Downtown Portland News

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by colossalorder

Random question ... does anyone know whatever happened to the Albina Yards relocation project? At 200+ acres, it almost feels like it could single-handedly solve Portland's housing shortage for a long time. So many possibilities for large scale projects - stadium, campus, markets, performance spaces, whatever. Is it totally a dead idea for some reason?

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...-property.html

https://www.plandesignxplore.com/bui.../5/albina-yard

Who exactly is this person?

"Badreddine, who goes by Moe, acknowledges he doesn’t have any experience in owning or developing land..."

[maccoinnich]

I was skeptical of the idea at the time, for that reason. It would be an incredibly difficult project for even the most experienced of developers, and the fact that Union Pacific gave no indication that the site was available made it even more unlikely.

[JWW31401]

While unlikely it certainly would be a cool project
GBD architects has some interesting renderings on what a built out of this site could look like
https://www.gbdarchitects.com/portfo.../albina-yards/

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I was skeptical of the idea at the time, for that reason. It would be an incredibly difficult project for even the most experienced of developers, and the fact that Union Pacific gave no indication that the site was available made it even more unlikely.

With the Port of Portland closing again since it can't seem to keep any ship traffic for obvious reasons, it seems like protecting our rail yards and upgrading our freight rail routes is even more important now.

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

With the Port of Portland closing again since it can't seem to keep any ship traffic for obvious reasons, it seems like protecting our rail yards and upgrading our freight rail routes is even more important now.

Now if you want to talk finding a way to provide an Amtrak only track in that ROW to drastically cut the train trip duration between Portland and Vancouver, I’m all ears.

[colossalorder]

Thx for the responses on Albina Yards. Those GBD drawings are really tantalizing. One can dream.

I would think there must be some way of preserving rail but freeing up that land, or at least some of it. To me, it just looks like a huge parking lot for railcars. Is something functional actually happening there or is it just effectively storage?

[babs]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

With the Port of Portland closing again since it can't seem to keep any ship traffic for obvious reasons, it seems like protecting our rail yards and upgrading our freight rail routes is even more important now.

There really is zero reason why freight lines can't be relocated outside it an areas. Most stuff is trucked to a rail yard anyway. Relocating the railyards makes sense the railroad can modernize their operations and could make bank on redevelopment.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by babs

There really is zero reason why freight lines can't be relocated outside it an areas. Most stuff is trucked to a rail yard anyway. Relocating the railyards makes sense the railroad can modernize their operations and could make bank on redevelopment.

I have to disagree with this in the sense that it makes it even easier to have things locally shipped via truck when the depot yards are within the city, we just need better infrastructure to get all those goods into the city.

[subterranean]

Reminds me of the several attempts (by Nitze-Stagen and Paul Allen at one point) to redevelop the Port of Seattle's Pier 46.

[Jakz]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I have to disagree with this in the sense that it makes it even easier to have things locally shipped via truck when the depot yards are within the city, we just need better infrastructure to get all those goods into the city.

The Albina yard is mostly used for train assembly and barge to train loading. It doesn't have the infrastructure needed for train to truck transfers. As urban rail yards go, it's a pretty good candidate for relocation.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Jakz

The Albina yard is mostly used for train assembly and barge to train loading. It doesn't have the infrastructure needed for train to truck transfers. As urban rail yards go, it's a pretty good candidate for relocation.

That is true, I was more referring to the Brooklyn Yard. With the Albina Yard, it is a very isolated area that I am not sure is a good candidate for redevelopments to anything other than what it is being used for now. Terminal 2 and The Squish would be a better candidate for redevelopment.

Now if Trimet were to be aggressive with expanding light rail, I could see a spur come off the Yellow line, run through the Albina Yard and out to St John's. If that were to happen, then it would definitely make sense to redevelop that area into a new urban district.

[maccoinnich]

I haven't been to either yet, but I see that the new Stumptown in 11W and the temporary Nike store in Pioneer Place are both now open.