Old Town/Chinatown News

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

...vacation ownership units? Uhm... I guess it's better than a surface parking lot, but still... vacation ownership units?

Does Portland have any vacation ownership units in downtown? If not that is really good news, Wyndham is one of the biggest time share companies....I should know I got suckered into one of their presentations in Vegas for free tickets. This means they are considering Portland to be a vacation destination.

[2oh1]

Hhhmmmmm... I guess I see your point.

[maccoinnich]

It's easy to sneer at the timeshare industry*, but I'm glad that Portland has a diversity of short term rental accommodation being built. The projects in the pipeline (the Convention Center Hyatt Regency, the Hyatt House, the Grove Hotel, the AC by Marriott, the Hilton Curio Hotel, the Hotel Eastlund and the Society Hotel) all serve different parts of the market, with some overlap. I hope this Wyndham Project will complement that. Also, I really want to see those parking lots along Naito Parkway disappear.

* However if we must sneer, did anyone see The Queen of Versailles? Absolutely fascinating film about frankly horrible people who made their money from timeshares, and decided to build America's largest single-family home.

[zilfondel]

I watched about 5 minutes of that movie before I realized what it was about and turned it off. Apparently the house was built in Windermere, Florida... Windermere, the apartment company?

[zilfondel]

Thats excellent news about that Old Town building. Hopefully this will kick the nearby lot owners in the pants with the po$$ibilitie$ of redevelopment. Or, one could wish.

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

...vacation ownership units? Uhm... I guess it's better than a surface parking lot, but still... vacation ownership units?

Typically they're not normal time shares. You buy the unit, but you only get to use it for XX days per year yourself. Otherwise it's a normal hotel room, but you get first dibs on it and don't pay a rate for it.

It's a bit different than the time share most people are used to. At least ~2008 they were really popular with corporate owners who wanted a room reserved for XX nights/year, but didn't need an executive apartment in the area.

[maccoinnich]

Reminder - the Old Town better block project is this weekend. Vote with your wallets, and grab lunch (or whatever) somewhere in Old Town. Help show the city and businesses that this transformation will be good for the local economy.

Volunteers prep for Friday’s three-day ‘Better Block’ demonstration on 3rd Ave
Posted by Michael Andersen (News Editor) on October 1st, 2014 at 11:35 am



Boris Kaganovich of Better Block PDX with a half-built planter in the rooms where he and other volunteers have been preparing for a “pop-up” plaza and protected bike lanes on 3rd Avenue.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

Working every evening for two weeks in a warren of unfinished rooms three stories above Old Town, more than a dozen enthusiastic volunteers have almost finished building the street features that will remake 3rd Avenue for one weekend, starting Friday morning.

“We managed to clear every store in town out of kreg screws,” organizer Boris Kaganovich of Better Block PDX said Tuesday, taking stock of the group’s inventory so far as he walked through the building. “And three Home Depots’ worth of Astroturf.”

....continues at Bike Portland

[maccoinnich]

Behind the paywell, but the DJC is reporting that "a 117-year-old vacant building in Old Town Chinatown may soon become creative office space." Link on the front page is illustrated with a picture of 403 NW 5TH Ave, mentioned above (the Oregon Casket building).

[maccoinnich]

Photos: Building a new Society

Renovation work continues on an Old Town Chinatown building that is being converted to the Society Hotel, a 36-room boutique hotel and hostel. General contractor Building Blocks LLC is pouring footings for a concrete and steel elevator shaft running through the center of the building, which is being redeveloped by owner group KeyMar LLC. Additional footings will be poured for shear walls that will provide seismic stability for the 5-story unreinforced masonry building, and demolition continues on the building’s interior lath and plaster walls.
Completion of the Integrate Architecture-designed project is slated for May 2015.

...continues at the DJC, not paywalled. Some great photos there.

[maccoinnich]

Old Town opens four car lanes to people for three days, and rave reviews roll in



This weekend in downtown Portland’s slightly seedy north side, a citizen group temporarily converted two lanes of auto parking, a big expanse of empty pavement and two traditional travel lanes into a huge new pedestrian plaza, rows of street seats and ping-pong tables and a protected bike lane.

And it was, more or less, a huge hit.

“It’s a radical change that bellows a bold declaration: Welcome to the future of Portland,” wrote Oregonian reporter Jamie Hale in a short, glowing review.

“They want you to feel a kind of living-room atmosphere here,” explained KGW’s reporter Nina Mehlhaf.

...continues at Bike Portland.

[urbanlife]

Is that what that was? I couldn't figure out what was going on by Voodoo. It would make sense to redo that area and reduce the road size for pedestrians.

[65MAX]

Third Ave in Old Town could definitely use a serious road diet. There's way too much roadway there for the amount of cars that use it. Actually, the same goes for 4th and 2nd Aves. Combine all of those into a renovation of Ankeny Alley (from Naito to 5th) and you'll have a great pedestrian amenity for locals and tourists alike.

[Derek]

The gas station needs to go too.

[hat]

The proposal and traffic data from cameras went to the city council yesterday. Hopefully, with a few tweaks, this can become a reality. The bikeportland story summarized the event and news coverage pretty well. There were no real incidents, and aside from two traffic lanes (and bike lane) from Burnside to Couch, and some delivery truck parking needs, not much of a change was needed.

[cab]

The homeless will love it! I agree it would be an amazing public asset, but the homeless issues need to be addressed first. I'm amazed at the atmosphere in that area sometimes. Its like a refugee camp. I cringe when I see tourists in the area wandering around especially with kids. They look scared sh+tless and confused. "where's the hipsters?"

[maccoinnich]

So here's what's happening with the Oregon Casket building:

Old Town Chinatown plan continues to kick in with $20M building revamp



A 117-year-old building in Old Town Chinatown will get an estimated $20 million overhaul as part of a plan to revitalize what's become one of downtown's left-behind districts.

The Whidden & Lewis Building, located at 403 N.W. Fifth Ave., was built in 1897 and is named for renowned Portland architects William Whidden and Ion Lewis, who also designed the Multnomah County Courthouse and Portland City Hall. Developer Brian McCarl & Co. is currently refining the development plan with the building's owners, SERA Architects and the Portland Development Commission.

At this point, plans call for six-story addition, a modern lobby, penthouse and a large landscaped garden deck with views of Old Town Chinatown.

...continues at the Portland Business Journal.

[maccoinnich]

Notice of Pre-Application conference [PDF, small] for the Worldmark by Wyndham project on Naito.

[PDX City-State]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Notice of Pre-Application conference [PDF, small] for the Worldmark by Wyndham project on Naito.

This may be a small project, but very telling of what's to come in this neighborhood I think. A timeshare project by a company like Wyndham says a lot about the direction of this part of Old Town. More development will follow.

[downtownpdx]

Agreed -- it's really great to see little vacant lots around Naito and Old Town fill up. And the Pine Street Market will be a nice addition nearby.

It's a somewhat gritty area, for Portland anyway... but eclectic and nicely unpolished. I drive over the Steel Bridge sometimes and head down NW 3rd, and it's pretty bleak along several blocks. But the neighborhood has good bones. And once you cross Burnside to Voodoo Doughnut land around Ankeny, it's nice to see that part of town with activity every day, all day. Used to be just a weekend place with Saturday Market. It's still sketchy around Burnside but I'm hopeful that with the city's renewed emphasis on community policing, the street kid issue will continue to improve. I don't see the amount of groups with their pit bulls as just 6 months ago.

[maccoinnich]

Notice of pre-application conference [PDF, small] for the Oregon Casket / Whidden & Lewis building. Includes floorplans / elevations. Project description:

Pre-Application Conference for Type III Design Review for proposed renovation of a 5-story building, demo of an existing 2-story annex and development of 6-story building that will be attached to the existing
building. The existing building is listed on the Historic Resource Inventory, built in 1897 and designed by Whidden and Lewis. In the furture, the owner may request that it be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The ground floor will have two retail/tenant spaces. Should be a huge improvement to that block along NW 5th.