[bvpcvm]

new affordable housing project on 11th just N of jefferson. it's a parking lot now and 1-story office.

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg1_Jeffrey_01.jpg

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg2_Jeffrey_02.jpg

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg3_Jeffrey_03.jpg

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg4_Jeffrey_04.jpg

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg5_Jeffrey_05.jpg

[der Reisender]

add on that it will be 80 units and nearly 3,800 sq ft of commercial, and there is no parking planned with the project, all this according to Portland's Dec 14 Design Review Agenda (http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=139285)

[brandonpdx]

I have heard that John Carrol has purchased the adjacent building that is now low income housing and also holds the Jefferson theater. Word is the tenants have to get out by the end of the year.

[Dougall5505]

this is good but is that the same orange used on block 49 at sowa?

[robbobpdx]

I have heard that John Carrol has purchased the adjacent building that is now low income housing and also holds the Jefferson theater. Word is the tenants have to get out by the end of the year.


Wow . . . really? I wonder if that means he is fed up with how the Ladd Tower project is going, and will instead build the Ladd Tower on this spot (it's about the same footprint for the tower)??? Or maybe he's going to invest in some additional affordable housing, to help make up for the loss of affordable housing in the Rosefriend. Guess we'll have to stay tuned.

Maybe this means the West End is going to be hopping with more housing sooner than I thought. After the Delano collapse (due to the Art Museum's buying the site where they were going to be) I was a bit concerned that development in the West End was slowing to a crawl. Hopefully this is a good sign.

[bvpcvm]

the pdc has some vague project to replace the jefferson west apts (on jefferson between 11th and 12th - but not sure which corner). it involves replacing the apts with a new building elsewhere (maybe the building carroll just bought?) and then buildng a new condo tower where the apts are. there's a pdf about it somewhere on the pdc web site.

[zilfondel]

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/6231/jeffersondv0.jpg

Here's a shot of the site. Sounds like the big ugly blue building is going to be knocked down? That's a LOT of affordable housing to be eliminated. Looks like developers are more interested in eliminating existing housing - and replace it unit per unit - then to create a net amount of (affordable) housing by building on empty lots.

Architecturally this would certainly not be a bad thing, and we get a net gain of units anyway, although it seems kind of odd to tear affordable units down to build more of the same... hmm.

[cab]

Put this building a block south and you have a winner. I hate when they tear down perfectly fine buildings when a wasted surface parking lot sits empty so close by.

[Urbanpdx]

Isn't the blue building student dorms?

I agree with CAB that replacing an operating building is a waste of resources.

[Eagle rock]

They are not tearing down the blue building. They are building on the surface parking lot and one story building directly infront of the blue building facing the Eliot.

[MitchE]

Isn't the blue building student dorms?

The blue building is senior housing.

[sirsimon]

That makes more sense. I'm always excited to see a surface parking lot disappear.

[zilfondel]

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2104/jefferson2zz5.jpg

============================

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg1_Jeffrey_01.jpg

(1) This building is affordable housing going in on the parking lot & 1 story building.

============================

the pdc has some vague project to replace the jefferson west apts (on jefferson between 11th and 12th - but not sure which corner). it involves replacing the apts with a new building elsewhere (maybe the building carroll just bought?) and then buildng a new condo tower where the apts are. there's a pdf about it somewhere on the pdc web site.

(2) This is the blue building knockdown I was referring to.

[urbanlife]

Well that would make sense for the Jeffery, seeing the Film Center will be moving to the building that the Delano was going to be built.

I do hope the senior housing doesn't get destroyed, I would rather see a new tower go up on that parking lot on the block south of this block.

[robbobpdx]

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2104/jefferson2zz5.jpg

============================

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg1_Jeffrey_01.jpg

(1) This building is affordable housing going in on the parking lot & 1 story building.

============================



(2) This is the blue building knockdown I was referring to.

I have heard that John Carrol has purchased the adjacent building that is now low income housing and also holds the Jefferson theater. Word is the tenants have to get out by the end of the year.

I thought the building(s) Carroll bought are the two similar shorter buildings on the south side of the block right on Jefferson (that includes the Jefferson Theater on 12th). They are much run-down, but are also affordable housing. I think that may be the one that is up for re-do, rather than the blue building that is senior housing. That may, at least, make more sense than tearing down the senior housing building -- especially if the affordable units will be replaced somewhere else. The building(s) . . . (I think there are two separate buildings, but not sure) appear to be in poor repair, and probably could cost more to fix them than to built new affordable units. Just a thought.

It's an interesting location, if it is being proposed as more condos. The wall of glass across the street (the Eliott) is fairly close, and would be a pretty significant detraction, I would think, unless one has a unit that looks northeast, north, south, etc. If you face east (which I guess few would given the narrowness of the plot) then you'd look pretty much straight at the Elliott a half a block away. It's still a great location for more infill housing, but I also agree the surface parking lots all over the place are much better locations . . . and they could accommodate a point tower similar to the Benson or the now defunct Delano.

I'm looking forward to what they'll be doing to the surface parking lot just south of the Pittock Block (north of the Galleria). Isn't that proposed to be housing, plus parking -- to replace the 10th and Yamhill garage temporarily (or permanently) while it's also being redeveloped? Lots of proposals. It would be great to see some of these get off the ground soon.

[brandonpdx]

^yes, I believe it's the building on 11th and Jefferson. Not the blue senior housing building. I didn't realize until seeing that aireal shot that there were 2 seperate buildings on Jefferson, so not sure if there's change for both or just the one on 11th & Jeff.

[urbanlife]

what......what about the Jefferson Theater? Portland's seediness is starting to go, Jefferson Theater, Silverado........what next Mary's Club? Where will people go for bad strippers and porn on the big screen?! Screw this, I am moving to California!

[zilfondel]

^yes, I believe it's the building on 11th and Jefferson. Not the blue senior housing building. I didn't realize until seeing that aireal shot that there were 2 seperate buildings on Jefferson, so not sure if there's change for both or just the one on 11th & Jeff.

Ok! Guess I had it wrong. Kind of makes me sad tho that they want to tear down more historic buildings downtown... I rather like them, even if they are rather bland. :(

[zilfondel]

Reinventing Portland's West Park (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4184/is_20060112/ai_n16010971)

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR)
Jan 12, 2006
by Kennedy Smith


Some are dubbing it the West Park Cultural District, the enclave in Southwest Portland that's home to the Portland Art Museum, the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, a seasonal farmers market, Portland State University and the under-construction Eliot Tower.

But for those who have spent years developing the Cultural District, there are memories of a neighborhood rife with alcoholics, drug users and low-income or no-income individuals patronizing businesses from head shops to porn shops - hardly a place to find culture.

You can see people go into the convenience store, buy a crack pipe, go to the door of Jefferson West, procure drugs, go to the porn shop down the street, then back up to the building, all on city- owned property, said Mark Fraser, senior vice president at GVA Kidder Mathews and a development partner of E&F Properties for a proposed revitalization of the neighborhood's low-income Jefferson West apartments.

Other Southwest developers take a less dire view of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is definitely changing, said Fraser McColl, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based developer who along with partner Don Charity built the Mosaic, an eight-story mix of lofts and retail space. We looked at it from an outside perspective, and the bones were there. Everything happening there now complementing the neighborhood. Sure, it was rough in a way, but you can walk into town in three blocks along one of most beautiful neighborhoods in the United States.
Advertisement

Either way you view it, there's no doubt that development is booming in what the Portland Development Commission has defined as the South Park Blocks Urban Renewal Area.

During a PDC board of commissioners meeting Wednesday, Fraser, of GVA Kidder Mathews and E&F, said: We've identified this as a cultural district, and we think the neighborhood could get a lot better. Fraser is appealing to the PDC to support the project.

E&F Properties has plans to completely renovate the Jefferson West Apartments, an affordable housing complex between Southwest 11th and 12th avenues on Jefferson Street. E&F hopes to buy the PDC- owned complex and replace it with market-rate, mixed-use residential units.

However, according to Fraser, the development team will not attempt to throw out Jefferson West's current residents. Rather, E&F Properties hopes to rebuild the site into higher-quality studio apartments and offer social services, he said.

The apartments are filled with a hard to house population, according to John Warner, senior development manager at the PDC. These are low-income, no-income, special needs people with drug and alcohol issues that require special services.

I'm hopeful that it will lead to getting residents to have more productive lives, said PDC board member Bertha Ferran.

E&F, in partnership with GSL Properties, proposes developing a new affordable housing project to replace the Jefferson West's low- income housing units. The project would be financed with a combination of 9 percent low-income tax credits, Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credits, private funding and PDC financial assistance, estimated at $3 million.

As they are now, E&F says, the housing units are in poor condition, with studios ranging from 115 square feet to 300 square feet, shared bathrooms and kitchen facilities and no exterior common spaces.

E&F hopes to create a complex of individual units using higher- quality materials.

If the project is deemed feasible, and after an independent appraisal of the property, E&F will seek PDC approval this spring.

The current Jefferson West site is between 11th and 12th Avenues on Jefferson, across the street from a Plaid Pantry store. The second site would be along 11th Avenue behind the Jefferson West Apartments.

The development concept explores the option of renovating the existing structure, providing new storefront, metal canopy, lighting and refurbishing the exterior brick walls, a study by the prospective developers states.

The site would include 50 studios, 30 one-bedroom units and two two-bedroom units.

Tenant displacement shouldn't be an issue, according to Fraser.

He said that during rehabilitation of Jefferson West Apartments, tenants would be moved into a building at 11th Avenue, a second site slated for rehabilitation.

E&F has recruited Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects to design the project.

[zilfondel]

Plans would have Jefferson West sold, razed, rebuilt few feet away (http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1138933519164920.xml&coll=7)

Thursday, February 09, 2006

The Portland Development Commission has big plans for the nearly 90-year-old, low-income Jefferson West apartments, which it bought in 2001. The urban renewal agency hopes to sell the building to developer E&F Properties, which would demolish the building and build a replacement project with the same number of low-income units half a block away.

E&F would then develop a mixed-use, market-rate condo building on the current site of the Jefferson West apartments.

Construction could start a year from now on the low-income housing building, with a completion date 14 months later, says John Warner, PDC senior development manager.

[bvpcvm]

Also, I found the PDC report I was blabbering about. See page 12 (http://www.pdc.us/pdf/ura/south_park_blocks/12th_jefferson.pdf) re The Jeffrey. The pdf has info about various replacement schemes, one of which, it sounds like, has a chance of taking place.

[zilfondel]

I'm kind of sad because there is a really nice little bar on the corner in this building... forgot the name - something like "river city..." - it will be a great loss to see it go. :(

[zilfondel]

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/5059/jefferson3px5.jpg

As best as I understand it, here is the current plan for the site! Enjoy.

I highly suggest you guys take a look at the PDC's plan - lots of good info in it, including their pro forma.

I found it interesting that they were considering a "more affordable" market rate rental tower in addition to the condo tower; the market rental tower would have had 196 units, instead of 104 units for the condo tower. Condo tower will be 15 stories.

The second tower planned for the plaid pantry site will be 16 stories and have 270 units. Less than .5 parking spaces/unit.

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/3519/jefferson4ba3.jpg

[WonderlandPark]

So this is going to be called West Park? So, here's to WePa.

[pdxman]

Every time i see development in that area i think of the delano and how much it would have helped that area :brickwall:

[NorskyGirl]

Nice imaging, zilfondel! If development occurs as you portray, that intersection certainly will feel "densified."

[bvpcvm]

I found it interesting that they were considering a "more affordable" market rate rental tower in addition to the condo tower; the market rental tower would have had 196 units, instead of 104 units for the condo tower. Condo tower will be 15 stories.

The second tower planned for the plaid pantry site will be 16 stories and have 270 units. Less than .5 parking spaces/unit.

Bear in mind that the PDC report is interesting and reflects what they were thinking at one time, but it's at least six months old. Also, all those buildings you added are different options, which I took to mean different mutually exclusive options. There's no plan to build them all.

[zilfondel]

Bear in mind that the PDC report is interesting and reflects what they were thinking at one time, but it's at least six months old. Also, all those buildings you added are different options, which I took to mean different mutually exclusive options. There's no plan to build them all.

Actually, the plaid pantry & salmon street tower were referred to in the PDC document as completely unrelated development opportunities in the West End. As they are both market rate, they have no affordable housing limitations, and can be pursued by any developers as mixed-use projects.

[urbanlife]

I would really love to see that whole area be a hotbed of affordable housing, good rentals and affordable first time buyers condos. Making that area for the middle and lower incomes would keep it from becoming a Pearl feel. Plus more retail to cater to that area would be nice. Although, the Eliot has been taking time to fill its retail spaces.

[robbobpdx]

Every time i see development in that area i think of the delano and how much it would have helped that area :brickwall:

I TOTALLY agree :yes:

[robbobpdx]

Actually, the plaid pantry & salmon street tower were referred to in the PDC document as completely unrelated development opportunities in the West End. As they are both market rate, they have no affordable housing limitations, and can be pursued by any developers as mixed-use projects.

Great renderings of those, BTW. It really put some of the buildings in perspective. Also, when did they start calling this area West Park, and WHY? I like West End, and it encompasses Burnside to the University -- a much more logical neighborhood area. How many square blocks would West Park be, if it's smaller than the West End, I wonder :irked:

[zilfondel]

Great renderings of those, BTW. It really put some of the buildings in perspective. Also, when did they start calling this area West Park, and WHY? I like West End, and it encompasses Burnside to the University -- a much more logical neighborhood area. How many square blocks would West Park be, if it's smaller than the West End, I wonder :irked:

I have no idea, I just copied the renderings from the PDC document that was linked to above. I think its safe to just continue calling the area the cultural district or museum district... :tup:

[65MAX]

Great renderings of those, BTW. It really put some of the buildings in perspective. Also, when did they start calling this area West Park, and WHY? I like West End, and it encompasses Burnside to the University -- a much more logical neighborhood area. How many square blocks would West Park be, if it's smaller than the West End, I wonder :irked:

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR)
Jan 12, 2006
by Kennedy Smith

Some are dubbing it the West Park Cultural District, the enclave in Southwest Portland that's home to the Portland Art Museum, the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, a seasonal farmers market, Portland State University and the under-construction Eliot Tower.

Who are these "Some" people? Let's name names, then put them out of their misery before they invoke any more of those pithy place names like NoLo. :dead:

We already have the Cultural District, which IS the South Park Blocks, and the West End, which is between the Park Blocks and 405. Why confuse the two with some obscure hybrid?

[zilfondel]

^^^ - kind of dumb, considering there is no park in the area, huh?

Well, I think the thing to do is in public conversation, refer to it by its proper name - and if you hear anyone using these stupid 'trendy' names, politely, but firmly, correct them. If they insist on using it, swap 'em over and give them a firm spanking.

[bvpcvm]

it's not very far from "West Park" to ..."Park West", is it?

[bvpcvm]

http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/portland_news/1164849927159780.xml&coll=7

Six-story apartment project with 80 units eyed for southwest

Thursday, December 07, 2006
The Oregonian

While high-rise condos change Portland's skyline, the next downtown housing project hardly breaks the horizon. A local developer, E&F Properties, wants to build a six-story, 80-unit apartment building at 1139 S.W. 11th Ave., to be called The Jeffrey.

The Martha Washington building owned by Multnomah County would be The Jeffrey's northerly neighbor. The new building would replace the former Northwest Film Study Center building and a surface parking lot. Tentative plans include retail space on the ground floor and an outdoor courtyard.

Think tank slips out of Portland to 'safer' Washington County

Moving on: The Cascade Policy Institute, which describes itself as Oregon's free-market think tank, no longer will do its thinking downtown. The nonprofit moved last week to slightly larger digs at 4850 S.W. Scholls Ferry Road, just over the line into Washington County.

Cheaper rent and free parking were among the reasons, says Steve Buckstein, who founded Cascade in 1991. So was the, uh, ambience around the Woodlark Building at 813 S.W. Alder St.

"This part of downtown gives the appearance of being less safe, with the street people and panhandlers," Buckstein said during his final week at the Woodlark. "People don't want to come down here, people tell us. And women did not feel safe after dark."



©2006 The Oregonian

[pdxstreetcar]

http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/portland_news/1164849927159780.xml&coll=7

Think tank slips out of Portland to 'safer' Washington County

Moving on: The Cascade Policy Institute, which describes itself as Oregon's free-market think tank, no longer will do its thinking downtown. The nonprofit moved last week to slightly larger digs at 4850 S.W. Scholls Ferry Road, just over the line into Washington County.

Cheaper rent and free parking were among the reasons, says Steve Buckstein, who founded Cascade in 1991. So was the, uh, ambience around the Woodlark Building at 813 S.W. Alder St.

"This part of downtown gives the appearance of being less safe, with the street people and panhandlers," Buckstein said during his final week at the Woodlark. "People don't want to come down here, people tell us. And women did not feel safe after dark."

©2006 The Oregonian

If there's anything surprising about this, its that they are moving to suburbia only now.

Afterall downtown Portland is so dangerous after dark.:rolleyes:

[cab]

What are the odds of being attacked in DTPdx compared with a car crash?

[roner]

:previous: sounds like they are throwing in the towel and considering Portland a lost cause.:banana:

[westsider]

"This part of downtown gives the appearance of being less safe, with the street people and panhandlers," Buckstein said during his final week at the Woodlark. "People don't want to come down here, people tell us. And women did not feel safe after dark."


DT Portland isnt at all like DT Detroit, but there is some truth to that. My girlfriend used to work at a bar downtown and I would drive her to work, then come back and pick her up at 2:30 am because she didnt feel safe walking 2 or 3 blocks to her car. I didnt really like the arangement too much but you cant blame her, street kids beating people with socks stuffed with soup cans, the ocasional shooting, charred bodys turning up by the river, those kind of things dont happen on Scholls Ferry. I rarely feel uncomfortable downtown but I wouldnt want my mother walking around in the middle of the night either.

[PacificNW]

I used to live on Scholls Ferry, also. Nothing happens on Scholls Ferry. :)

[westsider]

^ Hey, your "location" tag used to say Florence, do you still live down there? I love that town.

[PacificNW]

Yah, but Florence sounded boring to me...so I changed it to the tribe's name for this area. :) I hope Florence is still here tomorrow...the storm is hitting pretty hard and it's just beginning... :)

[Dougall5505]

its this building right?
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/dougall5505/DSC_0078-1.jpg?t=1167444378
i like the clock

[bvpcvm]

the jeffrey replaces the parking lot and the film center building.

[MarkDaMan]

More housing, one fewer porn house
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Fred Leeson
The Oregonian

A plan unfolding on Southwest 11th Avenue would erase a downtown landmark.

Just as well, some would say. We're talking about the Jefferson Theater, downtown's premier X-rated movie house for 35 years.

Developer Mark Fraser once thought of building condos nearby, on the site of a parking lot and smaller building at 1139 S.W. 11th Ave. The theater is on the same block, facing 12th Avenue and tucked inside a low-income apartment building.

But the theater's proximity made Fraser nervous. "It concerned us about investing in market-rate condos," he said.

But rather than give up, he entered talks with the Portland Development Commission, which bought the Jefferson West apartments and its theater lease in 2001 to preserve the low-income units.

The outcome? Fraser agreed, with help from subsidies for low-income housing, to build a six-story apartment building on the 1139 site to become the new home for about 80 Jefferson West tenants. Fraser would then buy Jefferson West from the PDC and build a condo project in its place. At that point -- Fraser estimates four years -- it would be adieu, Jefferson Theater.

The new low-income apartment building, called The Jeffrey, would include a library, a TV/computer room and an enclosed courtyard.

"For most tenants, we would be almost doubling the size of their space for the same rent," he said, describing many rooms at Jefferson West as about the size of a compact parking space, and with no common areas. "We believe that by moving those residents into a new environment, we can affect their behavior positively."

The new building would reserve 50 units for tenants earning up to 30 percent of median income, and 30 units for tenants in the 30 percent to 50 percent category. The building would be committed to low-income housing for at least 60 years.

When Fraser laid out his plans at a Portland Design Commission advisory meeting, Chairman Michael McCulloch asked why the low-income building wasn't larger. The zoning would allow a much taller structure.

Fraser said the building is intended to replace Jefferson West, not expand it. "The residents pay barely enough to meet operating expenses," he said. "Over time, you run into negative numbers. The more you build, the worse it gets." As it is, Fraser's plan meets the city's "no net loss" policy for low-income downtown housing.

Some unused development rights from the apartment site could be transferred to the condo project -- allowing for a taller tower, if city officials approve.

Gunnar Langhus, an associate with Ankrom Moisan architects, showed a plan for the apartment building depicting a facade of red brick and fiber-cement panels known as Swisspearl. "The real trick is to create longevity on a building that does not generate revenue," he said.

Design commission members raised a few quibbles about proportions on the facade, and Fraser and Langhus plan to return for another meeting soon. But they appeared headed toward an acceptable blueprint.

As commission member Jeff Stuhr said, "For affordable housing, it's one of the nicer projects we've seen."

Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1167245756236480.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

Raw deal
The city is paying millions to get out of the porn business.
BY NIGEL JAQUISS
Willamette Week

Not far from the Portland Art Museum, there’s a private club that admits women but caters mostly to men. A place where greed and lust collide in the rapidly gentrifying West End.
No, it’s not the Arlington Club. It’s the Jefferson Theater, downtown’s last big-screen porn house, located at 1232 SW 12th Ave.
On a recent “Full Frontal Thursday,” patrons ogled barely legal male strippers who divided their time between a makeshift stage in front of the darkened screen and lap dances in the audience.
Some patrons leaned nervously against the walls like seventh-grade boys at a school dance; others engaged in various sex acts in shadowy corners and an adjacent smaller screening room.
Since 2001, the Jefferson Theater’s landlord has been a city agency, the Portland Development Commission. That’s when the PDC bought the theater’s building, which has 80 apartments on the second and third floors, to preserve its low-income housing.
This week, however, marks the beginning of the end for the theater. A construction crew will break ground on a complicated project resulting in 80 cushy units of new housing for some of Portland’s neediest citizens—and the eventual demolition of the porn palace.
In a Byzantine transaction nearly four years in the making, the PDC will upgrade downtown’s low-income housing stock, provide shelter for the chronically homeless and sanitize the increasingly swanky “Cultural District.”
“We’ve taken on a difficult task with the best of intentions to accomplish a number of challenging but worthwhile goals,” says PDC chairman Mark Rosenbaum.
On one level, Rosenbaum is exactly right: The PDC has harnessed conflicting agendas to do its job—implement City Council policy.
But as with other complex transactions involving the city’s urban renewal agency, it’s less clear whether taxpayers are getting a good deal.
An analysis of public documents and interviews with real estate and housing experts paints a picture of a gold-plated $16.6 million project that provides a variety of direct and indirect subsidies to a neophyte developer, lines the pocket of a former PDC commissioner who approved the deal and, for all that effort, results in no more low-income housing than currently exists.
“When the PDC invests public money in a transaction, the deal ought to be transparent and the results easily measurable,” says Pearl District developer Bob Ball, an agency critic. “From what I can see, this is neither.”
In fact, the deal that will dim the screen of the Jefferson Theater cuts right to the central question of Measure 26-92 on the May 15 ballot—whether the PDC, which spends $250 million of public money annually with far greater discretion than any other city agency, should be more accountable to the City Council, and thus to voters.
In July 2001, the PDC bought the Jefferson West, a three-story brick building cater-cornered to the downtown Safeway, from construction-company owner Peter Hoffman for $2.6 million.
Despite the price tag, the Jefferson West was no prize. The apartments above the theater ranged in size from 115 to 300 square feet. Kitchens were in poor shape, and tenants shared bathrooms. There was no interior common space, which meant residents, many of them unemployed, spent much of their time on the street.
Almost immediately, the PDC began searching for opportunities to upgrade or replace the building.
As the surrounding neighborhood transformed, thanks in large part to PDC investment in other projects and the Streetcar, pressure increased on the agency.
Developers of nearby buildings such as John Carroll, who built the 18-story Eliot Tower, and Doug Obletz, who built Museum Place, an apartment complex that includes the new Safeway, pushed the agency to do something about the Jefferson West, which they saw as a locus for street crime.
In August 2005, Carter MacNichol, a partner of Obletz’s, wrote a blistering three-page letter to the PDC, Mayor Tom Potter and Housing Commissioner Erik Sten. MacNichol demanded a solution to a “dramatic increase in negative street activity,” including prostitution, drug dealing and armed robbery.
“Pimps have attempted to access our building,” MacNichol wrote. “We have recently seen residents serve notice that they are leaving Museum Place because of the types of problems.”
MacNichol urged “the sale of the Jefferson West block to a developer who will realize the potential of the west end blocks and move with haste in constructing new housing for the area.”
When MacNichol wrote his letter, PDC was already working on a fix for the Jefferson West. In June 2004, according to PDC records, Mark Fraser, the owner of a one-story office building and a surface parking lot on the same block as the Jefferson West, approached the agency.
Fraser, 59, a commercial real-estate broker, had a problem. His tenant, Multnomah County, had just canceled a 10-year lease.
Fraser arrived at an elegant solution to both his situation and the chronic nuisances in the neighborhood: He proposed buying the PDC’s property and developing upscale condos there. To free up the Jefferson West land without losing its affordable housing, he was willing to first build low-income apartments on his property.
But Fraser would need a lot of help. He had never developed a building of any kind nor done business with PDC before, nor did he have any experience with low-income housing.
Still, Fraser approached the agency at an opportune time. Not only were nearby developers eager to get rid of the Jefferson West, but the PDC’s ability to finance any kind of replacement was evaporating.
The PDC depends on what’s called “tax increment financing” for most of its budget. Essentially, the agency borrows against the future property-tax revenues of a defined geographic area, in this case the South Park Blocks Urban Renewal Area.
But that district’s borrowing authority was due to expire in July 2008. Given the complexity of the deal Fraser proposed, there was no time to waste.
In January 2006, the five PDC commissioners, each of whom is appointed by the mayor, approved moving forward with Fraser.
The agreement was structured as two separate but closely linked transactions.
In a deal that closed last week, Fraser sold his land, which he bought in 1999 for $900,000, to a publicly funded development company he controls for $2.25 million.
In total, Fraser will receive about $16.6 million in public money to build the housing for the PDC. About $7 million will come from low-income housing tax credits; another $9.2 million will come directly from the PDC, and the balance from other public programs. For his role, Fraser will pocket a $953,000 “developer’s fee.” He will invest no money of his own in the deal.
When Fraser’s building, which will be called the Jeffrey, is complete, the PDC will relocate tenants from the Jefferson West. It will then sell that property to Fraser for $1.93 million. He plans to demolish the structure and build high-end condos there.
Critics say replacing the Jefferson West with the Jeffrey is a worthy idea, but the PDC has structured a deal that is too generous to Fraser.
In early March, Will White, director of the city’s Bureau of Housing and Community Development, wrote an internal email comparing Fraser’s project with other recent city-subsidized low-income and homeless housing developments.
White noted that the costs of the Jeffrey are almost “twice as much on a per-unit basis as the next most expensive project.”
Even the PDC’s internal analysis judged the Jeffrey to be expensive.
“Construction costs of $200 per square foot are high by roughly $40 per square foot,” wrote PDC loan analyst Siobain Beddow in a March 8, 2007, loan review evaluation.
“Architect’s fees are nearly double what staff has seen for similarly sized projects,” Beddow continued.
White’s email also argued that Fraser’s fee was way out of whack for number of units he would produce. White compared it with other projects, saying Fraser would get “a developer fee that was half again as much as the next most expensive project.”
John Warner, PDC’s project manager on the transaction, says the fee paid to Fraser is within the agency’s policy and modest compared with other fees it has paid.
The prices at which the agency is buying and selling land also raise questions.
Since the two parcels of land are on the same block and will be scraped down to bare dirt for new construction, it’s easy to compare them.
Fraser is selling his 15,000 square feet of land “as is” to the PDC-financed entity that will eventually own the Jeffrey for $2.25 million, or $150 per square foot. (The price resulted from an appraisal done earlier this year, PDC says.)
But he will buy the 16,860-square-foot PDC property on which the Jefferson West currently sits for $1.93 million, or $114 per square foot. (That price comes from a May 2006 appraisal, which valued the land at $2.43 million but estimated clean-up costs would be at least $500,000.)
By PDC’s own reckoning, the land the agency owns is superior to Fraser’s, because his is surrounded on three sides by other properties while the PDC land has street frontage on three sides, yielding easier access and better views.
“A landlocked parcel on a 'superblock’ is not the best site for a developer,” says Warner.
Warner says the agency is discounting the sale price to Fraser because its land needs environmental clean-up. However, Fraser’s property needs clean-up as well.
Moreover, Fraser is getting paid for his land now but, according to the deal he struck with the PDC, does not have to pay for the PDC land until 2011, at the earliest.
Finally, the agency’s $1.93 million sale price to Fraser is $670,000 less than PDC paid Hoffman six years ago for the Jefferson West. In contrast, Fraser will make a $1.35 million profit from the sale of his property, which he purchased only 18 months earlier than the PDC bought the Jefferson West.
Ball asks whether those seemingly favorable terms on the land value are simply an indirect subsidy to Fraser.
“If PDC needs to put subsidy into a deal to accomplish policy goals, that might be appropriate,” he says. “But those subsidies should be as transparent as possible.”
PDC’s Warner says Fraser’s possession of a key piece of land gave him leverage in negotiations but defends the terms of the deal, saying every aspect of it is well within PDC parameters.
At the heart of the May 15 ballot question about greater city oversight of PDC is the issue of the agency’s culture.
In that context, Doug Blomgren’s role in the Jefferson West transaction is revealing.
In January 2006, when the PDC green-lighted Fraser’s deal, the commission’s senior member was Blomgren, originally appointed by Mayor Vera Katz in 1997.
After leaving the commission in July 2006, Blomgren, a housing lawyer with the firm Bateman Seidel, represented Portland-based Homestead Capital in its dealings with Fraser and PDC. In other words, he benefited financially from a land development deal that he approved as a PDC commissioner.
Homestead provides financing for low-income housing by selling government-provided tax credits to investors. The investors pay Homestead cash for the credits, and Homestead hands the cash to the project developer, who does not have to repay the funds.
Fraser says that with PDC’s assistance, he solicited bids from four firms and chose Homestead.
(In March, the Portland Tribune reported that Homestead’s CEO, Deborah Saweuyer-Parks, is under investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice. Homestead, a nonprofit, paid Saweuyer-Parks $484,000 in 2005 and hired her husband as a consultant at $9,000 per month. Saweuyer-Parks denied any wrongdoing.)
Although no PDC rule prevents former employees or commissioners from doing business with the agency, Ball says he’s troubled by the appearance of Blomgren’s dual role. “What he’s doing may be legal, but it doesn’t pass the smell test,” Ball says.
Blomgren denies any ethical impropriety. Although documents show that Homestead pitched Fraser for the business as early as July 3, 2006, eight days before Blomgren left the PDC, Blomgren says he only became aware that Homestead was involved in the Jeffrey transaction several months later.
Blomgren adds that he regularly declared conflicts of interest as a commissioner because his law firm often represented either the City of Portland or groups seeking to do business with the city.
He says that although he represented Homestead in negotiations with PDC on Fraser’s deal, there is no ethical problem because he was long gone from the agency by then.
“I feel I’ve been careful to avoid any conflicts,” he says.
Today, Blomgren is leading the charge to defeat the May 15 ballot measure that would give the City Council authority to approve the PDC’s budget and require regular audits by the City Auditor.
He personally paid for the Voters’ Pamphlet statements in opposition to the measure and has formed a political action committee, “No on 26-92,” to fight greater oversight.
Blomgren says he supports the part of the measure requiring more audits but objects to greater budget authority for the City Council.
He offers a number of examples, including the Interstate light-rail corridor, in which he says city commissioners forced PDC to use urban-renewal money for questionable deals. “When you make the council PDC’s budget committee, you invite council to pursue pet projects,” he says.
All five members of the City Council support the ballot measure. Even the most developer-friendly commissioner, Dan Saltzman, wants more oversight.
“Dan thinks the measure will integrate PDC and city bureaus more closely,” says Saltzman’s chief of staff, Brendan Finn.
Blomgren may be right to worry about city commissioners using PDC for pet projects. But city commissioners report directly to voters, while PDC staffers report to a director hired by citizen commissioners appointed by the mayor.
Blomgren argues that distance from politics is the agency’s strength. Ball and other agency critics says it equates to a lack of accountability.
In the case of the Jeffrey, for example, PDC’s contribution tripled from $3 million in January 2006 to $9.2 million less than a year later.
Yet city commissioners—let alone taxpayers—never heard about the increase because of the agency’s autonomy.
“The ballot measure would give us regular financial and performance audits of the PDC,” Ball says. “We need to be able to measure what we’re spending and what we’re getting without smoke and mirrors.”
Whatever voters decide, PDC is not quite free of the Jefferson Theater. Ray Billings, the theater’s operator has already secured a lease on Old Town’s Paris Theater, just five blocks from PDC headquarters. “It will be 24-hour-a-day adult entertainment,” says Billings. “We had a 'soft opening’ last week.”
http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3326/8944/

[Drmyeyes]

Nice. Extravagantly pay some flake to replace no more units of low income housing than already exist in the structure being demolished. This, even as the city allows a considerable number of relatively low income housing units to be eliminated with the scheduled destruction of the architectually distinguished Rosefreind Apartment Building.

The city could have been at least a little smart by having the new low income housing building on the Jefferson Theatre block provide additional numbers of low income housing units to replace those lost in such buildings.

Actually, I'm not sure it's a good thing that the Jefferson Theatre clientele is relocating to Old Town in the Paris Theatre, but walking around the Jefferson Theatre block quite a bit, for years, I never experienced problems of any significance. Whacked out crackheads from the Jefferson West...a couple.

[Chicago3rd]

Put this building a block south and you have a winner. I hate when they tear down perfectly fine buildings when a wasted surface parking lot sits empty so close by.

Hey I use to work at that parking lot...lol. Plaid Pantry use to be there...grave yard ship....scary! Back in the late 90's (only scary because it was relativily easy to get to a freeway...which is always a plus for robbers)

Like the building they are planning.

[BrG]

IMO:

Mark Fraser is far from "some flake". Frankly I'm almost suprised Fraser bothered with this route. He could've just've easily developed market rate apartments there, and made far MORE money than he will doing this. Instead he gets raked over the coals by some folks for attempting to get the remaining dominoes to fall in the renewal of the cultural district.

People seem to set aside the reality that there is tremendous financial risk developers take to get projects done. You don't just snap your fingers and the project happens.:rolleyes:

The potential is there to lose everything for you and all your investors, and leave a blight on a city in the process (Beaverton Round is a great example of something going wrong.) Shoot...There's a very real potential to lose large sums just going after projects (IIRC, Brad Malsin wrote off 6 figure sums of money chasing the Bridgehead...)

It's difficult enough to get a project sucessfully built in Portland, without losing your shorts. There's a balance that needs to be there, that demonstrates the potential of financial viability at the end of the project, to make it worthwhile to banks that loan developers money to build projects.

A nice quality affordable housing project in the middle of a great part of town, built during a time when construction costs for new buildings are sky high, and when re-construction costs to renew a life cycle of an aged building are off the charts.

Nice one-sided hitpeice by Jaquiss, though :rolleyes:

[PacificNW]

Thanks, BrG, for your points...

[CouvScott]

Demolition has begun

[sopdx]

Regarding the porn aspect. The Paris Theater is revamping itself into a porn palace...and they are going to serve food... what hot dogs and tacos? Also, the owner of the Jefferson is looking for another space to open a new - more expansive sex facility.

[pdxtraveler]

Regarding the porn aspect. The Paris Theater is revamping itself into a porn palace...and they are going to serve food... what hot dogs and tacos? Also, the owner of the Jefferson is looking for another space to open a new - more expansive sex facility.

Supposedly he signed a lease at the Paris Theater(I think?) at Burnside and
2nd, next to Voodoo Donuts.

[Dougall5505]

found this on flickr
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1069/833056387_68a424bc21_b.jpg
is the parking below ground?

[zilfondel]

what parking? its for poor people.

[hi123]

how is contruction progressing?

[Sioux612]

That (teal/tan) building is so hideous.

[brandonpdx]

they're on to the 4th floor

[zilfondel]

whatever happened to the renderings? They seem to have disappeared sometime before the move...

[Dougall5505]

http://amaa.com/portfolio/project/?category=otb&project=140&redir=L3BvcnRmb2xpby8/Y2F0ZWdvcnk9b3RiJlBIUFNFU1NJRD0yZjQwMGYwNmM2NzlkOTM2ZDMxZDE2NTU0YWU3NzcwOSMyOA==
http://amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/140_lg1_Jeffrey_01.jpg

[urbanlife]

it will definitely match all the new development going up in that area.

[zilfondel]

Aah! Thank you, Dougall. I also rather like how the top of the brick matches up with the building to the left of it. Ankrom's got their hands on better designers these days.

[Dougall5505]

cool view on flickr http://flickr.com/photos/tomturnbull/
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/2024089701_a7bd3dfd7c_b.jpg

[zilfondel]

^ Now that's what I call infill development! I love small contextual projects like this almost as much as uber towers.

[WestCoast]

went by today, and didn't look much different. Work is definitely going on, but from the outside...nothing to drool over yet. Renders give hope!

[2oh1]

Does anybody have an update regarding the building on the corner of Jefferson and 11th - what was (and sort-of still is) the Jefferson West? What about the parking lot next door to the Plaid Pantry on 11th and Columbia?

I'm not surprised to see that parking lot still around, but I really thought the Jefferson West would be torn down by now. They're building a tower there, aren't they? ('m referring to the infamous "They" of course, as I've forgotten who is building that one)

[bvpcvm]

well, it's not really a tower, and it's not right on the corner, but the Jeffrey is well underway, topped out i believe. it's only 6 stories. the plans to to build a tower around there somewhere (in place of the low-income housing the Jeffrey will replace) are vague and long-term, from what i understand. and given the market, don't hold your breath.

[2oh1]

The plans on 11th & Jefferson are kind of confusing.

From what I understood, the plan was to tear down what was the NW Film Center and build The Jeffrey on that lot plus the small parking lot next to it. The Jeffrey would be low income to make up for the loss of the Jefferson West apartments which were to be torn down and replaced by a market rate tower.

I see that the Jeffrey is going up pretty quickly, but what I'm really wondering is - when the Jefferson West will come down? (I'm curious about the parking lot on 11th & Columbia too - but I suspect that will remain as-is for some time)

[bvpcvm]

this document (http://www.pdc.us/pubs/inv_detail.asp?id=512&ty=48) might help

[2oh1]

Thanks! I forgot about that Salmon/12th parking lot part of the overall equation.

[zilfondel]

I think they need to relocate the low-income residents before they kick them out of the building.

All the rest of the businesses in Jefferson West, besides the River City bar, have already been closed down and moved. So I would think that as soon as the residents are out and River City moves, the building will come down.

[Delaney]

The Jeffrey IS the replacement housing

[Castillonis]

Jeffrey construction photo update
Map (Google has changed the projection of Sat images :) )
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Safeway+portland,+or&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=45.517348,-122.68479&spn=0.001314,0.0025&t=h&z=19&cbll=45.517011,-122.684899&cbp=1,281.6333980643335,,0,1.1404029025260647

1260x945
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/46541/2001523391356672444_rs.jpg

NOTE: I took the photos that comprise this image at 20:24 on Fri 07Mar08.

[Castillonis]

Click on image to view virtual panorama
http://www.myphototours.com/examples/0013/stills/jefferyElliot360_788x315.jpg (http://www.myphototours.com/examples/0013/virtual/jefferyElliot.html)

Panorama Controls
Turn off the music w/ the pause button located in the bottom row controls
Enlarge to full screen by clicking the button on the far right after the files have loaded completely.
Navigate by clicking the screen with your mouse and dragging.

NOTE: I took the photos that comprise this media and photo still on Sunday 25May08

[IanofCascadia]

Nice infill for being an affordable housing project... it's always good to see subsidized projects that add not only to the density and diversity of the city but also provide a needed architectural niche. Contrasts well with the Elliot and the painted steel.

[Castillonis]

The building between the Jeffery and the Eliot Tower is the Mosaic. It has the prominent yellow painted I beam.

[bvpcvm]

actually, the mosaic is further down 10th, next to the old church (next block past safeway, going south). it's residential condos.

this one is "madison place" or something. it's commercial condos.

[WestCoast]

I don't have any photos to post, but I think this infill came out very well.

blends right into the surroundings with a nice and modern appeal to it.

[2oh1]

Speaking of Madison Place - the building across the street from the Jeffrey and behind Eliot Tower - I don't think they've sold a single unit in that thing. Madison Place was finished in 2006.

2006!

I thought they were going to build live/work condos there, but they just built what looks like typical office space. And it sits vacant excluding the part the builder moved into.

What a waste.

[2oh1]

What's the current status for the old Jefferson West building, on Jefferson between 11th & 12th (in black on the map below)? Or the parking lot site beside the Plaid Pantry?

I realize the economy put a hold on all of that... but then again, the first half of the Jefferson West project was completed with the building of The Jeffrey a bit further down 11th, and all of the businesses from the Jefferson West building have moved out.

Obviously, the info I'm quoting below is outdated now.

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/5059/jefferson3px5.jpg

As best as I understand it, here is the current plan for the site! Enjoy.

I found it interesting that they were considering a "more affordable" market rate rental tower in addition to the condo tower; the market rental tower would have had 196 units, instead of 104 units for the condo tower. Condo tower will be 15 stories.

The second tower planned for the plaid pantry site will be 16 stories and have 270 units. Less than .5 parking spaces/unit.

Any updates?

[kmlorenz]

Speaking of Madison Place - the building across the street from the Jeffrey and behind Eliot Tower - I don't think they've sold a single unit in that thing. Madison Place was finished in 2006.

2006!

I thought they were going to build live/work condos there, but they just built what looks like typical office space. And it sits vacant excluding the part the builder moved into.

What a waste.

The Madison was designed as office space, but sold in units (like a residential condo for offices, I guess). The top two floors are occupied, the real waste is the groundfloor restaurant space sitting empty.

Anyone know what Multnomah County is doing with the building on 11th and Main, next to the new Jeffery? They have been tearing out the inside for a couple of months and have redone the roof. Wasn't it also low income residence at one time? 1162 SW 11th Ave

[Delaney]

Anyone know what Multnomah County is doing with the building on 11th and Main, next to the new Jeffery? They have been tearing out the inside for a couple of months and have redone the roof. Wasn't it also low income residence at one time? 1162 SW 11th Ave

It will be renovated low income housing.