Washington County (Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Forest Grove, etc.)

[Nunya]

Looks like Nike has begun the application for the first permits for its expansion in Beaverton:

http://www.co.washington.or.us/LUT/D...ic-notices.cfm

d-development review of two office buildings totaling 561,000 square feet & a 1,400 space parking structure

http://washims.co.washington.or.us/c...172/13-172.pdf

Anyone have any details yet on what this thing will look like?

Edited to add: Technically Nike isn't part of Beaverton but I didn't know where else to stick this. Perhapse Nike should have their own thread in the Suburbs.

[urbanlife]

Any news on Amber Glen in Hillsboro, curious if we will see this idea come to reality.

[BrG]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Any news on Amber Glen in Hillsboro, curious if we will see this idea come to reality.

Drove by it yesterday. Sitework, foundation and first floor columns are rising. Very busy construction site.

[MarkDaMan]

Platform District: Final public open house delayed as Hillsboro and developer continue to study oak tree
By Andrew Theen, The Oregonian
on July 15, 2013 at 12:36 PM, updated July 15, 2013 at 4:30 PM

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/...incart_m-rpt-2

Hillsboro and Holland Partners Group are postponing the third and final open house on a $120 million mixed-use project in Orenco.

The delay is to allow further study of one white Oak tree, the largest of three trees situated on TriMet property near the Platform District at Orenco development. The original meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, but city officials said the project can't proceed with a preferred design for the roughly half-acre plaza in the massive development until some questions are answered.

"We have some folks that are concerned about the trees and have asked that we go a little deeper," Mary Loftin, parks & recreation community resources manager, said.

The major question: What is the extent of decay inside the trunk of a 49-inch tree with low swooping limbs, which is widely considered the most picturesque of the small grove of oaks?

Hillsboro and Holland released a joint arborist report on the health of the three trees last month around the Orenco/N.W 231st Avenue MAX station. Arborists recommended keeping one of the trees and removing one. The third and largest oak was determined to pose "moderate risk" to the community if and when the 579-unit Platform District is constructed.

Dan Bloom, a resident of old Orenco, requested further analysis of the largest tree to determine the full extent of decay and damage. The tree has carpenter worms, according to the arborist report.

[MarkDaMan]

After years of close calls, 2 new hotels set to break ground in Hillsboro, bringing 'landmark' to U.S. 26
By Andrew Theen, The Oregonian
on July 18, 2013 at 3:29 PM

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/...incart_m-rpt-2

Two large hotels are coming to Hillsboro, ending years of near misses for developers of a project that city officials say will create a "landmark" along U.S. 26.
Construction on both projects, a seven-story 165-room Embassy Suites adjacent to a four-story 106-room Hampton Inn & Suites, is expected to begin within the next few weeks.

"The good news is it's definitely on," Gary Griffiths, principal with Salt Lake City area developer Western States Lodging, said. "It's a question of when."

...

[philopdx]

I was wondering what happened with this development.

[Nunya]

Pretty cool graphic on Nike's campus in Beaverton showing details on how they acquired all of the various portions of their main campus.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...ve-map-of.html

[philopdx]

D1X Mod 2:

[bvpcvm]

Beaverton set to lease city-owned land for affordable housing project

Two housing developers are expected to lease city-owned land next month as plans move forward to build an affordable-housing project in downtown Beaverton.

The city council will vote in August on leasing the city block surrounded by Southwest First Street, Southwest Lombard Avenue, Southwest Second Street and Southwest Chapman Avenue for at least 75 years to Community Partners for Affordable Housing and developer Roy Kim.

Community Partners, which plans to build 48 units of affordable housing on the site, would pay $20 a year. Kim, who plans to build 44 residential units along with retail and office space, would pay market-rate rent.

Rendering:

[philopdx]

I like it. That may very well be the tallest thing in downtown Beaverton once it's done, not counting the library.

[philopdx]

The Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites broke ground today. I work a block down from the site, so you can expect frequent updates! :-D

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/...incart_m-rpt-2

[MarkDaMan]

Platform District: Plaza designs revealed as developer hopes to put 'exclamation point' on Orenco Station
By Andrew Theen, The Oregonian
on August 20, 2013 at 5:04 PM, updated August 20, 2013 at 5:36 PM

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/..._river_default

At times this summer, Mike Zilis said, blueprints for the urban plaza at the heart of Hillsboro's Platform District at Orenco seemed to evolve almost daily, depending on the latest phone call.

Zilis, principal at Walker Macy, the venerable Portland-based landscape architecture and design firm, said plans varied "immensely" as he awaited word on the fate of three white oaks.

They're in, they're out, they're in again, Zilis said, reflecting on the ever-evolving saga of the oak grove near TriMet's Orenco/N.W. 231st Avenue MAX station.

Now Zilis and Holland Partners Group, the Vancouver-based developer behind the $120 million mixed-use community at Orenco Station, know definitively that two trees will remain.

By the end of 2015, if all goes according to plan, three new six-story buildings will tower where vacant fields once stood. At the center, Holland and Hillsboro city officials envision a lively plaza with restaurants and bars, a water feature, colorful pergola and a raised deck area underneath the plaza's new focal point: the trees.

...

"It fits in," Wiley Gibson, an Orenco-area resident said of the plaza and Platform District designs. "The architects have done a really good job of making it fit into Orenco Station itself."

Fred Butsch, who attended both previous open houses, said he was "skeptical and disappointed" at the original designs for the buildings and plaza. But Holland has since revised the buildings' appearance, and pushed the east building's footprint east. Butsch is sold on the changes.

"It seems like a much better plan," he said, citing the added greenery, more benches and different building facades. Many of the benches and chairs will be movable, Zilis said.

Steve Marsh said Holland appeared to be listening to the community's needs, saying the revisions were more than mere "window-dressing."

Marsh and Butsch are optimistic about the area's viability. "We use the MAX a lot," Marsh said. "So it's going to be an opportunity to see it grow and come to fruition."

...

[Derek]

Gotta love it...

jmourada
What a complete waste of money! If Hillsboro and Metro think that this is going to attract serious residents, they just don't understand the nature of those that could afford to live in such a corny place.

The established engineers and employees of Intel (lets face it, that is who they are thinking of) want HOUSES with YARDS and BIG LOTS. Only the newest of college graduates will consider cramped sardine cans next to a noise factory like MAX tracks. And they won't stay long. Eventually the whole place will be low income. (Nothing wrong with that, but the tax benefits to Hillsboro and the prestige to Metro will be long long gone.
59 Minutes Ago ·

[pdxtraveler]

Hillsboro has been making some good decisions lately! Beaverton tries, but they seem to have some problems with it actually working..

[Nunya]

My understanding is that two of the three are slated to break ground in either September or October. The third (westernmost) will follow on sometime afterwards, likely in early 2014.

I also expect the oak trees to die. They are diseased and probably should be removed, but are being kept to satisfy neighbors conerns. My guess is that the added stress of construction will be too much for them and they will die regardless of efforts to save them.

I'm very pro tree but I think they'd be better off taking them out and planning the space around new trees that will be able to grow into the space. If/when the large trees do die then you have designed a space around large trees that are gone.

[davehogan]

Elsewhere in Hillsboro, The Oregonian had a piece on two new hotels. A seven floor Embassy Suites and a four floor Hampton Inn.

[RainDog]

Hmmmm this appears to be the rendering of the Embassy Suites from their website. Nothing special, just what you would expect.

[davehogan]

It looks like the new version of the traditional Embassy Suites "atrium" that I've heard about. I've been in a lot of Embassy Suites branded hotels, and that's a bit different from what I'm used to. Typically they're a square around a central atrium, that looks like the open space has been moved to the front which I've heard they've been doing but haven't really kept up with.

I can't think of many other buildings that far out on US-26 that have that kind of visual impact from the highway.

I wonder how long before someone wants to build a 12+ story building in Hillsboro? Are there any already that I'm not thinking of?

[Derek]

I just realized how much Orenco Station reminds me of The Yards at Union Station.

[owennnn]