Portland Infill | Northwest Portland

[maccoinnich]

The NWDA has appealed the City Council decision on 1727 NW Hoyt to LUBA.

Shameful.

[subterranean]

With what legal rationale? I hope they get laughed out of court.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by subterranean

With what legal rationale? I hope they get laughed out of court.

It's not clear, yet. People who provided testimony received a notice of intent to appeal, but no further information.

I doubt they'll be successful on the merits, but they may be successful in killing the project through endless delay.

[maccoinnich]

Design Advice Drawings [6 MB] and Staff Memo for the Modera Nicolai.

[MarkDaMan]

Rendering in article, subscription required: https://www.bizjournals.com/portland...761#g/450247/3

Creative office project coming to a transforming pocket of Northwest Portland (Renderings)
By Jon Bell – Staff Reporter, Portland Business Journal
4 hours ago

An old gear and machine works factory will become some of the newest creative office space to emerge in a transforming corner of Northwest Portland.

Sturgeon Development Partners acquired the former Premier Gear & Machine Works factory at 1700 N.W. Thurman St. in 2017 for $6.75 million. Working with Lorentz Bruun Construction and LRS Architects, SDP is revamping the existing structures — four buildings across an entire city block — into a creative office space.

Work will include a renovation of the shell and core, a new mezzanine level, entrances and windows and a sizable outdoor terrace. Plans also include a full seismic upgrade. The renovation will also keep in place some of the hoists, crane rails and 20-foot-tall ceilings left over from the space's former life.

...(continues)

[bvpcvm]

Montgomery Park sold to Unico

The Naito family sold its signature property, Montgomery Park, to a Seattle-based developer for $300 million April 1. Unico Properties LLC intends to keep the 1920 landmark building while turning the 18-acre parcel “into a vibrant extension of Slabtown and ultimately, a live-work-play neighborhood.”
Unlike other land north of Northwest Vaughn Street, this 18-acre parcel is already zoned for residential development.

It occurred to me that this might be an April fool's joke, but google shows an article in the Portland Business Journal as well (subscription required).

[Rob Nob]

Maybe off topic, but everything about that paper gets my blood boiling. It is like a whole paper of opinion editorials by ONE GUY, and an extreme NIMBY at that.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by Rob Nob

Maybe off topic, but everything about that paper gets my blood boiling. It is like a whole paper of opinion editorials by ONE GUY, and an extreme NIMBY at that.

Take the word "like" out of your quote and you've perfectly described the...uhum...paper.

[maccoinnich]

LUBA has affirmed the City's decision re: the affordable housing at NW 18th & Hoyt and denied the appeal of the Northwest District Association.

[downtownpdx]

Long vacant corner on NW 23rd to become apartments

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...partments.html

By Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The new owners of a prominent but long vacant corner storefront on Northwest 23rd Avenue in Portland plan to tear it down and build a five-story apartment building.

The building, at the corner of Northwest 23rd Avenue and Northrup Street, was previously home to the 24-hour Quality Pie diner. The restaurant, popular with 1980s punk rockers and club crowds, closed in 1992 after 58 years and the corner has been vacant ever since. An adjacent building that would also be redeveloped housed Shogun’s Gallery, an antiques store, until 2017.

[2oh1]

That's fantastic news.

I've never understood how that spot could stay vacant for decades. I assumed it would get snapped up when the streetcar went in... but another 18 years went by.

[downtownpdx]

I know, I always thought that was crazy how long it sat there. I think I read something years ago about the owners just not bothering to fix it up for whatever reason, just didn't really care to. This'll be a great infill location, hopefully an attractive building too.

[NOPO]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

I know, I always thought that was crazy how long it sat there. I think I read something years ago about the owners just not bothering to fix it up for whatever reason, just didn't really care to. This'll be a great infill location, hopefully an attractive building too.

We have so many of these spots around the city just crying for development.

[eric cantona]

having a chili and cheese omelet Quality Pie at 4am was one of my favorite things to do in my 20's and 30's. Just a delightfully freaky scene.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by NOPO

We have so many of these spots around the city just crying for development.

That's true... but this one in particular is just plain crazy to have sat vacant for so long. This one is on NW 23rd, a trendy shopping street with tons of foot traffic. Not only that, it's next to one of the busiest streetcar stops, which means even more foot traffic. And as if that's not enough, it's so close to the hospital.

Even if the only thing they'd done was fix up the building and rent it out, they'd have gotten twenty seven years of income.

Twenty Seven Years!

...wow.

I can't even begin to understand it.

The spot across the street from Nordstrom, on SW Morrison & Park is another one that I don't understand why it's been vacant for so long. It's a block off Pioneer Square, and it's been vacant for how long? A decade?

[NOPO]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

That's true... but this one in particular is just plain crazy to have sat vacant for so long. This one is on NW 23rd, a trendy shopping street with tons of foot traffic. Not only that, it's next to one of the busiest streetcar stops, which means even more foot traffic. And as if that's not enough, it's so close to the hospital.

Even if the only thing they'd done was fix up the building and rent it out, they'd have gotten twenty seven years of income.

Twenty Seven Years!

...wow.

I can't even begin to understand it.

The spot across the street from Nordstrom, on SW Morrison & Park is another one that I don't understand why it's been vacant for so long. It's a block off Pioneer Square, and it's been vacant for how long? A decade?

Yeah, I don’t understand this either. Wouldn’t they make more money maxing out what zoning would allow with mixed use mid to high rises?

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Long vacant corner on NW 23rd to become apartments

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...partments.html

By Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

t
That is awesome news, I am guessing the out of state owner of that building finally sold it to someone would actually do something with it.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

That's true... but this one in particular is just plain crazy to have sat vacant for so long. This one is on NW 23rd, a trendy shopping street with tons of foot traffic. Not only that, it's next to one of the busiest streetcar stops, which means even more foot traffic. And as if that's not enough, it's so close to the hospital.

Even if the only thing they'd done was fix up the building and rent it out, they'd have gotten twenty seven years of income.

Twenty Seven Years!

...wow.

I can't even begin to understand it.

The spot across the street from Nordstrom, on SW Morrison & Park is another one that I don't understand why it's been vacant for so long. It's a block off Pioneer Square, and it's been vacant for how long? A decade?

It has been a long time since I had read about this building, I think there was once an article write up about it. If I remember correctly, it was owned by someone out of state, possibly a part of an estate that someone inherited, and they gave zero shits about this property and had no interest in doing anything with it or even bothering to rent it. My guess is someone finally came along and offered the owner enough money to justify to sell it.


As for the building on Morrison, it was once a jewelry store that was one of the many victims of the Great Recession. I want to say I remember something about McDonalds wanting to open up in that spot, but either backed out or it was just a random April Fools joke, can't remember which. It is odd that it is still vacant with all the changes that have happened around that building.

[downtownpdx]

^^ There's a sign in the window, advertising that Morrison building, alluding to a redevelopment. Just looks like cosmetic stuff, but still... Something besides a fenced-off corner would be nice. I remember reading about PAW when it was first proposed, around 2005 (?), and the article talked up Morrison St. as becoming a new retail center rivaling Vancouver BC's Robson Street etc. Hmmm. The renovation of the Yamhill garage will help, and actually leasing the prime corner on Broadway. But brick and mortar retail just isn't what it was when PAW started. In this economy that street should be full.

[soleri]

When you see a long-vacant building that by all logic should be occupied, the best explanation I think is that the owner wants an ungodly sum for it. The Real-Estate Industrial Complex has lobbied for a goody bag of deductions, exclusions, and write-downs that virtually pay them for doing nothing.