Multnomah County Courthouse | 310' | 17 floors | Complete

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by tworivers

I'd love to see it radically repurposed but do you guys think that Portland really has the money or developer culture to pull something like that off? In my billionaire dreams I'd simply hand it off to Allied Works and see what they come up with. Of course, Grandma and Gramps over at the Historic Landmarks Commission would probably need new diapers if that happened.

I would love to see Allied Works designing a tall building in the Portland skyline.

As for the courthouse building, I would want to see the shell of it preserved, even with it not being very street friendly, the area is still a government/business area. The core of the building could be gutted to allow a new building to be built in it.

[zilfondel]

Well, it would be a huge win if we could get Norman Foster (or any other famous architect) to design anything in Portland. Pipe dream, methinks: the Trimet bridge was the last project where we had a major designer work on it, but he was let go from the project. =\

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Wow. To say that's a work of art is an understatement.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Well, it would be a huge win if we could get Norman Foster (or any other famous architect) to design anything in Portland. Pipe dream, methinks: the Trimet bridge was the last project where we had a major designer work on it, but he was let go from the project. =\

Oh that is true, though I was less referring to Norman Foster and more referring to a new building popping out of an old building as a base.

Though I would love to see a Norman Foster or a Renzo Piano tower in Portland....it will never happen, but I would love to see it if it ever did.

[pdxstreetcar]

I'd like to see the new courthouse built on Terry Schrunk Plaza and by 'on' I mean on the physical land currently occupied by that waste of land "open space". There's already two spectacular squares across the street (Lonsdale & Chapman) whatever possessed them in the 1970s to tear down a block of historic buildings and build a third adjacent unnecessary park that manages to repel everyone (actually I do know it was because of sacred parking (shocking) for the Fed Bldg and a mid century perception that empty open space in the city was better than a block with (gasp) old buildings on it).

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by pdxstreetcar

I'd like to see the new courthouse built on Terry Schrunk Plaza and by 'on' I mean on the physical land currently occupied by that waste of land "open space". There's already two spectacular squares across the street (Lonsdale & Chapman) whatever possessed them in the 1970s to tear down a block of historic buildings and build a third adjacent unnecessary park that manages to repel everyone (actually I do know it was because of sacred parking (shocking) for the Fed Bldg and a mid century perception that empty open space in the city was better than a block with (gasp) old buildings on it).

Yeah, it is always sad to see the buildings that once sat on that block, it is a shame they tore them down for a poorly designed and unnecessary park that no one uses.

Granted it will never happen because once a block is turned into a park, people of Portland tend to fight against anything that could be built on it, but that would be a good block for a courthouse.

It would of been better to have a block of old buildings in a part of town that is mostly void of really old buildings.

[Sioux612]

How much space do they need? For a large tower (500'+) I think the lot next to the galleria is prime.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Sioux612

How much space do they need? For a large tower (500'+) I think the lot next to the galleria is prime.

It would make more sense to keep the courthouse near by all the other government buildings in downtown.

[MarkDaMan]

^The county owns the full block on the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge. At one point they were going to move the off ramp to open the entire block and there was discussion when First and Main went up about creating a tunnel between the Justice Center and new courthouse.

I can't figure out why that option appears to be off the table now?

[65MAX]

Who says it's off the table? Moving the ramp is a relatively minor task, and the tunnel thru the basement of First and Main equally simple. No other site is better suited for the new Courthouse, and the County already owns the land. I think the only thing holding it up is financing.

[MarkDaMan]

I actually don't know if that block is officially off the table, but in the more recent reports the county was looking at 'acquiring' land for the new courthouse, possibly in the CEED. That makes absolutely no sense to me, unless they were planning a land swap so a private owner could have that prime bridge/river view block.

Speaking of the bridge ramp, why wasn't it moved?

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Monday, April 21, 2008 - 1:45 PM PDT
PDC cuts check to Multnomah County for new courthouse
Portland Business Journal

The Portland Development Commission has contributed nearly $9 million to relocate the Hawthorne Bridge off-ramp to make way for a much-needed new courthouse for Multnomah County.

The PDC voted in November to provide most of the estimated $10.7 million it will cost to move the ramp to free up the block for construction of a courthouse.

The county announced today it has received the money from the city's development agency.

"I am encouraged by the commitment the Portland Development Commission is making to help Multnomah County prepare the site for a new courthouse," said County Commissioner Lisa Naito in a statement.

Constructed in 1914, the current courthouse is the busiest in the state but is ill-suited to the needs of a modern justice system. County officials have studied the structure for more than 40 years and concluded it would be unsafe in an earthquake.

A new courthouse would cost an estimated $250 million to construct, but no source for the money has been found.

In the interim, the city and county are creating space for a new courthouse at the intersection of Southwest First and Main street, adjacent the World Trade Center.

Westbound drivers on Hawthorne currently enter the city via a soft curve. That alignment would be replaced with a hard right, leading to the same destination.

The PDC is funding its share of the project from the final bonds sale for its Downtown Waterfront Urban Renewal Area.
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...ml?t=printable

[Sioux612]

For reference:

[zilfondel]

Such a perfect site for a potentially awesome public building.

[MarkDaMan]

Apr 14, 2014, 10:45am PDT
What's new with Multnomah County's seismically challenged old courthouse?
Wendy Culverwell
Staff Reporter- Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...T&t=1397500964

Multnomah County’s decades-long effort to replace Oregon’s busiest courthouse is fast approaching its first major deadline.

The Oregon Judicial Department, which administers the circuit court system, faces a May 15 deadline to submit the $250-million-plus project to the state’s Department of Administrative Services in order to be included in the state’s 2015-2017 budget. If approved, the state will sell bonds in 2015 to finance the project, according to an update headed for the Multnomah County Commission, which meets at 9:30 Thursday at 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.

Engineers report they are about 90 percent finished interviewing courthouse users for the “programming” portion of the project. Physical design work will begin in June with project approval slated to return to the board of commissioners this fall.

...

[maccoinnich]

This Old 'House: Questions Emerge in the County's Scramble for a New Courthouse
by Dirk VanderHart

FOR MORE THAN a century, the seismically deficient Multnomah County Courthouse has threatened suffocating murder. If the big one hits, it's coming down.

So when the Oregon Legislature last year set aside $15 million for a new building, it injected fresh energy and an unending supply of hyperbole into a five-decade struggle. The county's judges, clerks, and prosecutors all see a window to escape the death trap looming over their work lives, and they're scrambling toward it as quickly as possible.

It's a tricky window, though. The legislature's $15 million has created tight deadlines, with officials hurrying to ask the state for millions more in coming years even as they try to identify how Multnomah County will fund its own portion of the mammoth endeavor.

At the same time, county officials have let $9 million earmarked for a new courthouse sit dormant for years.

...continues at the Portland Mercury. They also have an update on the plan to relocate the western offramp to the Hawthorne Bridge.

[urbanlife]

Closing of the westbound lanes for the Hawthorne for that long is gonna really suck, but the end result is gonna be worth it. It is good to see someone is finally lighting a fire under Multnomah's butts, though I hope it leads to good architecture or at least something similar to the federal building renovation.

My hope is that what ever happens to the original courthouse building, that the exterior is preserved and a new tower is built in the center of it.



Well scratch that, it sounds like the new courthouse won't go where the Hawthorne ramp is at. Apparently it has been ruled to be not big enough of a site so the county will pay to reconstruct the off ramp to open up the site, then sell it off and use the money to try and buy another location. Which leads the question, how big of a footprint does this new courthouse building need to be?

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/...ions-to-put-it

Remember yesterday, when we reported that Multnomah County officials are planning on spending $9 million (money it's sat on for the last seven years) to dramatically change the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge? And how that project was originally intended to spiff up some county-owned property in preparation for a long-awaited replacement for the quake-imperiled downtown courthouse?

Turns out the courthouse doesn't have a realistic shot of going there after all. Though a county spokesman said earlier this week the site was still in the running, it appears the bridgehead plot was ruled out some time ago. That's according Julie Neburka, a budget finance director in the Department of County Assets, who gave commissioner a rundown of current funding for the courthouse project at a budget hearing this afternoon.

"It turned out that that was not a big enough site for the building," Neburka said.

[davehogan]

Remember that courthouses have higher security requirements than your average office tower. It's just something the county will have to deal with while choosing a site.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by davehogan

Remember that courthouses have higher security requirements than your average office tower. It's just something the county will have to deal with while choosing a site.

There aren't many locations for a new courthouse if this site doesn't work for them.

[maccoinnich]

Multnomah County launches land search for central courthouse project

Multnomah County’s search for a place to build a new county courthouse has officially begun.

County commissioners on Thursday gave staff the go-ahead to issue a site solicitation for the new courthouse.

County facilities director Michael Bowers said a request for information from interested landowners will likely be published next week, and landowners will have until Oct. 7 to respond with offers.

County staff have narrowed their land search to an area in Portland’s most densely commercial zone, bounded by Interstate 405 to the west, 12th Avenue to the east, the Ross Island Bridge to the south and the Broadway Bridge to the north.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[urbanlife]

Interesting, there aren't a lot of full city blocks for them to buy in that area that also meets their requirements.

"the site must be in a central location within easy access to multiple modes of public transit, and must be located near other amenities."


This is a "not gonna happen" idea, but an interesting location for the courthouse would be taking the Postal building site in the Pearl District, building a courthouse on a portion of it, and then developing the rest into a mixed used area.