion....this only makes sense. No use in tearing up new construction when Federated can change the floor plans to fit "their" needs vs. May's needs.

The hotel portion may have to be delayed until the Macy's plans are finalized.
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  #49  
Old Posted Oct 7, 2005, 3:30 PM
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This is great that theyre pressing the developer to relocate the Georgian Room, why not make it the dining room for the hotel restaurant?...

Meier & Frank planning slows
Preservation
Friday, October 07, 2005
DYLAN RIVERA

A $137 million project to transform Portland's Meier & Frank building into a hotel and remodeled store won't begin until late January, at the earliest, as state and federal officials scrutinize plans for preserving the landmark's Georgian Room restaurant.

The building's owner, Federated Department Stores Inc., and the hotel developer, Sage Hospitality Resources LLC, previously had said they would start "substantial work" on the renovation this fall. They plan a new and improved store on the first five floors, with a luxury hotel filling the upper 10 floors.

But the two companies are at odds with the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service's Technical Preservation Services Branch over which elements of the building will be maintained. The Georgian Room's fate has become the most substantial element of disagreement.

Ken Geist, executive vice president for Sage Hospitality, said the delays mean the hotel won't open until the first half of 2008, rather than in late 2007 as originally forecast. The updated store is scheduled to open by fall 2007, although it no longer will be known as Meier & Frank. Federated bought Meier & Frank's owner, May Department Stores Co., this year and said it would rename the store Macy's.

The store has begun preparing unoccupied floors for the renovations, said Milinda Martin, a Los Angeles-based spokeswoman for Meier & Frank. But, she emphasized, the work would not be visible to holiday shoppers.

Major renovations, including seismic upgrades, likely would require installing a tower crane beside the building and having construction workers bustling around the property.

Renovation and preservation of the downtown landmark and retail anchor have been a top city priority for years, as May let it fall into disrepair and allowed speculation to persist that the store would pull out entirely. But getting a hotel partner to invest in the building -- which ultimately required loans backed by the Portland Development Commission, a 15-year state historic property tax freeze and other incentives -- persuaded the store to stay and renovate.

The renovation plans call for hotel rooms in the area occupied by the 10th-floor Georgian Room, a space of sea-foam green walls where ladies have lunched since at least the 1930s.

The restaurant reflects an era when department stores provided full-service restaurants to coax patrons into spending their day in the building, said James Hamerick, deputy state historic preservation officer.

"You get a lot of really good stories about the Georgian Room from patrons," Hamerick said. "It's probably the only high-style piece of the Meier & Frank building left on the interior, and it is clearly a significant space."


Hamerick has asked the National Parks Service to make preservation of the room a condition of federal historic preservation tax credits. The developers are counting on the $15.5 million or so in credits to produce about $14 million in equity to help finance the redevelopment.

John Tess, president of Portland's Heritage Consulting Group, which is handling preservation issues for the store and the hotel developer, had suggested elements of the room perhaps could be preserved by moving moldings or other pieces of the room's architecture to public places on the sixth or eighth floors.

Neither state nor federal officials seem likely to agree with that proposal, though.

"Please be advised that parceling out pieces of this significant space to different areas of the building destroys its integrity and does not meet the Standards," Gary Sachau of the National Park Service wrote in an Aug. 22 memo to the developers and state officials.

Tess said Thursday the developers plan to comply with calls for preservation, but they haven't decided how.

The companies have until Oct. 22 to reply with their plans for the Georgian Room and a handful of other historic preservation issues. The National Park Service then will make a ruling, which can be appealed.

State preservation officials can only advise on the federal program.

Sage Hospitality's Geist said the company plans to have a full-service restaurant in the hotel, although he declined to discuss details of the Georgian Room preservation.

He did say Sage is reconsidering whether its hotel will be a franchise of the Renaissance Hotels & Resorts brand, which had been in the plans for more than a year. Renaissance is known for unique properties, and Sage operates several historic Renaissance hotels in other markets. A decision on a hotel brand and a lender should be made in the next week or so, Geist said.

Sage plans to close on the purchase of its part of the building in December, Geist said.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/o...l=7&thispage=1
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  #50  
Old Posted Oct 7, 2005, 4:07 PM
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The Georgian Room:
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  #51  
Old Posted Oct 7, 2005, 8:59 PM
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Oh, I see why they are all fussy over it now. It is a lot more beautiful than I had imagined. I should get up there and have lunch before it's gone!
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  #52  
Old Posted Oct 7, 2005, 9:30 PM
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^
Yeah its really like a step back in time to the golden age of department stores, I would imagine that it has bearly changed in the last 50 years. The people working there have been their for as many as 30 years. The food is basic American comfort lunch foods things like tuna melts, chicken strips, BLTs etc, is cheap (like $7 for a meal with a soup/salad, side and bread) and is served with silverware on white table cloths. Its only open weekdays at lunch time.

I would imagine its the last of its kind in the US as the few old time department stores that are still open have mostly modernized their restaurants into cafeterias or food courts.
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  #53  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2005, 9:04 PM
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Timeline set for remodel
Portland Tribune

Construction is expected to begin on the $137 million redevelopment of the downtown Meier & Frank store in January or February, according to Bruce Warner, executive director of the Portland Development Commission.
Plans call for an upgrade of the aging Portland landmark and transformation of the 10 top floors into a luxury hotel. Warner said the store plans to stay open during the construction .
“This is a critical project for downtown that has been many years in the making,” Warner said.
The city has offered many incentives for the building to be saved, including loans backed by the PDC and a 15-year state historic property tax. Work was delayed on the project earlier this year while Federated Department Stores Inc. bought the May Co., which owned Meier & Frank.
Additional delays occurred when preservationists called for the Georgian Room — the store’s well-known dining area on the 10th floor — to be saved. Although discussion about the room continues, Warner expects it to be concluded soon and construction to begin after the holiday shopping season.
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  #54  
Old Posted Jan 2, 2006, 2:13 AM
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I'm not so sure that the fly in for the weekend, throw a party, out in the morning is a bad deal for downtown. Doesn't seem like a good way to make the sidewalk any nicer, but two nights a week in downtown probably means two nights of eating fancy dinners, shopping, and watching a show at the schnitz. Probably helps the commercial side of downtown quite a bit.
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  #55  
Old Posted Jan 2, 2006, 4:39 AM
NorskyGirl NorskyGirl is offline
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Now those are some nice views. Thanks for the photos, bvpcvm!
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  #56  
Old Posted Feb 8, 2006, 7:23 PM
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we're almost halfway into Feb and I still see no activity other than shoppers at M&F, anyone have a word on construction timelines?
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  #57  
Old Posted Feb 8, 2006, 7:30 PM
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It was in the Oregonian the other day that they were going to start sometime in the Spring.
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  #58  
Old Posted Feb 9, 2006, 6:42 PM
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I believe that the Georgian Room is supposed to close in about a week or two
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  #59  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2006, 1:34 AM
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the macy's name is making its way into M&F mostly in advertising. the ground floor merchandise is noticably different and less cluttered

the 10th floor is empty but open to public, the georgian room is closed

i would guess the store will shrink in the next few months to the first 5 floors
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  #60  
Old Posted Feb 20, 2006, 3:51 AM
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Completion date

One more thing: is the May 2007 completion date realistic?
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