Pearl District News

[MarkDaMan]

Portland's Pearl District has been a resounding success. Below is a recent article that gives a short history of the district as well as "look" into what has already been done. This thread will follow the finishing touches that will round out the district in the next 5 to 10 years. There is still much work to do. The district has much infill potential that will keep new development happening for many more years, but there is also a new district within the district the developers have branded "NoLo." In this district (north of Lovejoy street) the city has agreed to raise its height limit to allow taller slender buildings and there is land potential for at least 15 new towers, if not many more than that, to be built. With Portland expecting 20 to 30 new towers (most if not all above 175ft) to be started by this winter, it shouldn't take long to fill this empty track.

What's old is new again in Portland's gem
Lively Pearl District teems with galleries, shops and clubs
Christine Delsol, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Portland, Ore. -- Oregon's No. 1 city has been mostly overlooked by Californians (not always to its great regret) as merely a "nice place" with rose-filled parks, pretty bridges and decent hotels -- more important as a stopover than a destination. A coterie of hippies and iconoclasts were drawn to Portland's individualism, and fans of Seattle's coffee and dot-com cultures might have had a look on the way, but mostly we haven't paid much attention.

News flash: When we weren't looking, Portland got hip.

While other cities were paving over or bulldozing places that were no longer profitable, Portland was turning them into attractive and affordable parks, restaurants, shops, music venues, art galleries, restaurants and brew pubs. It's managed to pack in all the big-city attractions while keeping urban aggravations to a minimum.

The Pearl District, whose reclaimed warehouses and rail yards have been populated in recent years with artists and designers, is an ideal vantage point for observing the city's evolution. With the recent immigrants came international flavors, sidewalk cafes, lively clubs and flashy lofts and townhouses. But art and design remain at its heart.

People pack the streets for a crash course in contemporary painting, sculpture and photography the first Thursday of the month, when galleries stay open late and offer food and entertainment. In response to growing interest in its urban style and interior design, the neighborhood staged Pearl CitySpaces, a weeklong public condominium and loft tour, in May.

The Pearl, adjacent to downtown, is also about a 15-minute walk, or a short ride by free public transit, from the city's latest arts buzz: The Portland Art Museum's new Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, which opened Saturday. The landmark former Masonic Temple is now the Pacific Northwest's largest repository of modern art.

The museum's addition occupies the south wing of the temple, built to monumental proportions in 1925. The staid brick exterior is scored by a decidedly modern, faceted glass "pleat" that pulls natural light into five levels of galleries, and capped with glowing glass penthouses. But in its core, two ballrooms were meticulously restored for public use, complete with rusticated walls, Moorish flourishes and a circular frieze of painted quotations.

The Pearl District is a similar marriage of modern culture and historic preservation. This is where young cosmopolitans, surrounded by plasma TVs and plates of Thai salad rolls, choose from 100 tap beers within the exposed brick walls and 24-foot ceilings of Henry Weinhard's original brewery. Today's Brewery Blocks house not only Henry's 12th Street Tavern but retailers, offices, restaurants, Peet's Coffee and possibly the world's most ornate Whole Foods market, in a former Chevrolet dealership facing the old brewery's smokestack.

My first glimpse of the Pearl, under the wing of my friend Renate, who lives across the river but regularly crosses the Broadway Bridge to shop or walk her dogs, was Jamison Square, a 3-year-old park where kids splashed in the fountain from morning to evening. A few blocks away, the Fremont Bridge arched beyond a red neon "Go by streetcar" sign, echoing nearby Union Station's classic "Go by train" sign.

As we strolled, Renate's boyfriend couldn't say he disagreed with complaints that the district has become too precious, a "fake" version of Europe or San Francisco. But he eagerly ushered me to Sinju, an uncharacteristically spacious and quiet sushi bar, and to the Ecotrust Building. This century-old warehouse's socially minded tenants include a Patagonia store, the Wild Salmon Center, Hot Lips Pizza, the nation's first environmental bank and Ecotrust itself, a nonprofit promoting environmental sustainability. Even the renovation was green, reusing old timbers and recycling 98 percent of the construction materials.

Returning to the Pearl on my own, I got lost in the endless stacks at Powell's City of Books, the country's largest independent bookstore. I had outrageously good Cuban chicken palomillo and a mojito at Oba. I saw the same model of running shoe that carried Jesse Owens to four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the West Coast's only Adidas Originals store, and bought a clever little notebook for my purse at Oblation. A couple sitting on their ground-level patio smiled as I passed, music spilled from bars and brew pubs, and I joined the briefcase-toting natty dressers milling around Whole Foods. It all felt so ... companionable.

When this was Henry Weinhard's neighborhood in the 1850s, it was called Couch's Addition. Union Station was built in 1896, and warehouses, manufacturing and storage facilities rose along rail spur lines throughout the district. Then the urban flight of the 1960s killed the momentum.

Artists started moving into the derelict neighborhood in the late 1970s, touching off a resurgence remarkable for its continuity between past and present. Sherman, Clay and Co., which operated here in the 1920s, returned to the Brewery Blocks in 2004. Even the district's status as a furniture and design mecca is old news: the Central Door Co., which exported building materials throughout the world a century ago, now houses JD Madison's contemporary furniture, rugs and design services.

The last train rolled in 2003, but the North Bank passenger station endures, full of townhouses. Burlington Northern's former storage yards house the Portland Streetcar, along with Jamison Square and trendy Portlanders' lofts and condos. The renovated Union Station is still a transit hub.

The juxtaposition of brick warehouses, sleek high-rises and picturesque storefronts does have a certain San Francisco feel. In the Pearl, though, stylish restaurants don't laugh if you walk in without a reservation. Streets are narrower, and traffic moves at nonlethal speeds.

Maybe it's time to start paying attention. The Pearl offers a plenty good time, and it even seems to have gotten San Francisco right.

[MarkDaMan]

projects under construction:

Cronin Block (to be named)

15-story, 244-unit building
developed by Robert Ball, designed by Fletcher Farr Ayotte with a courtyard by the late Robert Murase.

The Casey

The Casey will be one of the most energy efficient and environmentally-friendly high rise residential projects in the United States. The developer, Gerding/Edlen, is aiming for it to be the first condo tower in the country to earn a top "platinum" rating under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

The Casey will have only five condos per floor and will have 56 units. It will be a 15-story building. The average size of a Casey condo will be 2,000 square feet.

Square Foot Price: $400 and up

The Crane

The building will be converted into a mixed use with six floors total - three floors will be residential.

[MarkDaMan]

Waterfront Pearl

Amenities include an underground parking garage, lap pool, exercise room, boardroom and common area.

Plans include an extensive water feature. The water features covers almost the entire property and will range in depth from 18 to 36 inches. Water will cascade down a series of waterfalls, be recycled through a series of filters, and re-circulated. It is designed to assist with storm water management, building temperature control and irrigation. It will also provide gray water for toilet flushing and water for fire fighting.

The effect would be to make the buildings look like they're resting in the shallows of the Willamette River. The project calls for extensive landscaping, maintains view corridors from Naito Parkway and continues the riverfront trail that currently ends at the edge of the parking lot.

Soren Rasmussen, the architect, sees the project as a bridge that will connect the Pearl District to the Willamette River and teamed with Portland landscape architectural firm Walker Macy to design a central water feature intended to illustrate the connection. Rasmussen's design for the two towers calls for sculpted, wedge-shaped buildings that a Bureau of Development Services employee this summer said resemble the shape of "a ship's bow."

Metropolitan

With The Metropolitan, Hoyt Street Properties will establish a new benchmark for buildings in Portland’s Pearl District, one of the nation’s most successful new urban neighborhoods. At a mid point in their development of the area, Hoyt Street Properties envisions the 380,000-square-foot project as an icon in the city, becoming Portland’s most luxurious urban condominium building. The Metropolitan will be one of the city’s first truly mixed use projects—121 large, luxury units in a 19-story tower will be paired with a 4-story, 20,000-square-foot boutique live/work building. These two sections will be joined by over 20,000 square feet of retail space at the street level and two floors of underground parking.

At 225 feet tall, the Metropolitan will be the tallest building in the Pearl District offering sweeping views of the neighborhood, Tanner Springs Park, Jamison Square, Willamette River, mountain peaks, downtown, and the west hills. The unique design of the condominium tower allows a majority of the units to be exclusive corner units, maximizing views and daylight for unit owners.

Additional amenities are incorporated throughout the building: concierge service, a club with individual wine storage and a wine bar, an exercise room, conference facilities, guest suites, and a second floor roof garden. The building will convey the sense of luxury within—the exterior will be clad in roman travertine and a custom glass curtain wall system. Furthermore, a balance between luxury and sustainability will be promoted in the project—high performance mechanical systems, a rainwater retention and reuse system, and the incorporation of durable, low-maintenance materials will help The Metropolitan achieve LEED Silver Certification.

[MarkDaMan]

Lovejoy Columns find a home
Two of the fabled Lovejoy Columns have found a home in the Pearl District. Developer John Carroll has agreed to place two of the 30’ remnants of the old Lovejoy Ramp in the Plaza at The Elizabeth. Before the ramp was demolished in 1999, the columns were a cult attraction because of folk art
murals painted on them in the 1940’s by rail switchman Tom Stefopolous.

Safeway on the boards
Designs for the two-block mixed use project between 12th and 14th at
Lovejoy have begun to make their way through city planning channels. The new development features two buildings. The first includes a Safeway grocery store, three levels of parking above the store, and 60,000 square feet of office space. The second building will also have ground floor retail, three or four stories of parking, and a 12 story tower of apartments above.

Development promises to change the look and function of the Pearl District’s waterfront.
The Waterfront Pearl Condominiums will dramatically change the look of the Pearl’s waterfront.
Today, it’s easy to be in the Pearl District and forget that the
Willamette River is just a short walk away. But new public and private projects sprouting up along the river will likely change the Pearl’s relationship with the waterfront.

Riverscape
Apollo Development’s Riverscape will be a mixed residential development. The first phase consists of 104 town homes priced from $525,000 to about $1 million and is under construction on the 15.4 acre site just north of the Fremont Bridge. The project’s future phases were anticipated to be complete in five years.
Original plans included a marina, 91 brownstones and two condo towers, although at press time developers were seeking further input from potential residents and customers. “These townhomes are geared for Pearl folks who are looking for more space,” Brian Ramsay of Realty Trust explains, “or considering starting a
family, hoping for more room for kids. One element of the project
is a large Riverwalk [part of the Willamette River Greenway] that will
be monitored for security but open to the public.”

Waterfront Pearl
Naito Properties/Pemcor’s Waterfront Pearl is a $130 million
riverfront condo project near the end of Overton Street, between the Broadway and Fremont Bridges.
Phase One includes 200 units, priced from $350,000 to $1.3 million, in two metal, stone and glass towers sitting in a unique sustainable reflecting pond. This phase is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2007.
“The reflecting pond cleans water that drains from the roof, it provides stormwater management, it helps control building temperatures and it serves as storage for firefighting. It does a lot more than just look pretty.” says Judd James in Northwest
Construction Magazine. James is project manager for Portland’s Otak
Architects, who partnered with Walker Macy of Portland and Soren
Rasmussen Architects of Vancouver, B.C. on the design.

Centennial Mill
Eighty years ago, 50 different steamship lines called on Portland,
then the world’s largest lumber export But the ships docked at Centennial Mill weren’t taking on wood, they were picking up flour made from Oregon grain. Today, depending upon your perspective,
the mill can be a scenic and restorable relic of the district’s maritime history, or a decaying collection of nearly 100-year-old buildings awaiting the wrecking ball.
The fate of Centennial Mill is, if you’ll forgive the pun, a watershed issue for the Pearl waterfront. Even with Waterfront Pearl and Riverscape underway, the mill’s fate will define the overall philosophy of future redevelopment efforts according to
Bruce Allen, senior development manager at the Portland Development Commission.
“We’re facing a key decision point,” Allen points out. “Do we want active or passive uses on the waterfront? They are really
polar opposites. You can also ask what is more open space worth?”
The “active” use Allen refers to is development and “passive” use means parks.
“Given the current ownership and development future,” he says, “if the mill is preserved, only one acre will remain available for open space on the waterfront. If the mill is torn down, a five- or six-acre
park is possible. I’m not advocating either course, but there is a direction that needs to be chosen.”
That direction was a foregone conclusion in the 1994 River District
plan, which called for the mill complex to be demolished for an expansion of Tom McCall Waterfront Park. In 2000, the Portland Development Commission paid $7.7 million for the property. In May 2005, however, the City Council gave Centennial Mill a stay of execution, directing PDC and the Bureau of Planning to explore other
options.
“Tearing down the historic mill would be a shame for the city, an absolute tragedy,” says Patricia Gardner, Pearl-based architect
and planning committee chair for the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. “The taller buildings at the site can be preserved,
as can the wharf. The rest of the buildings are problematic, but during this process everything is on the table.”
The City of Portland is currently engaged in a request-for-proposal (RFP) process to gather ideas on how to preserve and make the best use of the site. The RFP will likely hit the streets in late winter;
People on both sides of the issue will have an opportunity to come forward. The site is a difficult one, but some combination of preserved and new buildings with retail, office and housing components will likely emerge. The old wharf on the site contains piers that are still solid below the water line, and could be restored as a base for new structures, as was accomplished on
Astoria’s waterfront.
Whatever the outcome, many believe that the process itself will be an improvement. “We’ve been developing the waterfront by
neglect rather than by plan,” says Gardner. We need to know where we’re going. Is history worth saving?”
“I think it’s healthy to see what people have in mind,” adds Allen, “although it will probably be at least a year before any activity
starts, one way or the other.”



Sales will start in October for The Metropolitan, the latest project from Hoyt Street Properties. The 19-story tower will feature 136 units, including 15 loft style live or work units. The building is currently under construction between 10th and 11th, Lovejoy and Marshall Streets.

The Crane Building at 14th and Irving is being renovated and developers are seeking tax abatements. These abatements
require that the building’s 30 lofts be rented out as apartments
until 2012. (The two penthouses are new construction, and do
not qualify for tax abatement). The developers hope to have the
building occupied in late 2006. No word yet on when sales begin.

[pdxstreetcar]

I say "active" waterfront, I really want to see Centennial Mills saved and reused.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

“These townhomes are geared for Pearl folks who are looking for more space,” Brian Ramsay of Realty Trust explains, “or considering starting a
family, hoping for more room for kids."

Yeah, right. Only if mommy and daddy are both lawyers.

[MarkDaMan]

artist rendering of Pearl's "NoLo" buildout on property owned by Hoyt Street Properties.


The grayish/brown building in the center has been built also the one to the left has too. The greenspace both abutting the river at the bottom of pic and above the rail are actually other developer's property that wasn't included in this developer's image. The small buildings in the background are also being developed as high rises by other companies.

[colemonkee]

I lived in Portland from '92-'95, and this area was mainly abandoned buildings. I go back every year to visit family and friends, and I've been very pleased with the turnaround. Every time I go back I make a point to visit this area and go out to dinner or out to a bar/club. I remember seeing a Diesel store and an American Apparel on my last trip and thinking "damn, Portland's becoming a real urban city!" It's always been a great city, but now it's becoming more of a modern, urban place, not just a "northwest" place.

[MarkDaMan]

The two Lovejoy Columns going to the Elizabeth plaza were set in place yesterday.

FIRST THURSDAY TONIGHT...can't wait to get my drink on courtesy of the art galleries! And the Addias store, they had two kegs flowing last month and a DJ....wonder if newcomers over the past month will have anything set up...

[mSeattle]

Great news. I need to get down and take pictures.

[MarkDaMan]

Historic Crane Building to be renovated

Guardian Management LLC has purchased the historic Crane Building in Portland's Pearl District.

Partnering with individual investors and a historic tax investor to create Crane Building Investors LLC, the Portland-based real estate investment and management company will relocate its headquarters from Johns Landing to become the anchor tenant in the Crane Building's 24,000 square feet of available office space.

Plans for the six-story, 90,000-square-foot Crane Building, located at 710 N.W. 14th Ave., include an $18 million restoration project to create mixed-use office, retail and residential space. Renovations will begin this month, with project completion scheduled for the fall of 2006.

Thirty market-rate loft apartments will be created from 24,000 square feet of space and two luxury penthouses units -- which do not fall under the historical designation -- will be available for purchase.

Built in 1909, the Crane Building was designed by William C. Knighton, a Portland-based architect known for his work on the Capital National Bank Building in Salem and Portland's Governor Hotel. The Crane Building served as the regional headquarters for the Crane Co., a rapidly expanding brass foundry and pipe fitting company based in Chicago in the late 1800s.

and

Pearl District gets new bistro

Another former Torrefazione Italia space has found a new occupant.

The former coffee chain's Pearl District location, 1140 N.W. Everett St., reopens in November as Everett St. Bistro.

The bistro is owned by Kyle Lynch, principal at KL Design Group. In addition to a deli case and coffee service, it will serve breakfast on weekends as well as lunch and dinner. Previously, Mia Gelato announced it would take over the Northwest 23rd Torrefazione Italia spot.

[urbanlife]

I just drove by thae waterfront area, there is alot of work going on over there. My biggest concern is how it will connect to the rest of the Pearl and downtown without having to use a car.

[cab]

Anyone know what is going on with the abandon building on 14th and evertt? I believe it was an old Meier and Frank warehouse. I thought it was going to be rehabilitated this Fall, but I haven't seen any signs on the building yet.

[urbanlife]

good question, I was beginning to wonder that myself.

[pdxstreetcar]

yeah thats an old M&F warehouse, and I'm surprised nothing has happened to that building being that its a full block, something tells me it might be one of those, I think they call them, "Telco hotels" with tons of telecommunications equipment packed inside.

[edgepdx]

I think the 14th and Everet is empty. I'm really suprised no one has converted it to lofts. It's got pretty good sized windows already.

[bvpcvm]

From the October 14, 2005 print edition

Condo craze gets all wet

The Pearl is yesterday's news as focus moves to river

Wendy Culverwell
Business Journal staff writer

The construction cranes have decamped from the Pearl District for waterside sites as Portland's residential aspirations shift ever so slightly to the east.

At last count, there were some 1,439 condominium units in development along the west bank of the Willamette River. When built, they will occupy 10 separate towers at five separate locations. Four separate sets of developers are driving the waterfront construction boom.

They all have this in common beyond their waterfront location: Buyers have snapped up units almost as soon as they hit the market.

Riverscape, on Front Street near the western terminus of the Fremont Bridge, is closest to completion of the five projects in development. The first 34 units will be ready for residents this fall. The project will eventually boast about 500 units, including 104 townhouses.

Not far to the south, Waterfront Pearl is the most recent project to get going. Offered by the Naito Properties LLC and its development partners from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, it will include 192 units in two towers in the former River Queen parking lot, just north of the Broadway Bridge.

Two additional towers may be developed in the future on the adjacent site, which is owned by a separate branch of the Naito family.

The first phase opens in two years. Buyers reserved about 80 percent of the first building when it was put on the market earlier this summer.

The second building will be available in a month or so and its builders expect a similar reception.

There's no secret why some of Portland's most prominent condominium developers -- Gerding/Edlen, Homer Williams and Jack Onder -- have turned their attention to the waterfront. The Pearl District is nearly built out and high-end buyers have a seemingly unending appetite for luxury condos.

"The market is ravenous right now," said Kirk Taylor, senior vice president for investment sales at CB Richard Ellis. Taylor helped usher Waterfront Pearl to fruition when he introduced Sam and Verne Naito, who own the property, to a team of out-of-town developers, Pemcor Development Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Grancorp Holdings LLC of Seattle.

Builders aren't the only ones taking advantage of the ongoing appetite for condominiums and waterside living, Taylor said.

Almost every apartment complex along the river has converted to condominiums and very little developable land remains between Portland and Lake Oswego outside of the South Waterfront area.

Demand for luxury condominiums remains strong and mortgage interest rates remain low. And compared with other cities along the West Coast, Portland remains a bargain -- buyers would have to pay twice as much elsewhere to afford the kinds of properties available in Portland.

Builder Jack Onder got his start in the Pearl District and notes that district continues to go strong and several new projects are in the offing. But there aren't many spots left in there, which means builders are looking elsewhere.

Now, years of effort to build in the River Place urban renewal area are coming to fruition. The Strand was originally conceived as a hotel, but morphed into a residential project with the twists and turns of the economy. The 216-unit project will include three towers and is in mid-construction. The first units will be ready for residents a year from now.

RiverPlace Partners, which consists of Onder's company and Williams and Dame Development Inc., has been working on its piece for five years.

The Strand occupies one of the last sites available in the district between the Hawthorne and Interstate 5 bridges.

Developers didn't discover the river, Onder said. They work with the sites that become available. And right now, that means the river.

So far, the sales crew at The Strand has released 137 units in the first two towers to buyers. Most have been reserved.

Buyers will be asked to sign binding purchase agreements starting this weekend and, based on the conversion rate of similar properties, Onder and his broker say most reservations will convert into actual sales. Buyers are expected to occupy their units and speculative investors are turned away.

Onder describes the projects strung along the waterfront in chain-like terms -- the pieces will eventually be linked. To a large extent, they already are -- by the riverwalk that extends from the Broadway Bridge south to RiverPlace.

He believes it will eventually find its way further south and will eventually connect the northern sections of the river with the South Waterfront, where Gerding/Edlen is building the Meriwether and John Ross condominiums.

Buyers are drawn by the green aspects as much as by the river and its endless parade of pleasure boats as well as working ships, developers agree.

At the north end of the Willamette, builders of the Waterfront Pearl use terms like "working riverfront" and "retro industrial" to market their projects. It is a quaint caution to would-be buyers that Portland's riverfront is a busy -- and loud -- place to live and perhaps not suited to those who cherish silence.

Oceangoing vessels, trains, freeways, city streets and even pedestrian trails contribute decibels.

At Waterfront Pearl, which faces the Amtrak station, builders are hedging against the sound of whistle blasts with triple-glazed windows on the walls that face the tracks. An extensive water feature is being engineered to produce soothing sounds to mask the background racket that reverberates around the area, such as the hum from a grain elevator on the opposing shore.

At RiverPlace, designers addressed a different noise challenge.

There are no nearby train tracks, but an elevated bridge carries Interstate 5 across the river and past the construction site on the south.

"It is urban," agreed Onder, who said extensive noise studies indicate freeway noise drifts south and away from his project. Overall, the noise levels at RiverPlace are comparable to those in downtown. If quiet is important, he gingerly suggested that perhaps the waterfront isn't the right place to live.

Brian Ramsay, a broker with Realty Trust Group and listing agent for Riverscape, said the 104 townhouses (average price $704,000) have been well received, especially by current Pearl District residents who want more space and don't like the commercialization of the once industrial neighborhood. Of the 54 put on the market, 44 have sold.

Last week, the real estate company launched a Web site to register interest for the condominiums that will be contained in two towers. Within days, it had taken 200 names for the waiting list. Realty Trust also is the selling agency for Gerding/Edlen's Meriwether and John Ross projects at South Waterfront. Both had similar sales patterns.

Ramsay's theory about why developers are concentrating on the shoreline is simple: demand.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, he said, they're not building any more riverfront property.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415

http://portland.bizjournals.com/port...ml?t=printable

[MarkDaMan]

and more of the "gritty industry" feel has been taken from what is becoming a very Tony neighborhood.

Pearl’s thoroughly paved

Downtown’s last unpaved street reopened last week with fanfare not usually seen for the filling of potholes.
A collection of dignitaries that included city Commissioner Sam Adams, Commissioner Mark Rosenbaum of the Portland Development Commission, neighborhood leaders, developers and business owners all held forth in a ceremony at Northwest 13th Avenue between Johnson and Raleigh streets.
The occasion marked the paving of the eight-block stretch of Northwest 13th Avenue, the last unpaved street in the neighborhood. Potholes, gravel and the railroad tracks have been replaced with a concrete street, a valley gutter along the loading docks with pedestrian ramps, head-in parking and lights.
Two-thirds of the money for the $2.6 million project came from property owners, through a local improvement district, and the remainder from River District Urban Renewal Area funds.

[MarkDaMan]

Riverscape-going through the permits process

not actually considered the Pearl as this development sits just under the Fremont Bridge, but with it surrounded by heavy industry it will probably become the farthest edge of the Pearl at buildout...

[FlyersFan118]

thats wassap.