4W (419 SW Washington) | xx' | 30 floors | Dead - Page 10

58rhodes · #**181** Posted **Feb 25, 2017, 1:12 AM**

hope they can secure financing--thanks for the info--thats definitely prime property.

urbanlife · #**182** Posted **Mar 2, 2017, 7:11 AM**

I kind of wish that tower would have been built when the based of it was built back in the day. It would have been such an interesting tower from that era....it might not have been good looking, but it would have definitely been interesting.

DNFan · #**183** Posted **Jul 18, 2017, 9:33 AM**

Hi, I just noticed the 4W site is fenced off. I hadn't been by there in a long time. Is something getting ready to happen or is it just permanently fenced off now? Just curious....

maccoinnich · #**184** Posted **Jul 18, 2017, 3:11 PM**

There are no permits listed on portlandmaps.com. The Design Review application is still listed as "incomplete". Because they didn't get the application deemed complete within 180 days of submittal I think they means they've lost their vesting in the pre-IZ code.

MarkDaMan · #**185** Posted **Jul 18, 2017, 4:47 PM**

I walked past this weekend and notice a new "for sale" sign that hadn't previously been there.

Socinus · #**186** Posted **Jul 18, 2017, 5:02 PM**

By all appearance the for sale accounts for the three quarter block including the Key Bank building, which would make for a nice potential development.

The fencing was erected around 419 Washington because following the departure of the last tenant, the building had become an outdoor latrine for the homeless, as well as a site of a number of overdoses. I believe the landlord put up the fences to cut down on the amount of complaints they were receiving.

downtownpdx · #**187** Posted **Jun 5, 2018, 4:57 AM**

Sorry to revive this thread, hope I didn't get many hopes up... But I've noticed the 5th avenue side of this is now fenced off, too. It was leased by a Key Bank, so does anyone know, did they close or move? Are the owners moving ahead with some kind of redevelopment?

urbanlife · #**188** Posted **Jun 5, 2018, 6:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Sorry to revive this thread, hope I didn't get many hopes up... But I've noticed the 5th avenue side of this is now fenced off, too. It was leased by a Key Bank, so does anyone know, did they close or move? Are the owners moving ahead with some kind of redevelopment?

My guess is its to keep the homeless out more than anything.

Socinus · #**189** Posted **Jun 5, 2018, 4:46 PM**

I've said it elsewhere, but with the Health department vacating the McCoy building on the Northwest corner of the block, I hope that a whole block redevelopment can occur. The cost of retrofitting the McCoy to be earthquake safe was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20million+, I can't see retaining the building as economical.

urbanlife · #**190** Posted **Jun 6, 2018, 6:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Socinus

I've said it elsewhere, but with the Health department vacating the McCoy building on the Northwest corner of the block, I hope that a whole block redevelopment can occur. The cost of retrofitting the McCoy to be earthquake safe was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20million+, I can't see retaining the building as economical.

I would hate to lose the McCoy building, but I can see it ending up being torn down to make way for a whole block building. Especially seeing that block sits in a 15:1 FAR and has a height limit of 460ft.

2oh1 · #**191** Posted **Jun 7, 2018, 7:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I would hate to lose the McCoy building, but I can see it ending up being torn down to make way for a whole block building. Especially seeing that block sits in a 15:1 FAR and has a height limit of 460ft.

Is the Key Bank building coming down? ...I'm not sure what the proper name for that building is, but I have a soft spot in my heart for that pair of buildings, though they both need some serious work.

I have a weird thing for patterns. I do street photography (as a hobby) and tend to shoot things like patterns. This is one of my favorites of the back of that building.

maccoinnich · #**192** Posted **Jun 8, 2018, 2:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Socinus

I've said it elsewhere, but with the Health department vacating the McCoy building on the Northwest corner of the block, I hope that a whole block redevelopment can occur. The cost of retrofitting the McCoy to be earthquake safe was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20million+, I can't see retaining the building as economical.

Intuitively that makes a lot of sense, but the the McCoy build is listed as having a market value of $14,938,600. I can't imagine a developer paying that much for the land alone. A seismic retrofit wouldn't be required if the occupancy and occupant load remains then same. So even if the county can't get the full market value on the sale I still assume that a developer planning a refurbishment of the building would be willing to pay more than a developer planning to demolish it.

urbanlife · #**193** Posted **Jun 8, 2018, 6:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2oh1

Is the Key Bank building coming down? ...I'm not sure what the proper name for that building is, but I have a soft spot in my heart for that pair of buildings, though they both need some serious work.

I have a weird thing for patterns. I do street photography (as a hobby) and tend to shoot things like patterns. This is one of my favorites of the back of that building.

Fantastic photo, as for what is coming down. I have no idea. Beyond them being fenced off and empty, it is just a waiting game if anyone wants to renovate them, tear one of them down or tear them all down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Intuitively that makes a lot of sense, but the the McCoy build is listed as having a market value of $14,938,600. I can't imagine a developer paying that much for the land alone. A seismic retrofit wouldn't be required if the occupancy and occupant load remains then same. So even if the county can't get the full market value on the sale I still assume that a developer planning a refurbishment of the building would be willing to pay more than a developer planning to demolish it.

That is my hope, I could see the building being saved and renovated so that it's FAR could be used on a building for the rest of the block. Ideally the cost of retrofitting would be added into the cost of building a new tower around the building. My only reasoning for tearing it down would create a full block to build an underground garage with a new building on top, but with the push for less parking and being more creative with half and 3/4 block underground garages, the need for tearing the McCoy down would be very limited.

Socinus · #**194** Posted **Jun 13, 2018, 6:06 PM**

I was on this block yesterday and overheard several realtors discussing challenges with the McCoy building on the Northwest corner. The problem is that the structure is not conducive to conversion to a hotel, and the floorplates aren't optimal for a single business. Likely building would need to be carved up in to smaller office spaces. The realtors seemed to think it would be a tough sell.

urbanlife · #**195** Posted **Jun 14, 2018, 3:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Socinus

I was on this block yesterday and overheard several realtors discussing challenges with the McCoy building on the Northwest corner. The problem is that the structure is not conducive to conversion to a hotel, and the floorplates aren't optimal for a single business. Likely building would need to be carved up in to smaller office spaces. The realtors seemed to think it would be a tough sell.

The thing with old buildings like this is they should be used as a place for small businesses to open up into that don't need a lot of space, but want to have that access to downtown. Unfortunately that would mean the building wouldn't make as much of rent since it would be a B or C class office space. For a developer, it makes more sense to tear the building down to build a large A class office/mixed use building on that block. In the end this hurts small businesses that could fill downtown's older buildings.

johnliu · #**196** Posted **Jun 14, 2018, 5:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by urbanlife

The thing with old buildings like this is they should be used as a place for small businesses to open up into that don't need a lot of space, but want to have that access to downtown. Unfortunately that would mean the building wouldn't make as much of rent since it would be a B or C class office space. For a developer, it makes more sense to tear the building down to build a large A class office/mixed use building on that block. In the end this hurts small businesses that could fill downtown's older buildings.

WeWork and similar shared workspaces could use a building like that.

urbanlife · #**197** Posted **Jun 14, 2018, 6:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnliu

WeWork and similar shared workspaces could use a building like that.

That is what I was most sad about losing the office building that is now the High Low Hotel because that was a great building for a start up company needing space downtown that didn't have high rents.

maccoinnich · #**198** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 4:27 AM**

If you're curious about the 4W might have looked like, the land is for sale again.

urbanlife · #**199** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 5:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

If you're curious about the 4W might have looked like, the land is for sale again.

The building would have been nice, but $10mill for the site seems steep, though the quarter block behind it on fifth is also going for $10mill, so if a developer wanted to own 3/4 of the block to build a tower, they would be looking at spending $20mill just to acquire the land. My guess is those buildings will probably sit vacant for quite some time. Block 216 sold for about $3.7mill for the whole block (provided I read Portland Maps correctly.)

AdamUrbanist · #**200** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 5:57 AM**

3.7 million for a prime whole block site like 216 sounds low.

The rendering for the 4W site shows 28 stories Almost entirely filling out the site. If it were residential that would translate to over 500 units. At that scale 10.5 million is something like $20,000 per unit which In itself does not seem unworkable in my mind. Of course that also assumes you could make such a substantial project pencil out and find an investor willing to finance it.