SoWA pictures

[MarkDaMan]

the granite does not help with LEED points

well that just sucks. I was having an argument with someone about the OHSU building and the waste of money SoWa is, the tram...blah,blah,blah...Anyway, he told me if OHSU was so concerned about money why would they build a building out of granite and worry about the LEED crap? My natural thought was that it was probably about the LEED Platinum rating and in the long run, they both end up costing less and hold up better.

the granite on OHSU is very rich and warm

It is really spectacular up close. Very high quality!!! The building from a distance is another story...

[Last Chance]

Great pics again. It's really nice to see the progress, especially when I only make it down there every several months. Thanks!

[crow]

[QUOTE=MarkDaMan]well that just sucks. I was having an argument with someone about the OHSU building and the waste of money SoWa is, the tram...blah,blah,blah...Anyway, he told me if OHSU was so concerned about money why would they build a building out of granite and worry about the LEED crap? My natural thought was that it was probably about the LEED Platinum rating and in the long run, they both end up costing less and hold up better.

just to be clear. The granite helps with a LEED point in that it is a "local" material, because it is assembled in Gresham by Benson. As well, it goes without saying that granite is a durable material. the thrust for OHSU was to do a 100 year building. Granite definitely speaks to that objective. The austerity of the projects will diminish with the other projects popping up!

[MarkDaMan]

from OHSU's website
http://www.ohsu.edu/ohsuedu/landingpages/tramupdate/

Aerial Tram 40% complete

lower tram terminal


midway tower




upper terminal

[MarkDaMan]

Wow, those are freaking huge pics...sorry...they weren't so big when I copied them from OHSU's website

[PacificNW]

The campus on the hill looks amazing in your pics! It will be great to see more of than down by the river.

[flux73]

More controversy @ the town hall meeting last night at PSU regarding the Tram. I'm kind of neutral on the topic myself. But I do kind of sympathize with OHSU here since they are putting up the monster share of the money and have agreed to pay for the increases up till recently (can't blame them, they've already increased their contribution by almost $30 mill). Not sure why the City Council is trying to pin the blame on them. It's kind of feeling like they need a scapegoat with all the angry Portland citizens out for blood.

[MarkDaMan]

I don't get the controversy. I haven't talked to a single person, in person, that is freaking out about the tram. The controversy seems to be brewing on the internet and the papers have thrown some gas on the fire, but overall I just don't see the Portland outcry that the Cascade Policy Institute isn't personally fueling.

[pdxstreetcar]

In the article in the Oregonian today all the quotes from people against it were Lair Hill residents. The opponents are trying make people think that 100% of the cost is being paid for by general fund money, when in fact there is no general fund money going to it, just a small amount from the PDC and 90+% of the cost is being paid for by OHSU and the SoWa landowners.

Apparently they announce tomorrow how the overruns will be paid for.

[cab]

Sam Adams is causing alot of the problems. He's playing both sides and trying to hard to humor the opposition. I think a small minority (the steve Schoops of the world) have taken over Sams blog, so Sam feels he has to suck up to them. Also Mr negative Jack bog hasn't helped. The guy is basically for stagnation and gives voice to those people who still want to go back to the their glory days of 1960's Portland. People need to talk responsibilty when a city out grows them. THey can't go around trying to stop progress just because they have stopped progressing.

[zilfondel]

They're putting in new powerlines that go over the river now to replace the old rusting towers...

[PacificNW]

The John Ross is speeding along nicely!

[MarkDaMan]

just copying the live pic over to this page...


speeding is right PacNW and I love it!

I've about had it with checking, almost daily, to see if the crane has jumped in height. Of course, from this pic it looks like they might have a few more floors to go, or a few weeks, before they bump it up, but in person it looks close. I can't wait to see the height compared to the Meriwether towers.

[flux73]

I was at a South Waterfront update meeting last weekend at the Discovery Center. Thought I'd fill you all in on what little I remember from the meeting.

Not sure if it's been discussed here before, but there are some interesting light fixtures that they exhibited. These would be the corner lamp posts. They have this fan shaped canopy that will shield pedestrians from the rain while they wait at the corners to cross a street. Very nice looking and also many great looking benches planned. Also they are going to be tearing out the storage sheds in a month or two and laying down grass for the preliminary park. A design for the park is still to be settled. If I recall correctly, the streetcar will begin service to the SoWa district in Sept. I THINK. There's going to be a Daily Cafe in the OHSU One Building and I think they will be starting up fairly soon. There will be a temporary waterway path, but not much more was said about that, like in regards to its length or where it will run. Atwater Place was announced and sales are starting very very soon (if not already). A conceptual drawing of the building on Block 38 was shown. I believe one of the other threads on this board showed it awhile ago. Anyhow, very interesting design. They said it was made to look like half of the building had "slipped". My understanding is that one half of the building will have all its floors be half a floor lower than the other half, or at least look like that from the outside. Not sure if the inside will maintain that half-height staggered design.

There will be an exit ramp off of I-5 North to get into the SoWa district. I asked about coming south on 405. Unfortunately, there isn't anything planned for that yet. Right now, you have to get off at 6th Ave (at the bottom of the hill from OHSU) and then go towards the Ross Island bridge before you can connect up to Macadam and finally getting into the district. Kind of a pain and I hope there are some future plans to deal with this.

They showed photos of the Tram foundations being poured. There's a stunning amount of rebar and concrete. Afterwards, Dike Dame made a funny sarcastic comment about Randy Leonard's remark that he would bring a truck and rip out the foundation himself if the project had to be halted - something like "Well, he can certainly try..."

I also asked about the powerlines - the ones that come across from Ross Island. What I was told was that they would be moved 200 feet to the north, and possibly may be run under the Ross Island Bridge itself.

Move-ins to the Meriwether start up within the next month. My parents and I have bought a place there, but we aren't planning to close until late July. We want to give the neighborhood a chance to settle in. I'm looking forward to seeing the neighborhood spring to life!

[urbanlife]

moving the power lines under the bridge would make sense.

[zilfondel]

flux73:

You didn't see the model of Atwater Place? It was in the central room in the Exploration Center - couple weeks ago they had a curtain around it, as the display wasn't finished yet. But the model was there. And its insane.

Also, last time I went on a bike ride, someone had built new transmission towers to go over the Willamette.


Wow! You're moving into the neighborhood - thats really cool. Of course, the 'settling in' period will be more like 2-5 years, and the construction won't stop for another... 10? OHSU hasn't even mentioned anything about their campus to the north, let alone a timeline.

[flux73]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

flux73:

You didn't see the model of Atwater Place? It was in the central room in the Exploration Center - couple weeks ago they had a curtain around it, as the display wasn't finished yet. But the model was there. And its insane.

Also, last time I went on a bike ride, someone had built new transmission towers to go over the Willamette.

Wow! You're moving into the neighborhood - thats really cool. Of course, the 'settling in' period will be more like 2-5 years, and the construction won't stop for another... 10? OHSU hasn't even mentioned anything about their campus to the north, let alone a timeline.

I did see the model of Atwater Place. The one I was talking about above though was the building for Block 38. It hasn't been named yet. Very interesting architecture though.

And my plans aren't settled yet about whether I'll be moving into the neighborhood. I live in the Pearl right now and it's convenient. We'll be renting out the place first. When I say settled, I just meant having a basic park put in, a waterway path built, the Streetcar running, and a few cafes open. In other words, just enough to make it livable. But yes, I imagine it'll be at least 4 or 5 years before it really develops a community feel.

[MarkDaMan]

thanks for the update Flux73, I can't wait to see the street lamps!

[MarkDaMan]

In Oregonian's real estate transactions.

GHS has purchased a 38,736-square-foot office building on 2.77 acres at 3030 S.W. Moody Ave. for $7.475 million from Swinerton Real Estate Inc. George Marandas, Hadley Stevens Marandas, represented the buyer; David Hill and Eric Haskins, Grubb & Ellis, represented the seller.


anyone have further information about this?

[CouvScott]

^ nothing on Geriatric Healthcare Survey's website about the purchase. But just possibly positioning themselves near a new client, OHSU or maybe some mysterious Biomed company ready to move to the area.