South Waterfront News

[Nunya]

Mostly a tease but hopefully where there is smoke there is fire in the not to distant future.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...-creative.html

Quote from one of the Zidell family in the article:

"We are keenly evaluating the office market and believe that we are well positioned to build creative office space," said French. "As values and work cultures have changed over time, so have the priorities for for what companies are looking for in their office space."

Quote from the article author:

a major office development in South Waterfront could be a game-changer for tech companies and other creative businesses.

Not sure the quotes attributed in the article imply 'major' or there was additional things unquoted, but I'd be happy with something major.

[maccoinnich]

Some great photos if you click through:

Making connections: the Collaborative Life Sciences Building



BY BRIAN LIBBY

At the Collaborative Life Sciences Building, there is a lot going on.

For starters, it’s really not one building that comprises its 650,000 square feet but three: the 12-story Skourtes Tower on the north end, the smaller South Bar to the south, and a large glass-ensconced atrium in between that includes wood-wrapped auditoriums at the building’s front and back entrances.

There are also three different schools occupying a variety of classroom, laboratory and office spaces located here: Oregon Health & Sciences University is moving the first two years of its MD program to the CLSB, as well as its entire School of Dentistry. Oregon State has its joint program with OHSU in pharmacy here and Portland State University has moved its undergraduate biology and chemistry departments to the building.

Having this cross-section of institutions and students (some 3,000 will come here each day) isn’t just a matter of the trio of schools pooling their resources. It’s also a chance to encourage the kind of cross-disciplinary interaction between students and faculty that often leads to scientific breakthroughs and synergies.

...continues at Portland Architecture.

[maccoinnich]

Didn't agree with the WWeek's decision to name Gert Boyle as the donor, but I'm glad that they're able to make lemonade out of it:

The story behind Gert Boyle's $100-million gift for cancer research at Oregon Health & Science University



Behind the $100-million donation that Gert Boyle made anonymously to Oregon Health & Science University last month was a seven-year friendship based on the memory of her late sister, Hildegard Lamfrom.

On Friday OHSU for the first time confirmed that Boyle, the chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear, made the mystery donation announced last month. The announcement came in the form of a humorous Facebook video after Boyle agreed to release the institution from its confidentiality commitment to her.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[davehogan]

Apparently SoWa has a bit of demand. My friend was telling me he just got notice that since his one year lease is up his rent will increase from $1050 to $1450 if he wants to stay in his apartment.

[innovativethinking]

Originally Posted by davehogan

Apparently SoWa has a bit of demand. My friend was telling me he just got notice that since his one year lease is up his rent will increase from $1050 to $1450 if he wants to stay in his apartment.

Geez that's a huge jump

[2oh1]

Yikes. I didn't realize Oregon doesn't have laws to prevent rent from being jacked up that much for tenants. Holy cow, that's more than a 1/3 increase in a single year.

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

Yikes. I didn't realize Oregon doesn't have laws to prevent rent from being jacked up that much for tenants. Holy cow, that's more than a 1/3 increase in a single year.

I should clarify. I found out they were on their second six month lease, but hadn't been there a year yet when they got notice. Apparently after a year the rules are tighter, but for the first year it's pretty lax.

[maccoinnich]

Zidell cleanup earns national kudos for shoreline restoration, soil work



The $20 million, private-funded cleanup of the Zidell Yards property has won top honors from the American Society of Civil Engineers Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute. The 32-acre parcel is south of the Ross Island Bridge and is being re-imagined as a mixed use development by the owner, ZRZ Real Estate.

Wendy Culverwell

The American Society of Civil Engineers Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute has honored the cleanup of the Zidell Yards property in Portland with its 2014 Project Excellence Award.

The cleanup of a 32-acre parcel on the Willamette following a century of industrial activity won in the large project category.

The award recognized the complexity of the privately funded $20 million project, completed by ZRZ Realty, which owns the property, and Maul Foster & Alongi.

...continues at Portland Business Journal.

[urbanlife]

South Waterfront looks so weird when it is photographed by itself without anything downtown in the background. It makes it look like it is out of place and like Portland is trying to build a new downtown. But when the photo is to the north and you can see downtown, it makes it look like Downtown is just massively expanding.

[innovativethinking]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

South Waterfront looks so weird when it is photographed by itself without anything downtown in the background. It makes it look like it is out of place and like Portland is trying to build a new downtown. But when the photo is to the north and you can see downtown, it makes it look like Downtown is just massively expanding.

Imagine if those buildings were all within that gap between the big pink and the Wells Fargo building

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by innovativethinking

Imagine if those buildings were all within that gap between the big pink and the Wells Fargo building

Oh I know, I would love to see the West End get a bunch of residential buildings like what is in SoWa.

[Sioux612]

The whole district has an awkward feel to it. SoWa = Meh. However, I still have hope for the Zidell property.

You have a row of 32-floor towers surrounded by a row of 6-floor buildings - with more in the works? It wouldn't be as bad if these low-rise buildings weren't designed so cheaply.

[cityscapes]

Originally Posted by Sioux612

The whole district has an awkward feel to it. SoWa = Meh. However, I still have hope for the Zidell property.

You have a row of 32-floor towers surrounded by a row of 6-floor buildings - with more in the works? It wouldn't be as bad if these low-rise buildings weren't designed so cheaply.

This is very true and it is awkward looking and feeling now but once there are taller buildings built there it won't look as weird. In that picture you can see just how much vacant land is still there to build on, once that's built up and the Zidell property gets developed and cohesively links SOWA to the OHSU area and Downtown it will feel like a real neighborhood.

[bvpcvm]

It's kind of funny how there's all this hype about all the development in Portland, and much more growth on the way (the article in the Times a couple days ago about climate refugees, for example), plus we have a ridiculously low vacancy rate -- and yet, mostly what we're getting is 5 story apts on Williams and Division (yes, there are other big projects scattered around too, but I'm talking numbers of projects in a given area). Why is so little happening in sowa, given all the empty land? I know there are a couple small projects there too, but I would expect to see 4 or 5 taller towers at least in the planning stages, given the market. At least *something* over 5 stories. And given how central it is, I would expect projects of a similar scale in downtown, too. What's wrong with this picture?

[maccoinnich]

I would guess that people are still feeling burned by 2008. There are three pretty tall buildings going up adjacent to each other in the North Pearl. That's probably where developers and lenders feel that there is money to be made.

[innovativethinking]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

It's kind of funny how there's all this hype about all the development in Portland, and much more growth on the way (the article in the Times a couple days ago about climate refugees, for example), plus we have a ridiculously low vacancy rate -- and yet, mostly what we're getting is 5 story apts on Williams and Division (yes, there are other big projects scattered around too, but I'm talking numbers of projects in a given area). Why is so little happening in sowa, given all the empty land? I know there are a couple small projects there too, but I would expect to see 4 or 5 taller towers at least in the planning stages, given the market. At least *something* over 5 stories. And given how central it is, I would expect projects of a similar scale in downtown, too. What's wrong with this picture?

Tell me about it. I've been mentioning this for awhile now. In this market with Portland having the lowest vacancy in the country if not one of the lowest, I have no idea why there is not more PAW type level buildings being built. At the very least being planned. It's weird to me. It seems like the perfect receipe right now and we still can't get anything significant..

[cab]

For Downtown its the same problem as last building cycle. Look who owns the underutilized property. Nothing gets built in DT. The PAW is an anomaly. For SouthWaterfront, I bet it will lag behind the pearl a little, but I bet more will come on board soon. I have no hope for DT other than a random hotel, a government building or possible some PSU investment. The rest of the DT is locked up in parking. Sad because the one thing DT is missing are people living in it.

[eric cantona]

Originally Posted by innovativethinking

Tell me about it. I've been mentioning this for awhile now. In this market with Portland having the lowest vacancy in the country if not one of the lowest, I have no idea why there is not more PAW type level buildings being built. At the very least being planned. It's weird to me. It seems like the perfect receipe right now and we still can't get anything significant..

Portland BDS and other local jurisdictions are seeing a big uptick in the amount of projects they're reviewing. It seems most of that is private development by businesses expanding or moving here. The assumption is that all those companies that have been sitting on large cash reserves are finally needing to spend something on facilities and the like due to the economy improving. What we're NOT seeing is a lot of large speculative development. My understanding is that the banks are still being EXTREMELY cautious in construction/development lending, so that type of project is still on a recession footing, in essence.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

It's kind of funny how there's all this hype about all the development in Portland, and much more growth on the way (the article in the Times a couple days ago about climate refugees, for example), plus we have a ridiculously low vacancy rate -- and yet, mostly what we're getting is 5 story apts on Williams and Division (yes, there are other big projects scattered around too, but I'm talking numbers of projects in a given area). Why is so little happening in sowa, given all the empty land? I know there are a couple small projects there too, but I would expect to see 4 or 5 taller towers at least in the planning stages, given the market. At least *something* over 5 stories. And given how central it is, I would expect projects of a similar scale in downtown, too. What's wrong with this picture?

I read that lending is still too tight. Taller buildings have significantly higher construction costs than 4 over 1s, so they need to charge a lot more... but developers are probably going for the low-hanging higher yield fruit right now. Property owners sitting on lots in the more expensive SoWa and downtown land are probably a bit leery of committing to building larger, more expensive projects.

"Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen last week labeled mortgage-market conditions "abnormally tight."

source: http://online.wsj.com/articles/easin...rum-1411322579

Beats me why we are then seeing so many 3-4,000 square foot Renaissance Homes under construction in the neighborhoods, though.

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

I read that lending is still too tight. Taller buildings have significantly higher construction costs than 4 over 1s, so they need to charge a lot more... but developers are probably going for the low-hanging higher yield fruit right now. Property owners sitting on lots in the more expensive SoWa and downtown land are probably a bit leery of committing to building larger, more expensive projects.

"Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen last week labeled mortgage-market conditions "abnormally tight."

source: http://online.wsj.com/articles/easin...rum-1411322579

Beats me why we are then seeing so many 3-4,000 square foot Renaissance Homes under construction in the neighborhoods, though.

The cost per unit is way cheaper on shorter buildings that can get away with being made out of wood over concrete. Only high end apartments (which there really isn't a huge market for at the moment) and condos can support that.

The condo market isn't doing that well and the apartment market is booming, so it just makes more sense to build cheap short buildings that you can pack a bunch of apartments into. Once you get into building almost anything over 6 floors you're going to end up building structured parking which adds a lot to the price.

Why do one megaproject instead of doing five 35 unit buildings?

As for the houses a contractor I know who has worked on a number of them pointed out that many of the houses they're buying are cheap enough and the market for them is hot enough that they can make $100,000+ (often a few times that) per house even after the teardown and rebuild cost.

I saw one in Sellwood that from what I could find went from $209,000 to about $480,000. There's no way they spent even close to $271,000 to tear that down and build the new house.