Broadway Corridor (Post Office Redevelopment) | Proposed

[maccoinnich]

Unanimous vote at City Council today to increase heights at Post Office site to 250' south of Johnson and 400' north of Johnson. Base FAR goes up to 7:1, bonusable to 10:1.

[WestCoast]

I don’t get the constant fawning over Amazon.

It’s Wal-Mart online. I don’t know why so many people can’t help themselves to sell out to Amazon. Very strange to me.

Wonder if everyone would be all excited if SEARS was interested in taking over the Post Office site...

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

I don’t get the constant fawning over Amazon.

It’s Wal-Mart online. I don’t know why so many people can’t help themselves to sell out to Amazon. Very strange to me.

Wonder if everyone would be all excited if SEARS was interested in taking over the Post Office site...

I don't think Portland is fawning over them, though when any big corporation is looking for a new headquarters, just about any city would be willing to take them. This is just the first time a corporation has made their idea to add a second headquarters into a public bid.

With Portland, offering up the Post Office site makes the most sense because of it being a large chunk of land downtown that the city owns. If any company called up Portland and wanted to build a headquarters campus, that would be the site the city offers. If Amazon is looking for a second location in the northwest, then Portland is the logical choice for them, but if they are not, then we obviously had no shot at getting them anyway.

[justrmor]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

I don’t get the constant fawning over Amazon.

It’s Wal-Mart online. I don’t know why so many people can’t help themselves to sell out to Amazon. Very strange to me.

Wonder if everyone would be all excited if SEARS was interested in taking over the Post Office site...

I agree. I hope Amazon chooses another city. In my opinion, the post office site is going to be a lot nicer if the city develops it rather than Amazon.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Wonder if everyone would be all excited if SEARS was interested in taking over the Post Office site...

Sears in its heyday? Absolutely. Sears, as it is today? ...and I'm not talking about the stores so much as the vitality of the company as a whole... Of course not.

That being said... I'm not sure if I want Amazon to choose Portland. Would the post office site be better as an Amazon campus than as a diverse district? We're talking about almost 12 city blocks. What would the arrival of Amazon do to the rest of the housing market here? Would it further drive up prices? It seems like it would.

[curt-pdx]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Wonder if everyone would be all excited if SEARS was interested in taking over the Post Office site...

Interesting article on The Atlantic website by Derek Thompson from Sept 25, 2017:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business...amazon/540888/

The History of Sears Predicts Nearly Everything Amazon Is Doing

"One hundred years ago, a retail giant that shipped millions of products by mail moved swiftly into the brick-and-mortar business, changing it forever. Is that happening again?"

Same cycle of a retail outlet, it's just been accelerated by a factor of 5 - so another 10 years and the pdx post office amazon campus would be a ghost town?

[AcmeGreg]

Totally out of place for Portland. Needs to be in a very large city that can absorb all those minions... major airline hub etc. Logistically it would make sense for them to locate a second HQ in the midwest or east coast, rather than in the PNW.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by curt-pdx

Same cycle of a retail outlet, it's just been accelerated by a factor of 5 - so another 10 years and the pdx post office amazon campus would be a ghost town?

The Sears Tower isn't a ghost town. It has a new name of course...

The First National Bank Tower here in Portland isn't a ghost town either. It's now known as Wells Fargo Tower ("Wells Fargo Center" actually).

If Amazon builds a campus here and the company were to someday go under, or whatever, they'd sell the property.

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

The Sears Tower isn't a ghost town. It has a new name of course...

The First National Bank Tower here in Portland isn't a ghost town either. It's now known as Wells Fargo Tower ("Wells Fargo Center" actually).

If Amazon builds a campus here and the company were to someday go under, or whatever, they'd sell the property.

I think hes just saying what goes around comes around--Its just something to think about?

[HillsboroTech]

http://www.kgw.com/tech/amazon-top-e...onal/482481671

[innovativethinking]

And that’s that

[urbanlife]

And we are out of the Amazon running. It falls into my speculation, Portland was the best bet if they wanted a second HQ in the Northwest, but if not, then we had no shot to begin with. Also why I am not surprised there wasn't much effort put into it beyond offering up the Postal site.

Hearing that they are looking for a different environment to open up their options for employees makes me think they are gonna end up in Denver or Dallas.

[MarkDaMan]

Portland, not waiting for Amazon, moves forward with Post Office plan
Updated 7:05 PM; Posted 4:49 PM
By Anna Marum amarum@oregonian.com
The Oregonian/OregonLive

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/i...art_river_home

Updated at 6:22 p.m.

Even if Amazon chooses another city for its second headquarters, Portland has big plans for the Pearl District Post Office site – including affordable housing and living-wage jobs.

The city's urban renewal agency, Prosper Portland, on Wednesday opened the door for developers to submit applications to craft a master plan for the 32 acres at the base of the Broadway Bridge. Officials anticipate redevelopment of the newly dubbed Broadway Corridor district would bring in more than $1 billion in investment.

The request envisions a high-density, mixed-used neighborhood that would benefit from the nearby Amtrak train station and serve as a gateway to the city.

...(continues)

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Portland, not waiting for Amazon, moves forward with Post Office plan
Updated 7:05 PM; Posted 4:49 PM
By Anna Marum amarum@oregonian.com
The Oregonian/OregonLive

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/i...art_river_home

Just goes to show that the Amazon bid was always a half-assed bid that no one in the city cared about, nor should they. This has to be the one massive project that I am the most excited about because it has the potential to being Portland's version of the Rockefeller Center, Portland style.

[innovativethinking]

I wonder what “bold and iconic” will result in. I am happy Ted Wheeler is encouraging planners to go all in for this project. Do you guys think a new tallest will go here?

This and Wheelers support for the riverplace high rise development, I’m really liking our mayor

[maccoinnich]

The council just rezoned the north half of the site to allow buildings of up to 400'. So, no, we wouldn't see the tallest building in Portland built here. We could conceivably see the tallest building north of Burnside built—but that's very dependent on market conditions.

[Natural]

IMO, the best opportunity for a new tallest in Portland would come in the form of a giant Corporation relocation downtown. There always seems to be enough "Teaser Towers" in the pipeline to meet supply and will not happen organically. In the residential space, it could happen during a possible future hot economic cycle in 5-7 years if the market is advantages. I have no doubt that PDX is knocking at the door, elevating to a major city status...though it still needs to rid itself of the small town, inferiority complex mindset shrouding future success/progress.

[eeldip]

900 feet.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i...rt_river_index

[Derek]

If only...

Hell I’d be happy if it was 650 feet...

[Phil McAvity]

Portland firm unveils lofty proposal for tallest building on the west coast
by KATU StaffMonday, November 13th 2017

Design proposal for skyscraper courtesy William Kaven Architecture

PORTLAND, Ore. – A Portland-based architecture firm released a redevelopment plan for the city’s U.S. Postal Service headquarters that includes a skyscraper designed to be the tallest building on the west coast.
William/Kaven and Kaven + Co. released an image of what they hope to add to Portland's skyline on Monday as a proposal for the USPS headquarters in northwest Portland.
The postal facility and surrounding properties are managed by the city’s urban renewal agency, Prosper Portland, and are included in something called the Broadway Corridor project. The city said it is looking for development ideas that would help invigorate the neighborhood while connecting to Old Town/Chinatown and the Pearl District . The city has not issued a response to the design.
The image shows an enormous two-tower skyscraper that would reach up to 970 feet tall.
For scale, the Wells Fargo Center is currently Portland's tallest building at 546 feet, followed by the U.S. Bancorp Tower (AKA Big Pink) at 536 feet.
It would serve as the USPS’s new high-speed transportation hub, however Daniel Kaven - partner and founder of the companies behind the design – said the towers and surrounding buildings would offera mix of retail, office, and residential spaces to create a neighborhood feel.
“The city of Portland, currently, is devoid of iconic buildings – at least any that a tourist or foreign architect might recognize,” Kaven recently said in an op-ed piece published on DJC Oregon. “It is easily established that great buildings drive tourism and generate money.”
Another consideration that might keep the skyscraper from coming to the Portland cityscape is the city’s building height limits. The Central City 2035 Plan is working to protect the scenic views throughout the city.

http://katu.com/news/local/portland-...the-west-coast

Whoever wrote this isn't familiar with either San Francisco or Los Angeles