Broadway Tower | 269' 8" | 19 floors | Complete

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

The Broadway Tower has an FAR of 15.43:1. Here's how they're achieving it:

• The site has an automatic base FAR of 9:1
• The site is eligible for bonuses of up to 3:1. One of the ways to achieve this bonus is indeed by paying into an affordable housing fund, or to dedicate open space, but that's not how they're getting it. They're providing bike locker rooms, per 33.510.210 C.8
• The remaining 3.43:1 is being transferred, either from the Armory Building or the Customs House. The developers presumably intend to pay the owner of whichever building they transfer from. They are then paying money to the City for the ability to do this. I'll buy a beer for anyone who can find something in the current Comp Plan, Central City Plan or Zoning Code that states you have to pay for the right to transfer FAR.

Then you're absolutely right, that does sound shady. The city needs to be making it easier to densify the Central City, not harder. Raise the FARs and get rid of the height limits if you want to keep the 100's of thousands of people moving here from settling in the suburbs. If necessary, maintain a couple of view corridors from the Rose Garden towards Mt Hood, but that's it. Not every house in the West Hills needs to be guaranteed a view to Mt Hood. No other neighborhoods are provided that guarantee, why should they get special consideration?

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

The Broadway Tower has an FAR of 15.43:1. Here's how they're achieving it:

• The site has an automatic base FAR of 9:1
• The site is eligible for bonuses of up to 3:1. One of the ways to achieve this bonus is indeed by paying into an affordable housing fund, or to dedicate open space, but that's not how they're getting it. They're providing bike locker rooms, per 33.510.210 C.8
• The remaining 3.43:1 is being transferred, either from the Armory Building or the Customs House. The developers presumably intend to pay the owner of whichever building they transfer from. They are then paying money to the City for the ability to do this. I'll buy a beer for anyone who can find something in the current Comp Plan, Central City Plan or Zoning Code that states you have to pay for the right to transfer FAR.

I agree. The Central City FAR limits were largely set in 1980, at a time when the bus mall (as it was then) didn't extend south to PSU or north to Union Station, and none the five light rail lines serving Downtown had been constructed. After billions of dollars in investment in public transit, it's amazing to me that we haven't adjusted the FAR limits.

I don't know if this falls into this or if this has even been put into use by the city yet.
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/phb/article/535085

[maccoinnich]

That's a study prepared as part of Central 2035, which isn't yet in effect.

[RED_PDXer]

I've heard from some city planners working on the central city plan that if FAR limits are too high, then the historic preservation and affordable housing FAR bonuses won't be used. A second concern is that downtown property owners will be more inclined to sit on their property and wait for the market to support the full development allowed by right rather than build something less than achievable.

Many of the FAR bonuses currently offered are being removed and in some cases are being made as requirements - for example eco-roofs are currently proposed to be a requirement for many downtown buildings. Also, although not a current FAR bonus, new buildings may be required to be LEED Gold certified.

These are all nice things, but they are going to increase the cost of construction downtown. I'm concerned that the new regulations, if passed, lead to some of this development going elsewhere - the opposite of what should be happening.

[maccoinnich]

The Broadway Tower wasn't approved Thursday - hearing is being continued to April 21st.

[ORNative]

That means that the hearing was set over to another date v. Broadway was rejected and told to come back later, right?

[maccoinnich]

I'm listening to the audio of the hearing now. Architect mentioned that the hotel is "targeted at the millennial generation" and that it's a "a major brand".

Originally Posted by ORNative

That means that the hearing was set over to another date v. Broadway was rejected and told to come back later, right?

The Design Commission never (literally never) rejects anything. They just tell applicants to come back with revisions. Some these times major revisions, sometimes they are minor. Given that they really like the project in December, I'd imagine it's the latter.

[RED_PDXer]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I'm listening to the audio of the hearing now. Architect mentioned that the hotel is "targeted at the millennial generation" and that it's a "a major brand".

Perhaps a W Hotel?

[babs]

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

Perhaps a W Hotel?

Anything but a Trump!

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by babs

Anything but a Trump!

Oh dear god, don't even think it.

[maccoinnich]

Well, I listened to the whole design review hearing. The Commission requested some pretty minor design changes and greater clarity about the conditions relating to the FAR transfer (which I still disagree with, but then I don't sit on the Design Commission).

As for the brand, it won't be a W. They were at pains not to reveal what it is, but apparently it's an entirely new brand, and this will be one of their first hotels. The brand apparently has one hotel currently under construction, which sounds a lot like a certain Millennial targeted brand we discussed in another thread.

[babs]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Well, I listened to the whole design review hearing. The Commission requested some pretty minor design changes and greater clarity about the conditions relating to the FAR transfer (which I still disagree with, but then I don't sit on the Design Commission).

As for the brand, it won't be a W. They were at pains not to reveal what it is, but apparently it's an entirely new brand, and this will be one of their first hotels. The brand apparently has one hotel currently under construction, which sounds a lot like a certain Millennial targeted brand we discussed in another thread.

That unnamed brand you might be referring to is a pretty low level brand. They could get a lot higher room rates for W, especially considering it's location on Broadway. Not sure what they are thinking

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

I've heard from some city planners working on the central city plan that if FAR limits are too high, then the historic preservation and affordable housing FAR bonuses won't be used.

Many of the FAR bonuses currently offered are being removed and in some cases are being made as requirements - for example eco-roofs are currently proposed to be a requirement for many downtown buildings. Also, although not a current FAR bonus, new buildings may be required to be LEED Gold certified.

One solution would be to make them worth more - make them worth double their normal value!

[babs]

It's gonna be a Radisson RED

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...-19-story.html

[maccoinnich]

Quite happy to have been wrong on this one. Radisson RED will be a great addition to Downtown.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by babs

It's gonna be a Radisson RED

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...-19-story.html

The next hotel to join the downtown Portland party will be 180 rooms accented by Scandinavian design and local art, culinary offerings and Portland's signature coffees and craft brews.

Having never heard of them, I found this to be interesting:

Radisson Red from the Minnesota-based hotel giant Carlson.

The hotel group also will “simultaneously” launch the Radisson Red concept in 2015 in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, with the goal of 60 Red hotels and 20 in the Quorvus Collection by 2020. Rautio told the conference that revenues for the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group totaled $7.5 billion in 2013, up slightly from 2012.

Radisson Red, with an aim toward millennial travelers, will compete with the likes of Hotel Indigo, a brand of the Intercontinental Hotels Group, and Citizen M., which has properties in Amsterdam, Glasgow and London.

The Radisson Red product will be technology-driven with a mobile application that will allow guests to check in without going to the front desk, order a drink from the bar, flowers from an online concierge and a taxi to the airport. The hotel design will be contemporary and eclectic, according to the Carlson Rezidor description of the new property.

generic interior concept
source

[ORNative]

Also of interest, if you go to the Red website and search for locations - there is only one hotel open in the world to date: Brussels. Look at us, first tier market

[babs]

Radisson is trying to reinvent themselves with the Radisson Blu and Red concepts. The Radisson brand name is pretty weak in the market these days. Hope it works out for them.

[maccoinnich]

It kind of looks like they've just copied the brand standards of CitizenM: lower price; self check in/out; modern interior design / furniture; prominent use of the color red.

Why Radisson is bringing its hotel to BPM's Broadway Tower



Greg O'Stean thinks that everything that's conveyed by a well-known Portland mural is what will also be the essence of the new Radisson RED hotel that will open on eight floors of the Broadway Tower in 2018.

"You look at the sign that says Keep Portland Weird and that tells you everything you need to know about Portland," said O'Stean, chief development officer for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which announced the plans for the hotel yesterday.

Walter Bowen, president of BPM Real Estate Group, the firm developing the tower, likes the idea, but tempers it a bit

"That doesn't mean that the Radisson RED is weird," he said.

Instead, what it means is that the new hotel will feature plenty of local art, food and beverages that are unique to Portland. The hotel, O'Stean said, will feel like you're in Portland.

...continues at the Portland Business Journal.

[maccoinnich]

Latest drawings [PDF - 86 MB]:

http://efiles.portlandoregon.gov/Rec.../File/Document