Weekly Roundup: Post Office Redevelopment, 419 SW Washington, NE 106th & Halsey and more

Posted on August 8, 2016 by nextportland

Conceptual image of the Post Office Redevelopment, from the 2015 Broadway Corridor Framework Plan

A 30-story tower by ZGF Architects is planned at 419 SW Washington St, according to The Oregonian. The existing building on the site was recently being used as a temporary homeless shelter, and is now vacant.

The first public hearing of the proposed draft of the Central City 2035 Plan was dominated by concerns about building heights in West End and Goose Hollow, according to an article in the DJC*. Meanwhile, Portland Shoupistas argued that proposed changes related to parking in the plan represent a step backwards.

The Oregonian wrote that up to 1,200 more apartments are proposed on the Prometheus Property in South Waterfront.

Kimberly Branam has been picked as the next executive director of the Portland Development Commission, according to The Oregonian. For the past five years Branam has been second-in-command to former executive director Patrick Quinton.

The Portland Business Journal wrote about the 54 organizations that are backing the proposed $258M affordable housing bond.

OPB’s “State of Wonder” discussed Yard, the recently completed Burnside Bridgehead tower that has sharply divided the opinions of Portlanders.

The Oregonian discovered the premium that will be paid by the PDC for a piece of land near the airport, necessary to allow the Post Office Redevelopment to move forward.

After 92 years, the Lotus Cardroom & Cafe will close later this month, according to KATU. The bar will be demolished to make way for the 3rd & Salmon hotel tower.

An affordable housing development at NE 106th & Halsey by Gerding Edlen and Human Solutions has nearby residents worried, according to the Mid-County Memo.

The timeframe for the City and ZRZ Realty to agree on the price of a piece of land at the Zidell Yards has been missed, according to The Oregonian. Under a development agreement signed last year, the City has the option to buy the property at an agreed price, for the purpose of building affordable housing.

The Willamette Week wrote about 5 MLK, the Burnside Bridgehead high-rise that will replace the 95 year old Fishels Furniture building.

Work has begun on the Union at St Johns, according to the Portland Business Journal. The mixed use building will include 100 apartments as well as 20,000 sq ft of ground-floor retail space.

*This article will be unlocked for the rest of this week. After this week it will only be viewable by DJC subscribers.

Weekly Roundup: Inclusionary Zoning, Housing Affordability, Parking Minimums and more

Posted on March 6, 2016 by nextportland

The new location for the Post Office Processing & Distribution Center, formerly part of Colwood Golf Course. The site was rezoned to allow industrial uses in 2013. (Image: Portland Development Commission).

The Oregonian reported on a measure intended to “cut red tape for affordable housing”. Under temporary rules going before the City Council this week buildings in the Central and Gateway plan districts, with at least 5 units of affordable housing, will no longer have go before the Design Commission. The projects will instead by reviewed through a Type IIx Design Review, where the initial decision is made by Bureau of Development Services staff. Unless extended, the new code will last until October 6th.

BikePortland wrote that as the repeal of Oregon’s ban on Inclusionary Zoning heads to Kate Brown’s desk, “the fight for affordable proximity moves to City Hall“. Representatives for Mayor Hales Commissioner Saltzman told BikePortland that proposals to implement Inclusionary Zoning in Portland are currently being worked on.

Portland Shoupistas argued that “minimum parking requirements can neutralize inclusionary zoning”. A proposal to add new minimum parking requirements in Northwest Portland is set to go before the Planning & Sustainability Commission on Tuesday.

As reported here on Tuesday, a building permit is currently under review for a project at 5816 SE Foster Rd. The Foster Powell blog asked “Could Multi-unit Housing on Foster Help Maintain Affordability?”

The Portland Mercury reported on a proposal to move the Kevin J. Duckworth Memorial Dock, currently located adjacent to the Eastbank Esplanade, to a new site on Swan Island adjacent to the new Daimler Trucks North America Headquarters.

The City will pay $34.7 million to acquire land near the airport, in order to allow the Post Office Redevelopment in the Pearl to move ahead, wrote The Oregonian. The price is substantially more than the fair market value, which PDC Director Quinton told the paper “is in the ‘$17 to $20 million range.'”

Weekly Roundup: Toyoko Inn, Post Office redevelopment, Legacy Central Lab and more

Posted on January 18, 2016 by nextportland

SW 3rd & Oak, the planned location of a Toyoko Inn

The Oregonian reported that the board of the Portland Development Commission approved the terms of a Purchase and Sale Agreement for the United States Post Office site in the Pearl District. The City will pay $88 million to acquire the 13.4 acre site.

At the same meeting, the PDC board also approved the sale of a site at SW 3rd and Oak to Toyoko Inn. The Japanese hotelier plans to build a 300 to 400 room hotel on the site, which would be the company’s first West Coast location.

Demolition crews have begun work at the former home of the Oregon Ballet Theater. The building is demolished to make way for the Modera Belmont apartments.

Places over Time published their analysis of 2015 in Portland architecture and development.

The Portland Business Journal reported that despite an ongoing lawsuit, Metro still expects that the Convention Center Hotel will open in 2018.

Demolition is underway on the former Plaid Pantry and Sammy’s Flowers on NW 23rd and Glisan, according to the Portland Chronicle. The buildings will be replaced by a new Restoration Hardware. Revised designs for the project will be presented to the Historic Landmarks Commission on January 25th.

Legacy Health held a grand opening for its new Legacy Central Lab building in the Lloyd District. The 62,000 sq ft building sits on a site previously used as a surface car park.

The Oregonian reported that builders are weighing lifting their opposition to overturning Oregon’s 17 year old ban on inclusionary zoning.

The Portland Business Journal reported that the Ballou & Wright building in the Pearl is set to undergo a $10 million makeover into creative office space. The historic structure was most recently used as Hanna Andersson’ headquarters. The children’s clothing retailer recently moved to a building in Kerns.

The Iron Fireman building at 4784 SE 17th will be converted into creative office space, according to the Portland Journal. The 115,000 sq ft was most recently home to aircraft parts manufacturer PECO Manufacturing, who have moved to a site in Clackamas County.

Focus: Our 25 Most Popular Posts of the Year

Posted on December 17, 2015 by nextportland

LOCA @ The Goat Blocks, the subject of our second most viewed post of 2015

2015 is the first full calendar year Next Portland has been in operation, and it’s been a year of huge growth for the site. As the year draws to a close it seemed like a good time to look at what the most popular posts of the year were. If there’s an overall trend evident it’s that posts about tall or large buildings do well. The single most popular post was the round up of the 25 tallest buildings planned or under construction. Posts about high rise buildings under construction—including Block 136, The Cosmopolitan, The NV (formerly The Overton), and Yard (formerly Block 67)—feature prominently in the list. The giant development at Oregon Square makes the list three times, and the redevelopment of the USPS site in the Pearl is included three times. The most popular post about a single project covered LOCA @ The Goat Blocks, a superblock development currently under construction in inner Buckman.

Other posts to make the top 25 were more surprising. The list includes the Worldmark by Wyndham and The Society Hotel, both relatively small hotel projects in Old Town. The initial post about 3rd & Taylor likely performed so well not because of the scale of the project, but because Next Portland was the first place to write about the potential demolition of the Hotel Albion. At only 8 stories Carbon12 wouldn’t come close to making the list of the tallest buildings planned for Portland, but is notable for the fact that the high rise structure will be built out of wood.

Were there any posts you particularly enjoyed reading this year? Let us know in the comments. Here is the full list of our most popular posts of 2015:

1 – Focus: 25 Tallest Buildings Planned or Under Construction

2 – LOCA @ The Goat Blocks

3 – Burnside Bridgehead, Pt II: Block 67

4 – Focus: 20 New Hotels Proposed For Portland

5 – Worldmark by Wyndham set to receive Design Advice

6 – Carbon12, an 8 story wood building, proposed for N Williams

7 – Concepts released for redevelopment of USPS site

8 – Pre-Application Conference scheduled for SW 3rd & Taylor

9 – Under Construction in Old Town: The Society Hotel

10 – Cook Street Apartments

11 – Lloyd Cinemas redevelopment returns in front of Design Commission (images)

12 – The Fair Haired Dumbbell

13 – Burnside Bridgehead, pt I: Block 75

14 – PDC identifies preferred concept for Post Office site

15 – Block 136 heading to Design Review

16 – Under Construction in South Waterfront: Block 37

17 – North Pearl High-Rises, Part II: The Overton

18 – Design Commission approves Oregon Square

19 –Design Commission reviews Oregon Square

20 – Oregon Square update

21 – North Pearl High-Rises, Part I: The Cosmopolitan on the Park

22 – Design Commission approves The Porter hotel

23 – 4th & Harrison returning for Design Advice

24 – Grand Belmont returns before Historic Landmarks Commission

25 – Hyatt Regency at the Oregon Convention Center

Landmarks Commission presents State of the City Preservation Report

Posted on November 19, 2015 by nextportland

The Block 8L building in Skidmore Old Town, which is now under construction. The design was cited as an example of the positive contribution made by the Historic Resource Review process.

The Historic Landmarks Commission has presented its 2015 State of City Preservation Report to the Portland City Council. The report gave an update to the Council on the work of the Commission, made suggestions for priorities to be addressed in the coming year and identified potential threats to historic resources in the city. Presenting the report was outgoing Chair Brian Emerick, joined by Commission member Kirk Ranzetta. A similar report was delivered earlier in the year by the Design Commission.

Weekly Roundup: Holladay Park Plaza, One North, Convention Center Hotel and more

Posted on November 15, 2015 by nextportland

The Holladay Park Plaza East Building

In ‘Respecting History‘ Places over Time looked at Historic Landmarks Commission, which “will far more influence on Portland’s built fabric than previous commissions due to both the sheer number of new projects being built at this time and the fact that this commission is rewriting the guidelines for most of the city’s historic districts.”

A $177 million loan will help finance the $50 million Lloyd Center Remodel, according to the Portland Business Journal.

The proposed office building at Station Place Lot 5 is gearing up for its first Design Review hearing, according to a story in the Portland Business Journal.

BikePortland revealed that the City may require developers to offer residents, employees $600 for biking or transit.

The Oregonian published photos of the completed One North office development on N Williams, which is set to open this week.

Salt & Straw is the latest business to announce a presence in the Pine Street Market.

The Portland Tribune reported that one of sites being looked at for the proposed USPS relocation is in Troutdale. The move will be required for the Post Office Redevelopment.

The Daily Journal of Commerce published photos of the recently completed Society Hotel.

The fight over the Convention Center Hotel will go to the state Supreme Court, according to The Oregonian.

A Portland renter has been offered her home for free, if she can relocate it to a new site. The house will otherwise be demolished to make way for a 10 unit expansion of Holladay Park Plaza.

The Portland Chronicle reported that a single-family home at 7420 SE Milwaukie Blvd has been demolished to make way for a 76 unit apartment project.

Weekly Roundup: United Workmen Temple Building, Post Office Redevelopment, Porter Hotel and more

Posted on November 8, 2015 by nextportland

The mixed use development at 930 SW 3rd Ave, which originally proposed to incorporate the Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple

Restore Oregon noted that two downtown buildings have been removed from the City’s Historic Resources Inventory. The buildings are on the site of a proposed mixed use development at 930 SW 3rd Ave, which will include a 20-story hotel and 10-story office building. As part of the development the Hotel Albion (which includes the Lotus Café and Cardroom) will be demolished. The Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple Building will ~~be incorporated into the development~~ will also be demolished.

In a 5-0 vote, the Portland City Council adopted the Broadway Corridor Framework Plan, which will form the vision for how the 14 acre Post Office site in the Pearl will be developed. The acquisition of the site, worth between $135 and $177 million according to developer Mark Edlen, will cost the City up to $80 million.

Construction will begin by the end of the year on the 299 room Porter Hotel at SW 2nd and Jefferson. The 16 story building will be included in Hilton’s “Curio” collection of hotels.

The Society Hotel opened this week in Old Town / Chinatown. The Portland Mercury published photos of the low cost hotel meets hostel, and described the “gorgeous rooftop deck” as the project’s “crowning jewel”.

Shortly after acquiring trucking company Conway, XPO Logisitics laid off 101 Portland based workers. Though headquartered in Ann Arbor until its acquisition, Conway was a large landowner in Northwest Portland. What effect, if any, the acquisition will have on the redevelopment of the Conway Masterplan area is currently unclear.

Kaiser is planning a 700 space parking garage at 500 NE Multnomah in the Lloyd District. According to BikePortland the structure “aims in part to free up space on Kaiser’s other parking lots, which could then be developed or sold in order to continue the surge of big developments [in] the Lloyd District”.

The Portland Chapter of the AIA held its annual design awards last weekend. Portland Architecture wrote about the winning projects, which included Lever Architecture’s Treehouse and Allied Works’ PNCA 511 Building.

In a post titled ‘The City of Fabric Buildings‘ Places over Time noted how curious it is that “Portland has developed such an international reputation as a city without the assistance of any real place-specific visual aides”.

Design work is about to start on the Multnomah County Health Dept HQ, which will be located on a site near Union Station. The new building will be “nine stories and run between $85 million to $95 million” according to a report in The Oregonian.

Portland Monthly reported that health food “haven” Prasad opened a second location at the Portland Rock Gym, which recently completed a major expansion.

NOTE: This post has been revised to reflect that the Temple building will be demolished, as shown on drawings published on the City Auditor’s website Monday.

Weekly Roundup: The Woods, MAC Block 7, Post Office Redevelopment and more

Posted on October 4, 2015 by nextportland

The Woods by SolTerra

The Design Commission has approved The Woods by developer SolTerra, reported the Portland Business Journal. The N Williams Ave project will include 50 residential units and almost 5,000 sq ft of retail space.

The James Beard Public Market has a new executive director. Fred Granum will replace Ron Paul, who has stepped down due to health reasons.

BikePortland wrote about the potential for protected bike lanes on NW Lovejoy and Broadway, which could form a part of the Post Office Redevelopment.

The Portland Chronicle wrote about a 1923 house in Sellwood at 5624 SE 22nd Ave that was recently torn down to make way for a 3 story apartment building with 15 units.

KGW covered a protest by neighbors of a planned apartment building at 2605 NE 7th Ave. The project has received a building permit, and construction will start soon.

The NW Examiner reported [PDF – page 11] that activity on MAC Block 7 is starting up again. The apartment building will require a change to the zoning on the site, because it will include commercial parking for members of the Multnomah Athletic Club.

Portland is falling behind its goals for affordable housing in North and Northeast Portland, according to a City report covered by The Oregonian.

Weekly Roundup: 12 story wood building, Towne Storage, Zidell Blocks 4 & 6, and more

Posted on September 20, 2015 by nextportland

The proposed 12 story wood building by Beneficial State Bank at 430 NW 10th

The Oregonian reported that a planned 12 story tall wood building at 430 NW 10th in the Pearl has been awarded a $1.5 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The building by Lever Architecture for Beneficial State Bank will utilize Cross Laminated Timber, a structural system that has been proven elsewhere but has been little used in the USA. The USDA grant will help in covering the cost of getting the system approved under the building codes in place in Oregon.

Eater PDX reported that Northwest Portland institution Besaw’s will reopen in time for the holidays, at the LL Hawkins apartment building on Conway Block 296.

At Portland Architecture Brian Libby looked into the fate of Centennial Mills, and asked whether it will be the next historic landmark in Portland to be demolished.

The Portland Business Journal published the first renderings of Zidell Blocks 4 and 6. The two office buildings by Lever Architecture / GBD Architects are scheduled to go before the Design Commission for Design Advice this coming Thursday.

A major renovation and seismic upgrade is planned for the Towne Storage Building. The Portland Business Journal reported that the project will create over 100,000 sq ft of creative office space. A story in the Portland Mercury noted that 52 existing business and 180 renters with mini storage units will be evicted from the building.

A redevelopment of the former Premier Press building at 1440 Hoyt will add 4 new floors to the building, reported the Portland Business Journal. When complete the project will include 75,000 sq ft of Class A office space. A Design Review hearing for the project is scheduled for October 1st.

Mayor Hales is “bullish” on plans to buy the Post Office site in the Pearl, reported KOIN. Conceptual ideas for how the site might be developed were recently released as part of the Broadway Corridor Framework Plan.

Construction is underway on the remodel of the building formerly home to The Oregonian, originally designed by noted architect Pietro Belluschi. When reopened 1320 Broadway will include areas with ceilings up to 28′ high, reported The Portland Business Journal.

The Daily Journal of Commerce published construction photos of Riverscape Lot 8.

The Portland Habilitation Center recently completed work on an apartment complex at 17199 SE Division St, reports the Portland Tribune. By keeping costs low, the buildings were built for $65,000 a unit; far below the $200,000 a unit cost typically associated with publicly funded affordable housing. In the article Rob Justus of the PHC asks why the Portland Housing Bureau hasn’t gotten behind their alternative method for delivering affordable housing.

Weekly Roundup: Conway Block 290, Post Office redevelopment, and more

Posted on September 13, 2015 by nextportland

The square at Conway Block 290, as shown at the project’s first Design Advice hearing

Construction is nearing completion on Framework, an office building at NE 6th & Davis. The DJC published photos of the new building by Works Partnership.

The Oregonian reported that the City could own the Post Office site in the Pearl by 2019, with a first phase of development taking place in 2021. A preferred vision for the site was identified this week as part of the Broadway Corridor Framework Plan.

The NW Examiner reported [PDF] on continued disagreements over the public square at Conway Block 290. Some community members are advocating for an enclosed square modeled after European squares, while others are worried such a form will inevitably feel private.

Garden Bar is the latest business to announce that they will open at Hassalo on Eighth in the Lloyd District.

Eater PDX published photos of bar Paydirt, now open in The Zipper.