Central Eastside News

[MarkDaMan]

^looks like the 'shipping containers' building

[der Reisender]

^i've been taking advantage of the recent absence of rain to go around on bike, its been fantastic


Burnside Rocket (E Burnside/11th)

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by der Reisender

^i've been taking advantage of the recent absence of rain to go around on bike, its been fantastic


Burnside Rocket (E Burnside/11th)

What the hell?! I can't believe how fast this thing went up... like a rocket!!!

This is the first I've ever even heard about construction on this project, and it's already topped out!

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by cab

The 18,000-square-foot project is the first to be designed according to the city of Beaverton’s newest Design Review Handbook, which calls for buildings constructed closer to the street and concealed parking. The site’s design incorporates a nautilus-shaped public plaza flanked by alfresco dining, shaded sidewalks with benches and low-water landscaping. Shop designs emphasize daylighting and use a variety of colors and materials including brick façades, metal arches and copper light fixtures.

Well, it's about fuckin' time, no?!

Shizzle my bizzle:

Courtesy of PortlandArchitecture.com

[tworivers]

I've been watching the Rocket building for awhile, and, funnily enough, it seems like it's taken forever to get to this point. They're going to build an arcade over the sidewalk, and apparently will receive LEED Platinum in the end. Sounds like they've been to hell and back for all the permits.

There's some nice renderings floating around.

Check out
http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?c=ecgaj
and
http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portla...de_rocket.html

[tworivers]

Not sure if this article ever got posted on the forum, and this thread seemed like an appropriate place for it.

Two major projects are set to begin on East Burnside in Portland
Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Nov 1, 2006 by Kennedy Smith

Traffic gets a bit congested during the morning drive along East Burnside leading up to the Burnside Bridge headed into downtown. Commuters, freight trucks and buses stop and go, day laborers hang out at an empty lot at Sixth Avenue, and early risers jog up and down the street.

But underneath the hustle and bustle, the noise and traffic, there's a change going on at East Burnside from the bridgehead to 12th Avenue.

"It's going to be a street that people don't even recognize once it gets all built out," said Tim Holmes, president of the Central Eastside Industrial Council.

Two major projects are set to begin on East Burnside - Opus Northwest's Burnside Bridgehead and the Burnside-Couch couplet headed by the Portland Office of Transportation.

When complete, the Burnside Bridgehead project will be a 195,000- square-foot, $250 million mixed-use center at the east end of the Burnside Bridge. The Burnside-Couch couplet project will turn East Burnside and Northeast Couch streets into one-way thoroughfares, with East Burnside heading east and Couch heading west. It will extend to the intersection at 12th Avenue, where Sandy Boulevard meets Burnside, and will reconnect Couch where it gets dissected by Sandy.

Lloyd Lindley, an urban designer who was involved with the Burnside-Couch couplet, completed economic analysis of the couplet, which indicated that in 20 years a revitalized Lower Burnside would generate about $7 million a year in new taxes and have a net assessed value of more than $300 million.

"You can look down the street and see the underdeveloped parcels that have the potential to be unlocked once there's better pedestrian access, wider sidewalks and narrower streets," Lindley said.

"This area is priming itself for change," said Bill Hoffman, project manager at PDOT. "What we have is two gateways at the Central Eastside: one at 12th and one at the bridgehead. What happens in between it will act as a catalyst."

Although the two major projects are still on the drawing board and not expected to be completed until at least 2009, activity is already picking up on the street, Hoffman said.

That's partly due to the popularity of the Doug Fir Lounge at 830 E. Burnside St. and its adjacent Jupiter Hotel. The restaurant and music venue has brought to town a slew of popular musical acts and has been listed as a top destination in magazines like Sunset, Jane and Metropolis, as well as the Frommer's guidebook. To boot, the Doug Fir has helped keep afloat a few independent art boutiques located directly across the street.

Up the road on 11th Avenue is developer Kevin Cavenaugh's emerging Burnside Rocket, an under-construction mixed-use building slated to house a restaurant, office and retail space. Cavenaugh is reaching for gold status from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system.

Between Sixth and Seventh avenues, Dave Dernbach of Mattsonian Investments LLC is busy renovating 10 studio apartments on the second floor of a currently vacant building. He bought the property nine months ago because he saw the neighborhood as "up and coming."

The ground floor of the building was leased Tuesday to Jeff and Shelia Kish, who plan to open a vintage and new clothing store in December.

Bernbach said the renovations are designed to maintain the building's historic feel, but right next door, there's a modern touch being added to the street.

Developers Brian Faherty and Lance Marrs on Nov. 16 will go before the Portland Design Commission to seek final approval of Bside 6, a 7-story mixed-use building designed by Works Partnership Architecture, which earned two awards from the Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects for its design.

"When we had a pre-design review, the question of how this building would fit with its surroundings came up," Faherty said. "You have historic buildings next to surface lots, and the Plaid Pantry next door. But we think it's going to fit very well, especially with the Rocket and the Burnside Bridgehead in the future. We're a part of the pioneering of the new Lower Burnside."

Faherty said he realized about three years ago that it was prime time to snatch up property along East Burnside. "We work on Southeast Oak and Sixth, so we're already part of the neighborhood. What we liked about the Central Eastside is that it's a real working men and women neighborhood, and we like the fact that Burnside, more than other streets like Hawthorne and Belmont, could become this neat little urban enclave to have retail, businesses and services to provide more of a mix and more diversity to the expanding neighborhood."

The corner of the empty lot where Bside 6 is slated to stand is currently a top spot for day laborers, who gather there everyday. Faherty said that's part of the fabric of the neighborhood. "That is something that we kind of embrace as a working neighborhood; we're not trying to displace them. They're already sort of moving down to Couch Street."

[Dougall5505]

wow i wonder how soon this could actually get started. this is huge!

[WonderlandPark]

For me, this is one of the most exciting projects in Portland, density jumps the river, and could catalyze development all over the East side, Lloyd district on south.

[urbanlife]

sounds great, I am all for the Burnside Couch couplet on the east side of the river, but completely against it on the west side of the river.

I would love to see the east side become much more dense. If Portland cant have height and buildings pushing 1000 ft high, then we might as well be as dense as we possibly can.

[der Reisender]

continuing the Lower Burnside theme, something else to look forward to: http://www.bside6.com/. not much there yet, but it will sure make that Plaid Pantry look out of place

[BrG]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Keep an eye on Works PA, they are the architects that work with Beam. They have some amazing ideas for the eastside. It could turn into quite a cool urban city over there.

Works Pa has some great things going. Hopefully they can see some of thier ideas to frutition. Thier latest condo project could be great if they can pull it off. It's a technically difficult one.

BTW, the Beam proposal ws put together by a collaboration of firms.

Ankrom Moisan, Colab and Diloreto. The principal person involved from Diloreto's office left to co-found Works PA.

Could've been a brilliant project.

[zilfondel]

I still mourn it, but we'll get something, sooner or later.

And urbanlife, why don't you like the couplet idea? I think it fits in with the rest of downtown's network, but there just isn't enough room for pedestrians with 4 lanes of traffic (the situation we have now).

[westsider]

A couplet on the west side would improve pedestrians ability to cross burnside, but at the cost of removing the only easy way across downtown for traffic. I know thinking about auto access around downtown isnt very popular but it's still necessary, and the couplet would probably make the trip from 405 to the bridge go from 3-5 min to 10 or 12.

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by westsider

A couplet on the west side would improve pedestrians ability to cross burnside, but at the cost of removing the only easy way across downtown for traffic. I know thinking about auto access around downtown isnt very popular but it's still necessary, and the couplet would probably make the trip from 405 to the bridge go from 3-5 min to 10 or 12.

Actually, the Glisan/Everett couplet is much easier going E-W than Burnside. Even the Washington/Alder couplet moves better and is more ped-friendly. There will be timed lights on the new couplet to improve the flow of traffic and eliminate the mad dash to see how many green lights you can make it through before all of the lights turn red again. That increases ped safety. It will also untangle the bottleneck at Powell's, which also helps N-S traffic along the streetcar line.

And no, it will not take 2-3 times longer to go from 405 to the bridge. If anything, it will be quicker. The projected travel times were a part of the couplet study.

[westsider]

The 2 right angle turns going westbound after the bridge will make the trip very awkward, those kind of intersections always cause a lot confusion and make for signals that cycle more frequently. The timed signals are fusterating anyway, it seems like no matter how slowly you hit the gas after the light turns green you have to brake as you approach the next. The speed limit on most streets downtown is 25, but the timed lights hold you to about 17. ( I've experimented.)

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

I still mourn it, but we'll get something, sooner or later.

And urbanlife, why don't you like the couplet idea? I think it fits in with the rest of downtown's network, but there just isn't enough room for pedestrians with 4 lanes of traffic (the situation we have now).

I just think if they wanted this, they should of built it before the Brewery Blocks went up. I never have a problem crossing Burnside when I walk, I just have to wait an extra minute or two. What bothers me about the westside of the couplet is that it would then make Couch less pedestrian friendly, and I don't think that would be best for that area.

[MarkDaMan]

The speed limit on most streets downtown is 25

actually from my understanding, the downtown speed limit is 20 MPH

[Urbanpdx]

Mark is right. I know from my experience in traffic court.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by urbanpdx

Mark is right

finally, urbanpdx sees the light

[BrG]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

I still mourn it, but we'll get something, sooner or later.

Me too, since I, along with several other individuals, was responsible for the architectural design in Brad's proposal to PDC.

C'est La Vie, for we designer types, but I felt for Brad. He really did not deserve the treatment he got from some now departed individuals at PDC.

In the long run the city should get something very nice there, as Gary Larson and his team should be able to effectively deal with a very difficult set of design problems.

My opinion: I think the biggest thing that may shift from the original proposal is the number of housing units and how the construction of them are phased. The real estate market's actions, mixed with near inviable rise in associated construction costs will make the realization of the "for-sale" housing portion, difficult in the shorter term.

What's frustrating is that the absurd length and manner of the process of selecting the developer, has severely hampered the project's ability to be financially viable. Regardless of the choice of master developer. The window of financial opportunity to achieve the projects stated goals is closing.

Rapidly.