One Waterfront Place | x | 12 floors | Dead

[MarkDaMan]

Developers push for parking garage
Tower - Other nearby Pearl District projects haven't used PDC subsidies for parking
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian

Since 2000, developers Jim Winkler and Bob Naito have banked on an $8.5 million boost from city taxpayers to help build the parking garage necessary to support their green office tower in the Pearl District.

At the time, the city thought the area needed a little nudge from taxpayers to entice high-rise, high-class offices that far north of the city's center.

Seven years and one recession later, One Waterfront Place is still only a drawing. But Winkler and Naito still are pushing to get it built.

They have invested more than $2 million in the deal so far and they're calling on the city's urban renewal agency, the Portland Development Commission, to give them more time to find tenants to anchor the building.

Plus, they still need that garage. No garage, no tower, Winkler says. Office workers need a close-by place to park.

Patricia Gardner, though, wonders why taxpayers should help.

While the tower was stalled, the city built a Smart Park garage nearby and two other smaller office projects -- with parking included -- are in the works without the same public subsidy.

"Why does this project need so much subsidy when other projects are being built without it," asked Gardner, planning committee chairwoman for the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.

But Winkler says the Smart Park garage is too far away and he can't redesign the building to include parking without losing money already spent on architects.

Portland's office market has been slumping for years, with the last office building, the Fox Tower, going up in 2000.

However, Portland's office market is improving. Winkler thinks he can pull off the next office tower in the Pearl. His firm won a competitive bid to buy the 58,000-square-foot property from PDC for $1.5 million in September 2000.

He was originally required to start construction in December 2002, and PDC was required to build a four-story, 700-space garage. The PDC would own the garage and the spots would be open to the public

Winkler said they proposed a grand tower because they expected the city to cover the parking bills. The tower was to cover 12 stories and 250,000 square feet and meet the U.S. Green Building Council's gold standard. "Our plan is to develop a truly great building, a legacy piece," Winkler said.

It appears Winkler probably will get more time to pull the deal off with the city's continued pledge for parking help.

The garage is expected to cost $15 million or more. The PDC has set aside $8.5 million for the garage.

The Portland Development Commission will spend the next few weeks searching for a way to cover the rest of the costs and rethinking the garage's size, said Steven Shain, a city development manager.

The PDC board is supposed to hear back in a month or so.

Ryan Frank: 503-221-8564; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com For more about Portland politics, visit The Oregonian's City Hall blog at blog.oregonlive.com/portlandcityhall/.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/o...840.xml&coll=7

[pdxman]

Glad to see they're trying to get this built...There seems to be a lot of office space getting built or planning to get built in the DT area in the near future

[Eagle rock]

" But Winkler says the Smart Park garage is too far away and he can't redesign the building to include parking without losing money already spent on architects."

I don’t get it. That new smart park garage is literally across the rail road tracks from this building and that rendering shows a bridge going over the tracks how is that not close enough?

[cab]

I'm glad this is back in the news. Out of all the office towers proposed, this one is by far the best. Plus we get another cool pedestrian bridge out of the deal.

[pdxstreetcar]

I know we all want to see this project happen but after reading this I think this project needs a redesign. Eventhough some of those proposed downtown office building designs are older, the south downtown area hasn't changed a bit (100 Columbia, First & Main). Yet the neighborhood this One Waterfront Place proposal was designed for 7 years ago is a completely different area. By all means keep the tower design but not if it means keeping the absurd amount of parking for this proposal (plus requiring a subsidy), all in a massive above ground parking garage which apparently this tower design is dependent on (according to the developer in the article). The photo in the paper shows the size of the garage and the lack of any other use with the garage. In the land where the garage is proposed could be a second tower. Plus I agree with Eagle Rock, if you look at a map youll see the Station Place garage is just as far away from the tower as the garage in this proposal.

[pdx2m2]

whether we think the tower should be redesigned or not...there is little opportunity for a second tower where the garage currently sits. The garage is designed under the broadway bridge with the bridge having air rights over the garage...little else could go under the bridge other than parking.

there could be an opportunity for a larger /taller tower if the north pearl planning process results in granting more FAR or height to this site...not sure if that would make it worth a redesign although a taller building would be much better here.

[zilfondel]

? No, this proposed garage doesn't exist yet, and wouldn't be built under the bridge, from the renderings that I've seen.

[thewack]

"Since 2000, developers Jim Winkler and Bob Naito have banked on an $8.5 million boost from city taxpayers to help build the parking garage necessary to support their green office tower in the Pearl District."

Ironic they want more parking in an area well served by transit and considering it is a "Green" building they are planning to build.

[Eagle rock]

I went to a presentation on this building what must of been 8 years ago and under that plan that garage was going to be put under the Broadway bridge.

[pdxstreetcar]

The garage is so large that it will be both under the bridge and under open sky.
Here is the rendering that was in the paper:


"With a near suburban ratio in an urban environment, parking will never be an issue."
http://www.onewaterfrontplace.com/parking.htm
And yet this building is supposed to get a Gold LEED rating. What a joke.

[zilfondel]

oh good, what is that, like a 200,000 sq ft garage?

[MarkDaMan]

I'm down with Winkler building himself a garage if it is soooo important. I'm not down with taxpayers paying $8.5M for that project. We can get so much more in the Pearl District, including a much larger budget for Centennial Mills, if the PDC builds Winkler a $1.5M bridge over the rail tracks to the already built smart park.

[BrG]

The plan was for about a 700 car parking garage.

Part of the reason was that the original design took into consideration the extention of the Willamette Greenway (also since modified) and the removal of all but a few of the spaces for the Albers Mill office building. Plus, a large segment of the garage there was to be a publically available garage space. There is also limited on-street parking and the nearest Max stop is over in old town. To attract a large tenant (to get the construction going), that's usually one of the most important concerns for them. Parking.

Jim was shooting for a "near suburban" office ratio at the time, to offset the somewhat marooned nature of the site 7 years ago. Today, with the parking across the railtracks, perhaps not as much is needed, to make this project viable. I do think a parking is necessary to some extent, and there's nothing else to really build under the bridge that's viable, but it could shrink a few parking bays back under the bridge.

OWP will be a cool project if done. And despite the comment about it being a "Joke", Jim was very very interested in green design. Had this been built on-time, it would've been WAY ahead of the curve with completion in the same timeframe as the ecotrust building. Jim was looking at double skins, green roofs, modular raised floor systems over pt concrete construction (instead of steel). He wanted progressive business like the dot-com, creative types to inhabit the space, but that all imploded in early 2001.

So far, he and Bob have risked millions of dollars, for not much of anything.

[pdxtraveler]

Hey all. They seem to have a pre-app conference.. I didn't see this posted yet.. http://www.portlandonline.com/shared....cfm?id=167271

[pdx2m2]

Waterfront Place is going forward...it appears to be qualifying for Platnium LEED with some design changes currently being considered and will continue to be a high performance building ahead of the times...raised floor underfloor displacement hvac system throughout, hopefully pv panels, a new pedestrian bridge connecting it to the Pearl.

[BrG]

Glad to see that after all these years. The view from the north side won't be quite as good, but in the name of progress...

Looks like exterior design hasn't changed a bit.

[pdx2m2]

The views have certainly changed...those to the north and west although there is more context and certainty than existed earlier. Originally the building would have stood alone for a few years and I think this influenced the design...some of the detail and complexity seemed right. Now the building will sit 'in' a growing and busy context of bridge, historical buildings, new senior housing, new parking garage, new market rate condos and pending new housing to the west....

The design submitted to the Pre Application Conference is the original design. The exterior design could change as a result of looking closely at what makes sense now...in terms of contextual fit, LEED Platnium goals, changes in systems, technology and costs...I suspect we will see exterior design changes that hopefully make a more compelling story.

[pdx2m2]

Waterfront Place had their Pre Application Conference and some news in the DJC.

One Waterfront Place takes preliminary steps forward
Development on the long-awaited project inches forward despite opposition and indistinct market predictions
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Friday, September 21, 2007
BY TYLER GRAF

For seven years, development on the proposed One Waterfront Place office building stalled due to a weak office leasing market. But with the economy improving, the developers and architects of the project hope to break ground on the long-gestating development by next summer.

The One Waterfront Place development would create a 12-story, 235,000-square-foot office space adjacent to the Broadway Bridge on Northwest Naito Parkway. The structure is being developed by 1201 Building LLC, formed by developers Bob Naito and Jim Winkler.

At a Sept. 18 pre-application conference, Boora Architects, which is handling design of One Waterfront Place, met with city staff to discuss the details of the development before the project goes before the Portland Design Commission. If the development goes forward, it could bring as many as 1,000 jobs to the Pearl District, according to the Portland Development Commission.

Originally, Boora’s architects were aiming for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification for the project, but they have since bumped their goal to a platinum rating.

The green-friendly design would feature lockers and showers for bicycling employees, an eco-roof on the third-story terrace and rainwater harvesting.

“Though we’re dealing with this as if it were a new project, the bones of it pretty much remain the same,” said John A. Meadows, a principal for Boora. “It was originally one of the most sustainable office buildings; now we want it to go even further.”

In order to achieve LEED platinum status, the revised design will incorporate solar panels on the tower roof and garage trellises to generate power, said Meadows.

Although design plans are moving ahead, project developer Winkler says it’s too early to talk about development or release renderings of the tower because the project must still win approval from the Portland Design Commission.

The Pearl District Neighbor-hood Association has its own concerns about the development, primarily the parking garage portion of the project.

The neighborhood already has Station Place Garage, completed in 2005, which is located on Northwest Ninth Avenue and Lovejoy Street. One Waterfront Place and its garage would be “literally right across the street from the railroad tracks” from Station Place Garage, said Patricia Gardner of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.

The association’s initial reaction to the development was positive, but over the years the group has begun testifying against the development, specifically the required parking structure.

“The involvement (of the PDNA) has changed over the years because this project has been around forever,” said Gardner.

The cost for the parking garage could be as much as $16 million, with the PDC obligated to pay $8.5 million, according to a recent PDC report. The $8.5 million in allocated PDC resources would not fund the entire parking project. Development of a full funding plan would have to occur, including additional tax increment financing for a privately owned parking structure, negotiations for which are ongoing, according to the PDC.

Although the size of the office tower remains the same, the “footprint” of the parking structure has been diminished, architect Meadows said.

Barbara Linn, a project manager with Boora, said the building, with its “jewel box” design and foot bridge, will change the complexion of the Pearl District.

“The thought is that now is a good time for the office market,” Linn said. “We hope that this is the type of office that the people who live in the Pearl would also want to work.”

[BrG]

Originally Posted by pdx2m2

The views have certainly changed...those to the north and west although there is more context and certainty than existed earlier. Originally the building would have stood alone for a few years and I think this influenced the design...some of the detail and complexity seemed right. Now the building will sit 'in' a growing and busy context of bridge, historical buildings, new senior housing, new parking garage, new market rate condos and pending new housing to the west....

The design submitted to the Pre Application Conference is the original design. The exterior design could change as a result of looking closely at what makes sense now...in terms of contextual fit, LEED Platnium goals, changes in systems, technology and costs...I suspect we will see exterior design changes that hopefully make a more compelling story.

The original design was assuming the Willamette Greenway would be enhanced beside Albers Mill, rather than blocked by two housing buildings. The views to the south were pretty well static, and the views to the west were assumed to change dramatically. The east/west facades were minimized for solar/green building purposes. It's also the reason that 8 inch deep mullion caps were selected for some of the east and the bulk of the west facade. To provide essential sunshading and a deep inset look to the kalaidescope effect of the 6 glass types. It was an alternative to the preferred double skin design that would have cost too much.

I don't expect a radical departure from what was in the drawings, as Jim paid for a design already, and it will work fine. It's just that the northly views won't be so magnificent.

[pdx2m2]

The design is changing as we speak. Stay tuned.