It’s been a while.

Next Portland was consistently published from 2014 to 2022, and documented the boom times of development in Portland. At its peak, the site was publishing daily articles about projects ranging in scale from small infill buildings to large master plans. For the most part, all of that was done by myself as a side project.

I never intended to stop publishing, but as I got busier in both my professional and personal life it became harder to dedicate time to this project. Much of my available time was spent maintaining the site, which proved to be a far more labor intensive task than intended. As I got further into maintaining the site, the more behind I became on the content I was passionate about covering, and so began the long pause of posting that I am eager to break in the coming weeks. 

While no one would argue we’re in the boom times, there are still plenty of interesting development projects happening across the city and region. This momentum deserves to be highlighted, now more than ever. The last post on the site is from 2023, and those two buildings are now built and occupied, so we have plenty to catch up on. 

I don’t want it to be another two years until the next article is shared, so that’s where you all come in.

Over the course of the year, I’ve been working with friends and colleagues to transition Next Portland into a nonprofit—a greater reflection of the community-led impact and attention the site has garnered since the beginning. With the creation of this new organization, the goal is to attract more volunteer effort and collaboration with both public and private sectors. I hope to make the site a collaborative project, dedicated to the longtime mission of making it easier to discover what’s being built in Portland.

If you’re interesting in being part of the future of Next Portland, we’re looking for people who are willing to help with any of these tasks:

• Writing articles about projects that are in design or under construction, consistent with the Next Portland house style
• A redesign of the website using an easily maintained WordPress theme 
• Design of a logo for use on the site and social media
• Managing social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky)
• Writing news roundup posts on a regular cadence, with links to relevant stories in other local media
• Creation of a new development map
• Creation of an events calendar
• Maintenance of events calendar

At 6PM on Tuesday October 7th, Next Portland will be hosting a volunteer kick off event at the City of Possibilities space in the JK Gill Building at the 408 SW 5th Ave. If you’d like to attend, please register here so that we count the number of people we expect to attend. For those unable to make it, we’ll share more information about how to get involved after the event.

Over time we may choose to expand the type of content published on Next Portland, including the addition of clearly identified analysis and commentary. We’d love to hear kind of content you’d like to see. What won’t change is that project specific posts will remain written in the same neutral manner that they always have been, without editorial comment.

Regards,

Iain

This is a repost of an email release by Restore Oregon, republished with their permission.

The enduring popularity and charm of older buildings – and the growing recognition of their value to a community – means Restore Oregon, a non-profit preservation advocacy organization, receives hundreds of calls from all types of Oregonians. Calls come in daily from individuals, local agencies, and organizations requesting help to preserve historic properties, heritage barns, shuttered theaters, decommissioned schools, and just about anything else that can be considered a historic place.

To better serve Oregonians trying to understand and navigate the often daunting task of rehabilitating a historic structure for current use, and figuring out how to pay for it, the non-profit recently created a Preservation Toolkit.

The Preservation Toolkit offers a step-by-step framework to develop and execute a Preservation Plan for a historic property so it can be viably, sustainably reused. It’s a valuable tool for individual property owners, organizations from Main Street business associations to historical societies, and government agencies working to revive a historic building.  And thanks to grant funding from the Oregon Cultural Trust, Pacific Power, and the Oregon Community Foundation, it is available free of charge.

Individual modules tackle particular aspects of preservation planning in a logical way:

• Preservation Process Overview: a simple flowchart illustrating the steps for a successful preservation project.
• Orientation to Preservation & Adaptive Reuse: introductions to terminology, standards, organizations, and the National Register.
• Condition Assessment Checklist: a top-to-bottom checklist for examining and documenting the current state of your property.
• Creating a Viable Rehabilitation Plan: a guide to determining a feasible new use for your property, and testing the economic dollars and sense with financial pro forma templates.
• Funding Sources & Incentives: bank loans, grants, tax credits – what is available and the associated stipulations.
• Working with the Right Preservation Professionals: assembling the right team and understanding the role they play can make or break your project.
• Organizing & Building Community Support: tips on telling your story and getting the community on board.
• Maintenance Planning: what should be included in a maintenance plan and how to approach it.

The Preservation Toolkit is an effort to address the enormous need for preservation assistance and information across the state, and the fact that there are few resources to meet it.  From assessing the condition of a structure to developing a reuse strategy, understanding standards and regulations to locating contractors qualified to do the work and finding the money to pay for it, Restore Oregon’s Preservation Toolkit provides the roadmap.

It may be downloaded at www.RestoreOregon.org/preservation-toolkit.

Design Review Areas in the City of Portland. With some exceptions, the Design Commission reviews projects in the blue areas. Projects in the purple areas typically only come before the Design Commission if they are appealed. Projects in areas shaded white are not currently subject to Design Review, though expansion of Design Review is contemplated as part of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

The Portland Design Commission has released a best practices memo “intended to assist applicants successfully complete Portland’s Type III Design Review process” and to give “an understanding as to how the Design Commission upholds the Design Guidelines.” The memo is republished in its entirety below, without edits by Next Portland.

BEST PRACTICES: A Guide to the City of Portland Design Review Process (May 2016)

This Best Practices document is intended to assist applicants successfully complete Portland’s Type III Design Review process. It is intended to increase the level of predictability for applicants by giving them an understanding as to how the Design Commission upholds the Design Guidelines. It is likely that applicants who utilize this document, while also collaborating with Bureau of Development Services (BDS) Planning Staff throughout the process, can lessen the need for redesign and also reduce the number of submittal packets and hearings before the Commission. This document will be updated periodically as it strives to convey to applicants the most up‐to‐date leanings of the current Commission membership.

Read More →

I will be away this week, so the Metro Reports post will be later than usual. There are some great posts coming up though, including a look at the OHSU Center for Health & Healing South and PATH’s Carbon12. Normal blogging will resume next week.