Old Town/Chinatown News

[PacificNW]

From the Business Journal:



....

[urbanlife]

holy crap, Ankrom Moisan Architecture is going to move to Old Town too, this is really becoming something big. Still would love to see them convert the New Market Theater building into the home for the Farmer's Market.

With Beam involved, some really good architecture should come out of this movement.

[Dougall5505]

does anyone know what the scale of these buildings are supposed to be (height etc.)

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Dougall5505

does anyone know what the scale of these buildings are supposed to be (height etc.)

If I am not mistaken, most of what can be built in that area has to stay close to the height that is currently there. about 60-80ft for the most part. Now I am not totally sure that is the ratio for all of the area, but that is more the care around Ankeny Square.

[MarkDaMan]

Portland firm will design rehab of Fire Station 1
by DJC Staff
04/18/2007


The city of Portland will award the design contract for the remodel of Fire Station 1 to Peck Smiley Ettlin Architects of Portland.

The city’s notice of intent to award contract, issued April 11, called Peck Smiley Ettlin the “most qualified” respondent and noted that the firm received the highest score. Other respondents to the request for proposals for architectural and engineering services for the station’s seismic upgrade and remodel were MCA Architects of Portland, Leeka Architects of Beaverton, Deca Inc. of Portland and Crow/Clay & Associates of Portland.

Peck Smiley Ettlin’s fire station work includes Portland Fire Station 16 and main fire stations for the cities of Hillsboro, Canby, Cannon Beach, Corvallis and Ashland.
http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?...29303&userID=1

[zilfondel]

I saw a building in Chinatown undergoing a renovation for 190 low-income units. I think it was down on 3rd...

I'll try to take a pic once the weather gets better. It's a really cool older building, white brick or terracotta; they are adding 2 floors to the top.

[MarkDaMan]

Market plan includes platform
New site - The tentative design for Saturday Market will be on display May 9
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
FRED LEESON
The Oregonian

Portland Saturday Market's new home could sit on a raised platform in Waterfront Park that converts to a shallow reflecting pool when not in use.

Because of sloping land under it, the platform would start at ground level near the edge of the Burnside Bridge and rise about four feet near the crosswalk at Southwest Ankeny Street and Naito Parkway. The platform would be covered by a roof that might have movable aluminum louvers allowing it to be opened during pleasant weather. A tentative plan from Walker Macy landscape architects includes a short lip around the platform's edge, allowing it to be filled with two inches of water. The water would deter people from camping or sleeping.

Establishing a new location for the market is the driving force behind an Ankeny Plaza/Waterfront Park plan being drafted by planners and a citizens committee. The market's new home must be ready by next March.

Other planning goals are to add more activity at the north end of Waterfront Park and to create a stronger link on Southwest Ankeny between downtown and the linear park. Some committee members would like to see Southwest Ankeny closed to automobiles and repaved with cobblestone between Naito Parkway and Southwest Fourth Avenue.

But given an $8.8 million budget, "We're pretty certain we don't have enough money to do all of it," Doug Macy said.

Saturday Market's move was forced by redevelopment surrounding its current location west of Naito Parkway under the Burnside Bridge. Although the move is just across the four-lane street, it involves a need for restrooms, storage, wind and rain protection and access to electricity.

The plan calls for some market booths to sit on Ankeny Plaza and the majority to perch on the new platform across Naito. "For us the connection is super critical," Paul Verhoeven, market manager, said of the crosswalk. "Retail shoppers are a funny breed. They don't want to put out extra effort."

An open house is planned from 4 to 6 p.m. May 9 at 222 N.W. Fifth Ave. for public comment on planning options. Plans also will be on display Saturday at the market.

The Portland Parks Bureau, which owns Waterfront Park and Ankeny Plaza, hopes to complete a design by late July and start construction in December. "Everything on the schedule is at least twice as fast as we'd normally do it," said Sandra Burtzos, the bureau's project manager.

Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/o...410.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

This old building will survive the Big One
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Fred Leeson
The Oregonian

Engineers and architects gave no thought to earthquakes when they built Portland's new Fire Station 1 in 1952.

If they had, perhaps they wouldn't have chosen the site at 55 S.W. Ash St. In those days, "people were aware that earthquakes happened in California, but not in Oregon," says Kent Yu, a Portland structural engineer. "In the past 20 years, we've started to realize that's not true."

Yu, who earned his doctorate in the heart of California earthquake country, will determine in coming months how to brace Fire Station 1 so it not only could survive the Big One but also provide emergency services immediately after.

City officials originally planned to build a new fire station and administrative headquarters a couple of blocks north of the station. But when cost estimates exceeded the budget, they decided to revamp the old building. It is home to 16 emergency-response personnel and about 68 administrators.

Issues with the 55-year-old building include its structure and the ground it sits on. Moist, soft soil that ranges from 17 to 31 feet below the building could turn to liquid if firmer ground below started to shake. Experts call it a liquefaction zone.

"One of our main concerns is liquefaction settlement in the basement," says Yu, associate principal of Degenkolb Engineers in Portland. Techniques for stabilizing the soil below will be part of the solution.

Above ground, the goal is to brace the building so it's emergency-ready after a once-in-500-years quake and still standing after a once-in-2,500-years quake.

Alas, some of the original construction documents no longer exist. "Lots of critical details are missing," Yu says. So like a doctor examining a patient, he says, "we'll run a bunch of tests on materials to get the best information we can about its condition. Once we know everything, or the most we can, we can make reasonable decisions on a rehabilitation scheme."

Fire Marshal John Klum says the Degenkolb firm was selected because of its creative solutions in retrofitting buildings. Earthquake bracing is expected to be the costliest item in a $9.5 million construction budget.

Money for the project comes from a 1998 bond approved by voters to upgrade or relocate about 30 Fire Bureau buildings. Other elements in the Fire Station 1 plan include meeting physical disability standards, separating dorms for men and women firefighters, and upgrading administrative offices.

Until earthquake bracing costs are determined, "how far we can get on the tenant improvements, we just don't know yet," Klum says.

Yu, working with Peck Smiley Ettlin Architects, plans to finish construction plans early next year. Klum says emergency-response teams will be relocated in mid-2008. Renovation is expected to take 12 to 16 months, depending on the budget.

When the work is finished, most residents won't notice any difference from the outside of the three-story brick building.

"We are treating it like a historic building, which it is," Yu says. "We will try to maintain the historic look of it."

Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/o...810.xml&coll=7

[MOPIdaho]

"We are treating it like a historic building, which it is," Yu says. "We will try to maintain the historic look of it."
What historic look? It stands out like a sore thumb in the Skidmore historic district. This building is simply a brick wall on the east side and a parking lot on the west.

[65MAX]

Old does NOT equal historic. Just because a building is 55 years old, that doesn't make it architecturally significant. Sometimes old is just obsolete.

Present company excluded, of course....

[brandonpdx]

yup, Potter screwed this one up. We should be tearing this building down and building a public market instead of pouring money into it to keep it around for another 55 years.
Potter is so busy trying to wrestle power away from the commissioners, yet he can't even handle the power he has now.

[pdxman]

^^^Agreed

[urbanlife]

yeah, I am gonna guess Potter will end up being a one term mayor. Portland needs people with better vision for its future that what he has provided.

[sopdx]

They got freaked out over the tram budget and clamped down on a new station. It's all politics. I think all the new investment in the skidmore/old town area is fantastic and we'll see some good things come out of it.

[brandonpdx]

^now imagine if every project the PDC did was tied to politics...it wouldn't be pretty. There's some significant ballot measures out there right now that could change the structure of Portland's government and make it look like anytown, USA.
If they pass the ripple effects will be felt for decades to come.

I'm voting "No" on both.

[Drmyeyes]

"We are treating it like a historic building, which it is," Yu says. "We will try to maintain the historic look of it." Kent Yu, a Portland structural engineer

yeah, that is a funny statement. It could be interpreted in a number of creative ways, best after a lot of beers.

I agree with all of the comments following this article. Portland doesn't need a change from the commissioner form of government to a strong mayor form of govenment. It just needs a strong mayor. Geez...Potter's seems a little too wimpy to keep the train on the track.

[mcbaby]

it is such a gross building.

[MarkDaMan]

^it is! Considering the world HQ's of Mercy Corps is going in next door, the area is deserving of a better building, or revamping this building into something decent.

Mayor Katz seemed effective with this form of government. So did Clark and Goldie too.

[urbanlife]

I actually think the current government system works great for this city as well as the separation of the PDC from the government. Sure there are times were things are brought into question, but from my experiences elsewhere in this country, Portland wouldn't be the city it is today with out those two keys at play in shaping the city.

[MarkDaMan]

Tiny move, big worries for Saturday Market
Thursday, May 24, 2007
By Fred Leeson
The Oregonian

Saturday Market survived one move of 300 feet early in its 33-year history as a Portland shopping institution.

The question now is whether the critical mass of artisan/vendors can survive an even shorter one. Alas, what sounds so simple is not.

"In retail, every extra step is a problem for people," says Sandra Burtzos, Portland Bureau of Parks & Recreation project manager, especially when the steps involve crossing a four-lane arterial called Naito Parkway.

Burtzos is helping shepherd planning for improvements to Ankeny Plaza and a section of Tom McCall Waterfront Park that will become the market's new home next March. At stake is the viability of a tourist/shopping magnet composed of as many as 300 vendors of handmade goods.

A design team led by Walker Macy landscape architects has proposed three options for the market site and immediate vicinity. A citizen advisory committee working with the Parks Bureau, and the Portland Development Commission will pick a design by late June.

"At this point, they are all too small," says Paul Verhoeven, Saturday Market's manager, referring to the proposed sites. "There are not enough vendor spaces." He'd like to see room for 275 to 300 booths, but the options so far range from 209 to 268.

A few dozen booths would sit on Ankeny Plaza, the small public space behind Skidmore Fountain. But in all three options, most booths would sit on a horizontal platform erected to smooth out undulations in Waterfront Park immediately south of the Burnside Bridge.

The platform would be at grade under the bridge but would rise 4 feet above the park floor near the Ankeny Pump Station. All three plans include a water feature, something akin to Salmon Street Springs at the south end of the park that could be turned off and leave a flat surface when needed for big events such as Cinco de Mayo or the Rose Festival.

Anne Naito-Campbell, a principal in the Bill Naito Co., a significant property owner in the area, is trying to raise $1 million in donations for the fountain. She envisions "a really stupendous, dynamic water feature that will draw people 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

Proposals for rain shelter over the market platform include a solid roof, one with an airy slit down the middle and one that would open and close in some fashion. Architect Bob Thompson says the difficulty with a movable roof is finding a reliable mechanism that is inexpensive to maintain. Planners fear that a roof would attract homeless sleepers.

Another concept would flood the platform when not in use to make a shallow reflecting pool.

Besides rain protection, unresolved issues affecting the market include storage space and public toilets. Creating a pedestrian-friendly crossing for Naito Parkway also is a major design factor. Verhoeven says about 30 percent of market customers arrive by MAX at the Skidmore Fountain station, and the market will wither if shoppers find the crossing daunting.

Market artisans may be asked to improve their portable booths when the new location opens next year. Burtzos says she'd like to keep the market's funky feel but upgrade its image.

Verhoeven says promotional efforts next year will aim to tell the public about the new location rather than move the market upscale.

"We want to keep it so vendors can individually express their businesses," he says, "but somehow tie it in to the new site."

Portland News: 503-221-8199; portland@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/o...890.xml&coll=7