MarkDaMan
06-11-2007, 04:51 PM
MLK-Grand nexus pegged for makeover as 'gateway'
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Kennedy Smith
06/11/2007
The 15,500-square-foot, triangular parcel would hardly go noticed were it not for some multi-colored, flag-shaped sculptures and a yellow sign welcoming drivers to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that looks more like a for-lease advertisement than an invitation to a city district.
Nicknamed the “Hancock Hilton” for its reputation as a hangout for homeless people, the site bound by Northeast Schuyler and Hancock streets may be small, but it’s a big deal for neighborhood residents, and the Portland Development Commission is planning to revamp the site to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.
Although the so-called “heritage marker” project has been on the city’s to-do list since 1993, when it was proposed in the city’s Albina Community and Eliot Neighborhood plans, the PDC only now has the money to go forward with it, said Irene Bowers, project manager.
“The terms gateway and heritage markers have been in narrative form for many years, and this is the first attempt to put a physical form to those,” she said. “It takes time for everyone to feel comfortable with that.”
The PDC also plans to place markers along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to explain some of the street’s history.
Similar efforts cost at least $100,000
Although the PDC has set aside $140,000 for the project, Bowers estimated it would only take about $75,000 to come up with a master plan. The leftover money, she said, would pay for construction. Any remaining expenses would come from tax increment financing or grants, Bowers said.
The PDC declined to put a price on the entire project, but a project like what the PDC is proposing would probably cost a minimum of $100,000, based on similar projects from landscape architecture firms.
Renovating the site has been a long time coming, Gary Hampton, president of the Eliot Neighborhood Association, said.
“Like any other project in the Albina plan, it happens when money becomes available,” he said. “A gateway and heritage markers along this boulevard shows what’s here now and that it was once a thriving African-American community.”
The PDC hasn’t gathered specific feedback from the neighborhood yet, said Jolene Jensen-Classen, public outreach coordinator with the PDC, but, she said, “we want to have as much input from folks prior to bringing a consultant on board to put it all together.”
She said the PDC will begin polling residents this summer and through September.
Pauline Bradford, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1945, said she’s happy to see the PDC moving forward with this plan.
“They’ve tried to develop businesses along MLK for a long time, but being in the Oregon Convention Center (urban renewal area), a lot of that money has been put into things down in the Lloyd Center area. It seemed like development stopped at Broadway and Weidler.”
She said she’s been pushing a committee advising the PDC on development around the Oregon Convention Center to keep the gateway project on its radar.
Her ideal scenario, she said, would be the city securing more property to make a larger park. The parcel is owned by the Portland Office of Transportation.
“I don’t know whether that’s ever going to happen,” the 79-year-old Eliot Neighborhood resident said. “But I’m hoping that when – if – they’re going to do it, they make it so it can tell a little bit of our history.”
About 15 landscape architecture firms attended a pre-proposal meeting May 23.
Jonathan Beaver, a principal at landscape architecture firm 2 Ink Studio, said his company was drawn to the prospect of creating a “community-based design.”
“It’s definitely a project that can help reshape that neighborhood,” he said.
Landscape architecture firm Lango Hansen will bid to design the site, principal Jane Hansen said. Other firms at the meeting included Nevue Ngan Associates, Dao Architecture and GreenWorks.
The proposal deadline is Thursday.
http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=29553&userID=1
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Kennedy Smith
06/11/2007
The 15,500-square-foot, triangular parcel would hardly go noticed were it not for some multi-colored, flag-shaped sculptures and a yellow sign welcoming drivers to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that looks more like a for-lease advertisement than an invitation to a city district.
Nicknamed the “Hancock Hilton” for its reputation as a hangout for homeless people, the site bound by Northeast Schuyler and Hancock streets may be small, but it’s a big deal for neighborhood residents, and the Portland Development Commission is planning to revamp the site to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.
Although the so-called “heritage marker” project has been on the city’s to-do list since 1993, when it was proposed in the city’s Albina Community and Eliot Neighborhood plans, the PDC only now has the money to go forward with it, said Irene Bowers, project manager.
“The terms gateway and heritage markers have been in narrative form for many years, and this is the first attempt to put a physical form to those,” she said. “It takes time for everyone to feel comfortable with that.”
The PDC also plans to place markers along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to explain some of the street’s history.
Similar efforts cost at least $100,000
Although the PDC has set aside $140,000 for the project, Bowers estimated it would only take about $75,000 to come up with a master plan. The leftover money, she said, would pay for construction. Any remaining expenses would come from tax increment financing or grants, Bowers said.
The PDC declined to put a price on the entire project, but a project like what the PDC is proposing would probably cost a minimum of $100,000, based on similar projects from landscape architecture firms.
Renovating the site has been a long time coming, Gary Hampton, president of the Eliot Neighborhood Association, said.
“Like any other project in the Albina plan, it happens when money becomes available,” he said. “A gateway and heritage markers along this boulevard shows what’s here now and that it was once a thriving African-American community.”
The PDC hasn’t gathered specific feedback from the neighborhood yet, said Jolene Jensen-Classen, public outreach coordinator with the PDC, but, she said, “we want to have as much input from folks prior to bringing a consultant on board to put it all together.”
She said the PDC will begin polling residents this summer and through September.
Pauline Bradford, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1945, said she’s happy to see the PDC moving forward with this plan.
“They’ve tried to develop businesses along MLK for a long time, but being in the Oregon Convention Center (urban renewal area), a lot of that money has been put into things down in the Lloyd Center area. It seemed like development stopped at Broadway and Weidler.”
She said she’s been pushing a committee advising the PDC on development around the Oregon Convention Center to keep the gateway project on its radar.
Her ideal scenario, she said, would be the city securing more property to make a larger park. The parcel is owned by the Portland Office of Transportation.
“I don’t know whether that’s ever going to happen,” the 79-year-old Eliot Neighborhood resident said. “But I’m hoping that when – if – they’re going to do it, they make it so it can tell a little bit of our history.”
About 15 landscape architecture firms attended a pre-proposal meeting May 23.
Jonathan Beaver, a principal at landscape architecture firm 2 Ink Studio, said his company was drawn to the prospect of creating a “community-based design.”
“It’s definitely a project that can help reshape that neighborhood,” he said.
Landscape architecture firm Lango Hansen will bid to design the site, principal Jane Hansen said. Other firms at the meeting included Nevue Ngan Associates, Dao Architecture and GreenWorks.
The proposal deadline is Thursday.
http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=29553&userID=1
