Broadway Corridor (Post Office Redevelopment) | Proposed

[MarkDaMan]

the Feds should donate the land. I know, the USPS is kinda separate from the 'Feds' but given the neighborhood, and the opportunity this land could provide, it seems appropriate to donate it to the city of Portland. Than P-town would be less likely to cram a bunch of bullshit on site to recover the $31M, and a more thoughtful development with lots of parkland could be realized.

[philopdx]

I am officially hoping and praying that they will extend the north park blocks as such. This is really once in a lifetime opportunity to remake this part of town. And I've noticed that they obviously did not have GPS in he good 'ol days of street laying. It's really amusing to see the number of streets around here that are *just* off tangent from a cardinal direction. One of the many quirky charms of the Rose City!

[NJD]

Note that they refer to the purchase as 6 blocks, when in all reality it is closer to 7 whole blocks and 5 half blocks (or 9 1/2 blocks altogether). I suspect that the middle half blocks are unquestionably going to be park blocks (the parking lot next to the fed building is already gifted as park land once funding is found). I also suspect that the USPS will save one block for themselves for a smaller post office. I think the PDC will redevelop the remaining 6 blocks however they can... A ballpark is out of question due to the unpopularity of the idea with the Pearl's residents, and with that any chance of a high rise scheme around Union Station like Grand Central Terminal in NY. I hope for a PSU or other institution campus, a new museum/theater district, a new civic center, or a huge grand park like the waterfront... but, my guess is LReSque low-mid rise condos and/or offices. I think it will depend on who's mayor next though.

[bvpcvm]

http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/pr...280.xml&coll=7

Portland, U.S. Postal Service closer to discussing sale of Northwest Portland distribution center

Since 1995, city leaders have been lobbying the Postal Service to move from its 13-acre site in the now-glitzy Pearl District

Saturday, March 22, 2008
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian

The city of Portland is closing in on a historic deal to buy 13 acres of prime Pearl District land -- downtown's largest redevelopment site -- from the U.S. Postal Service.

The Portland Development Commission, the city's urban renewal agency, is expected Wednesday to approve exclusive talks with the Postal Service about buying its distribution center at 715 N.W. Hoyt St., next to the Broadway Bridge.

"It's a great opportunity for expansion," said Mark Rosenbaum, the commission chairman.

The sale is a long way from final. Wednesday's vote may appear minor, but it's a significant step in a process that moves at glacial speed given the two bureaucracies involved.

City leaders have been planning for such a deal since 1988 and they've been lobbying the Postal Service to move since 1995. The city has poured millions of dollars to turn the Pearl District, once an industrial area, into a glitzy neighborhood of art galleries, condos and restaurants.

The post office's rumbling truck rigs and mail carriers are a better fit near the Portland airport, the city says.

Instead, the city sees the land as a potential campus for a major employer, like Nike or Adidas. Once the streets go in, the property could accommodate nine city blocks and about $1 billion in new development, said Steven Shain, the commission's development manager.

A Postal Service spokesman could not be reached for comment Friday.

Former Portland Mayor Vera Katz wrote the Postal Service in 1995 to encourage the move. Since then, city leaders, with help from the Port of Portland and Oregon's congressional delegation, have pressed the issue.

The development commission had to sweeten the offer to persuade the Postal Service to start serious talks. If the sale happens, the city must pay 150 percent of the property's appraised value.

The premium is necessary, the city says, because the zoning will probably change and make the site more valuable. The post office could take the extra incentive to move soon rather than wait for the land value to rise.

A February 2007 appraisal by Integra Realty Resources pegged the property's value at $45.5 million, assuming there's no environmental contamination.

If approved Wednesday, the deal would give the development commission exclusive negotiating rights through Dec. 31. It would make a nonrefundable $2 million payment into an escrow account toward the purchase.

The commission would pay the Postal Service $500,000 for the exclusive negotiating rights. It would pay another $500,000 after the sides agree on a sale price and an additional $1 million when they sign a sale agreement.

The Postal Service plans to use that money to start plans to move out of the Pearl District.

Rosenbaum said the post office's move to the airport area may help attract companies that want to be close to a mail center, such as catalogs and bulk mailers.

Shain said the Postal Service would need at least five years to make its move. The Pearl District site would be rebuilt over the next five years or so.

Ryan Frank: 503-221-8519; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com; blog.oregonlive.com/frontporch


©2008 The Oregonian

[WestCoast]

that would be insanely great news for downtown. That postal building (as amazingly convenient as it is for business) takes up a huge swath of real estate.

13 acres...good lord that could turn into something awesome.

[MarkDaMan]

PDC to ‘change skyline’ with Post Office site
Board of Commissioners approves ‘letter of intent,’ allowing the PDC to negotiate with Postal Service for redevelopment of N.W. Portland property
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Thursday, March 27, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF

The Portland Development Commission is closer than ever to securing development rights to the United States Post Office and Processing and Distribution Center in Northwest Portland.

The PDC’s Board of Commissioners yesterday approved a “letter of intent,” which will allow the PDC to enter into exclusive negotiations with the U.S. Postal Service concerning the redevelopment of the property.

For the PDC, the development of a business-oriented building on the site, which is not currently on the tax rolls, represents an investment opportunity too good to pass up.

“This would change the face and skyline of Portland for generations to come,” said Steve Shain, a development manager with the PDC.

The board’s decision allows the PDC to enter into negotiations with the post office for the 13.4-acre site at 715 N.W. Hoyt St. The deal has been long in the works, having first been recognized as a location for redevelopment two decades ago, before being highlighted later in 1995 by then-Mayor Vera Katz. In 2001, it was included in the Pearl District Plan. Since then, it’s been discussed by those who support bringing Major League Baseball to Portland as a possible site for a big-league stadium.

But there was always a level of reserve when it came to publicly discussion the specifics of the site, due to the post office’s request for confidentiality, according to the PDC.

However, as a deal for the redevelopment of the adjacent 511 Building inched forward – a deal eventually brokered through the General Services Administration, with the Pacific Northwest College of Art securing development rights to the federally owned property — the PDC started discussing the possibility of incorporating the post office location into its overall master plan for the Broadway Corridor.

“It hasn’t moved fast (in the past), but now it’s moving faster than it ever has,” Shain said.

The hope has been to use the area to bridge the divide between the Pearl District and Old Town/Chinatown, eventually expanding the breadth of downtown.

It’s a risky deal for the PDC, requiring the agency to place a non-refundable $2 million in escrow, eventually released to the U.S. Postal Service, for development rights through Dec. 2008. The PDC expects to move forward on the appraisal process for the site, with the final purchase price being 150 percent greater than the appraisal to take into account the long-term nature of the acquisition.

Bill Wyatt, executive director of the Port of Portland, said his agency has kept some Port-owned property at Cascade Station, near Portland International Airport, off the market in the hopes of enticing the post office to build a new distribution center there. The Port would not sell the property outright but would lease it out under a long-term agreement.

With land costs in the Pearl District increasing by 75 percent over the last five years, the PDC says now is a prudent time to move forward with negotiations on the site, before land prices jack prices up farther.
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDeta...intent-allowin

[360Rich]

Photo by Bruce Ely / The Oregonian

Commission, Postal Service agree to talks on sale of Portland post office site
Exclusive negotiations on the 13 acres in downtown could transform the city's skyline
Thursday, March 27, 2008
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian

The U.S. Postal Service's interest in moving its Portland district office out of downtown opens a rare window for a skyline-changing real estate deal.

On that, everyone agrees.


But behind the upbeat talk looms a question: How would the city buy the property if the tab reaches $60 million and the budget is $34 million?

The answer, like most issues involving downtown redevelopment, is complicated and unfolding. From the Pioneer Place mall to South Waterfront, Portland city leaders have a track record of shaking loose the cash to get deals done. Those deals over the last three decades have helped build Portland's livable city reputation.

The 13-acre post office site, in other words, promises to provide another test for Portland leaders to meld property tax revenue, city debt and private cash to attract more jobs, condos, apartments and shops to downtown.

On Wednesday, the Portland Development Commission -- the city's urban-renewal agency -- agreed to start exclusive talks with the Postal Service about buying the property at 715 N.W. Hoyt St. Peter Hass, a Postal Service spokesman, says the mail carrier has signed the agreement, too.

The vote marked a turning point in 20 years of city planning to redevelop the property, located at a pivotal spot that links the booming Pearl District to the still struggling Old Town. Wednesday's vote signals the Postal Service's intent to sell the land to the PDC, but it's far from a done deal.

The deal includes some risk for city taxpayers, but city leaders say it's a risk worth taking if it means they get to control what's considered downtown's largest potential redevelopment site. Steven Shain, a development commission manager, estimates the site could handle $1 billion in new development.

There's no doubt the real estate market has cooled considerably for the short term. But this deal, the city says, is a long-term play that would unfold over the next decade.

Then there's the cost of buying the land.

An aide for U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., showed up at the development commission to pledge Blumenauer's support and suggested city leaders should call any time.

"We will," someone piped up, prompting laughs.

Then PDC Chairman Mark Rosenbaum quipped: "There's a little matter of the purchase price we have to have some help with."

In all urban-renewal deals, Portland's primary source of money is property tax revenue. The PDC's money comes from taxes paid on rising property values.

The Pearl District, flush with urban-renewal cash, is scheduled to spend more than $200 million in the area in the next seven years.

The post office site accounts for $34 million of that spending. Neighborhood supporters have a long list of other priorities, including affordable housing, parks and a rehab of an aging waterfront mill by Lab Holding, a California developer. As a result, a post office project would face stiff competition for more money.

A 2007 appraisal pegged the post office's value at $45.5 million, assuming the property has no environmental contamination.

Under any potential deal, the development commission must pay 50 percent more than the market value. City officials say the premium is necessary because the zoning would probably change and make the site more valuable. The extra money, they say, provides extra incentive for the post office to move soon.

The commission and Postal Service will each do another appraisal in the next four months.

But based on the 2007 appraisal, the sale price would be about $68 million. The PDC's Shain says the site would require some cleanup, which would reduce the sale price some. Exactly how much will be part of negotiations.

To fill what could be a $30 million gap, Shain says the development commission will spend the next nine months looking for money.

The likely candidates include the city's general fund, and state and federal governments. The city hopes to attract a major employer for the site.

"This needs to be a rich job-creation site," said Erin Flynn, the commission's economic development director. Such a job focus may help attract state dollars because legislators are looking for ventures that add employment.

Beyond other government sources, Shain says, the PDC could work out a payment plan with the Postal Service to ease the pain. Or, Shain said, a public-private deal could be arranged with a private developer.

All options, he said, are on the table.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/o...950.xml&coll=7

[NJD]

I would love to see a commercial 'Grand Central' like development district around Union Station with Portland's highest density and height restrictions (roughly 16:1 and the usual 460ft limit), but that would require the city to rezone the whole area. The biggest problems with that idea being NIMBY complaints about view corridors and vantage points for the historic clock tower.

[EastPDX]

Go for the highest density and height that a developer can attain (scrap the max. height limitation for this super-block). Think San Francisco's Pyramid Building in order to reduce the view corridor compliants. Westside Portland needs this North Anchor to be bold (moving toward VanWA/Sea/VanBC) to help form the Cascadia vision that we only talk about (High Speed Rail is only being invested on by WA).

[MOPIdaho]

I would like to see the north park blocks extended, then bring on the towers.

[dkealoha]

^
I agree

[MarkDaMan]

I would like at least a couple blocks dedicated to 1/4 to 1/8 block buildings! Maybe the PDC could do an international design challenge and give away the land if the developers agree to a formula to put in full block underground parking and foundation work (this would lower cost too wouldn't it?). Only rule, must have ground floor presence and feature restaurant, coffee, retail or some other people generator in the building. No height limits, no view guarantees. PDC will choose which buildings go on what lot.

Is this possible?

[MarkDaMan]

District offers pearls of wisdom to guide city’s future growth
As land-use liaison for the city’s most powerful neighborhood association, Pearl District’s Patricia Gardner has watched her neighborhood evolve
Daily Journal of Commerce
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Friday, March 28, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF

Patricia Gardner isn’t from Portland. In fact, she’s not really from anywhere. But 15 years ago, the former “Army brat” set her roots in the fledgling Pearl District and helped sprout a community for herself.

Now, as the land-use liaison for the Pearl District Neighborhood Association, having been involved in the district’s formative years, she envisions even more growth for the former warehouse district. With the Portland Development Commission pushing forward the waterfront redevelopment of Centennial Mills, and the possible redevelopment of the Broadway Corridor-based post office site, Gardner says the time is ripe to use the neighborhood’s presence and permanence as an attractor not just for housing but for jobs.

DJC: So the post office site and Centennial Mills are moving forward, at different stages, and I imagine those are huge for the neighborhood.

Patricia Gardner: If you go back through the old plans for the neighborhood, the Pearl District was always identified as a mixed-use neighborhood. But Hoyt Street Properties ended up having a lot more residential buildings (than they’d planned). The way the economy went, around 2000, the office market went south. It dried up. So, consequently, we had a lot more housing, and it’s turned out to be less mixed-use than we thought it would be.

When we got really serious about talking about the post office, we wanted to talk about jobs. If you have about 11,000 people living here (eventually), it would be great for them to be able to work here too. We won’t have people needing to drive everyplace; yet it will still bring jobs back to the heart of the city.

DJC: But not service or retail jobs, right?

Gardner: No, real jobs. If you ask me what my goal is, I keep thinking of two stories: When Boeing moved its headquarters to Chicago (from Seattle) and when United (Airlines) moved its headquarters from Chicago to Denver. I don’t see why the state of Oregon, and not just the city of Portland, could not attract a (major) company to move its headquarters here. I think they could bring 10,000 jobs here. We should be dreaming that big for a site like (the post office).

DJC: Does it hearten you then to know that Sen. Gordon Smith and Rep. Earl Blumenauer have been heavily involved in moving the post office site forward?

Gardener: It does. We need the city and state to be on the same wavelength about this. Look at it like this: How many times do you have the opportunity to get 13 acres in the heart of the city, on light rail, available for a company? Not often. That’s enough land to get something big to move here.

DJC: Is the hope that with the Pacific Northwest College of Art moving into the (adjacent) 511 Building, everything can be incorporated together?

Gardner: It’s bigger than that. If you look at the amount of developable land around the post office, you end up with about six more blocks, which is about six more acres. That’s a total of about 20 acres of influence. The way I look at it, it’s a bookend for the city. If you look at the macro picture, you have Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University developed on one end of (downtown) – and they really are bookends – and we need something like that on this end of the city, a node of magnitude like in other cities, so you get a cohesive feel to the city.

DJC: I guess one of the critiques of the Pearl District, though, is that there is too much of an emphasis, from the city, on the district, at the expense of other neighborhoods. How would you respond to that?

Gardner: I think of it in terms of the urban growth boundary and what Metro has predicted – a million new residents in the next 20 years. That’s a crazy number. I went to high school in Washington, D.C., and the saddest thing to do was drive from Washington to Richmond. It’s one non-stop suburb. It is land that is being used in the most disturbing fashion. One of the reasons we have to put so much emphasis on the Pearl is so we can create something urban and not have sprawl in Oregon.

DJC: But I think that brings up another criticism. Not everyone can live in the Pearl. It’s perceived to be very expensive.

Gardner: It is perceived to be because we do such a good job with our low-income housing. One of my challenges is to tell people to stand in the park and tell me which projects (going up) are low-income. And people can’t do it. We have the most low-income housing in the city, so that’s a testament to the quality of our low-income housing.

DJC: Is it beneficial to have such a close relationship with developers?

Gardner: Well, I think we are the most pro-development neighborhood in the city. And that’s historical because it’s really easy to be pro-development when all you have is empty land. We actually have the luxury of not having too much context.
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDeta...he-citys-most-

[zilfondel]

I thought this was pretty interesting:

We have the most low-income housing in the city, so that’s a testament to the quality of our low-income housing.

Of course, that is "Low income" with a capital "L."

[philopdx]

You know, reading the article above, I couldn't disagree more with Patricia Gardener about trying to set aside the lion's share of 20 acres of land for one MEGA-employer.

She keeps referring to the two stories of the major corporations moving to a new city, but the other side of that story is that each city lost a major employer.

While I agree that we need to make our city an attractive place for investment an easy place to set up and do business, I think that designing a whole section of newly-developed area around just ONE employer is a very ill-advised idea.

I keep remembering the time I spent in North Sioux City, SD and the story of Gateway 2000 computers (later changed to Gateway). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway,_Inc.

North Sioux City actually built a new exit off of the interstate just to serve the anticipated business that the sprawling Gateway campus would surely provide for many years. New sub-developments went up, a new grocery store,a couple of funky restaurants, etc. etc. Then they started outsourcing, downsizing, and eventually moved their entire operations elsewhere. By 2003, it was a hollowed-out ghost town. Even the grocery store closed.

It also reminds me of a gig at Kodak in Rochester, NY I had last year. Kodak had once employed tens of thousands of professionals in warehouses of cubicles, most of which now stand empty. While walking past empty cube after empty cube to get to the project manger's office, I could not help but to get a sense of doom, decay and broken dreams.

So while the presence of one major corporate player can potentially benefit a city greatly, let's not forget to diversify our economy and design the city for its citizens first.

Even better, let's aim for attracting 2 or 3 medium-sized firms that will happily each fit into just one or two buildings of that 20 acres we have to play with.

In sum, let's make our first priority creating a livable, enjoyable environment with all the subtle charm that jives with the rest of our fair city, including some PARK BLOCKS.

There's more to a city than mounds of cubicles and harried VP's sweating bullets over the latest 10Q's

[edgepdx]

Originally Posted by philopdx

You know, reading the article above, I couldn't disagree more with Patricia Gardener about trying to set aside the lion's share 20 acres of land for one MEGA-employer.
...

I couldn't agree more. The siren song of a huge corporate headquarters is very tempting for a city government, but putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. I think the reason Portland isn't seeing the kind of economic collapse your seeing in many parts of the country right now is it's diversity of employers.

How about a green technology campus for companies large and small focused on alternative energy and green products. Portland seems ideally positioned to be ground zero for the next big thing:

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/02/0081908

We already have the North American headquarters of Vesta's wind turbines and the largest solar cell plant in the US under construction in Hillsboro.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by philopdx

You know, reading the article above, I couldn't disagree more with Patricia Gardener about trying to set aside the lion's share of 20 acres of land for one MEGA-employer.

...
So while the presence of one major corporate player can potentially benefit a city greatly, let's not forget to diversify our economy and design the city for its citizens first.

Even better, let's aim for attracting 2 or 3 medium-sized firms that will happily each fit into just one or two buildings of that 20 acres we have to play with.

I couldn't agree more, particularly in these economic times when we have companies moving, merging, and going under at a phenomenal rate.

I'd also like to point out that the point of a "mixed-use district" is to have a mix of uses... this goes for employers. Downtowns are so strong economically because one company won't bring them down (at least healthy ones). I would rather see this site become open and public, the complete opposite of a corporate campus. I mean, c'mon - haven't we learned anything from the past 20 years of urban design? Where do these dimwits come from?

And I quote from the Pearl District Neighborhood plan, adopted by the city and PDC:

Objective 6: Reduce the dominance of
the Post Office and integrate it into
the fabric of the community.

Identify opportunities to provide for
infill development along the perimeter
of the Post Office property that is
better integrated with the surrounding
neighborhood.

The corner of NW Ninth Avenue and Lovejoy,
and along Ninth Avenue, are opportunities for
redevelopment which would change the
relationship of the Post Office to the
neighborhood. (See conceptual design on facing
page.) PDC should sponsor a design process to
engage the community and the U.S. Postal Service
in addressing a wide variety of issues, including:
urban design and landscaping where the site
interfaces with the neighborhood; economic
feasibility; operational impacts on the postal
facility; opportunities for improved access to the
riverfront and Union Station; and the visual
impact of the facility from the perspective of the
North Park Blocks. Other opportunities include
providing for parking under the Lovejoy Bridge
or structured/shared parking for community
users and post office employees.

^ I don't see the plan where they want to give the whole site over to one mega-employer. Do you guys?
Would seem to make sense to just provide larger office space for firms that outgrow the smaller loft/warehouse spaces throughout the district. Some nice, rough-ed out open floor plans to allow homegrown companies to transition from small to medium.


Even worse, this idea sounds like a great excuse to give 20-year tax abatements to whatever corporation they can lure over here. However, those are perhaps the worst way to land a company. Improved schools and a good workforce are still #1.

Wasn't Boeing's original plan to move all 180,000 workers to Chicago? But they scaled it down to just the HQ.

[PacificNW]

No, Boeing never had plans to move their aircraft manufacturing to Chicago but there still is the possibility some of this manufacturing could be relocated to Boeing plants in Kansas. (Wichita???).

[NJD]

DJC: But not service or retail jobs, right?

Gardner: No, real jobs.

Apparently the majority of people on this planet work fake jobs...

[digme]

Yea, the whole "real jobs" seems incredibly condescending. Turned me off to everything else she had to say.