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  #21  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2018, 7:41 PM
maccoinnich maccoinnich is online now
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  #22  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2018, 8:30 PM
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  #23  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2018, 10:57 PM
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This will really stand out in that area of the Pearl. Will be the tallest building for blocks and blocks.
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  #24  
Old Posted Dec 10, 2018, 7:00 AM
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This will really stand out in that area of the Pearl. Will be the tallest building for blocks and blocks.
With this building and the Casey, that area is going to feel really big city urban.
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  #25  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2019, 8:50 PM
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Mixed-use tower proposed for Pearl District



Plans for a 23-story hotel and apartment tower in the heart of the Pearl District drew strong opposition from neighbors who filled the Portland Design Commission’s meeting room on Thursday.

The proposed building from developer Vibrant Cities of Seattle would replace a quarter-block surface parking lot at Northwest 12th Avenue and Flanders Street. The structure would ascend to 250 feet – the maximum allowed by Central City 2035 zoning adopted by the Portland City Council in June 2018.

The proposed height would allow inclusion of affordable units, said Brian Fleener, vice president and director of architecture at Otak Inc., the Portland-based firm designing the building.
...continues at the DJC (temporarily unlocked).
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  #26  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2019, 12:23 AM
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http://djcoregon.com/news/2019/01/04...earl-district/

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“No other building in the Pearl has this intense vertical sprawl with two distinct uses,” said Patricia Cliff, a retired New York real estate agent who has lived in a nearby condo for 12 years.
I think this Patricia Cliff needs to get out of her "low-slung" condo and walk around the district. What is "vertical sprawl" supposed to mean anyway? If it was all apartment or all hotel, would that satisfy her? Is her objection that the building is accommodating multiple uses?
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  #27  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2019, 2:11 AM
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http://djcoregon.com/news/2019/01/04...earl-district/



I think this Patricia Cliff needs to get out of her "low-slung" condo and walk around the district. What is "vertical sprawl" supposed to mean anyway? If it was all apartment or all hotel, would that satisfy her? Is her objection that the building is accommodating multiple uses?
Patricia Cliff needs to find a cliff.
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  #28  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2019, 6:33 PM
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Originally Posted by MarkDaMan View Post
http://djcoregon.com/news/2019/01/04...earl-district/

What is "vertical sprawl" supposed to mean anyway? If it was all apartment or all hotel, would that satisfy her? Is her objection that the building is accommodating multiple uses?
"Vertical sprawl" is nonsense. This person objects to the current height limits that just went through years of public process from being fully utilized. Too bad, not sad.
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  #29  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2019, 6:54 AM
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Want to know a great place that doesn't have "vertical sprawl"? Hillsboro. Why do these people move in to the city center if all they do is complain when new buildings go up? What do they think was there before their shiny new building went up?
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  #30  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2019, 5:47 PM
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Originally Posted by MarkDaMan View Post
http://djcoregon.com/news/2019/01/04...earl-district/



I think this Patricia Cliff needs to get out of her "low-slung" condo and walk around the district. What is "vertical sprawl" supposed to mean anyway? If it was all apartment or all hotel, would that satisfy her? Is her objection that the building is accommodating multiple uses?
I don't know about Ms Cliff's motivations for describing this as vertical sprawl... but I agree with her use of the term wholeheartedly as far as the visual design of the building. Hopefully the design commission will reject it outright for what it is: a lazy and uninspired turd. No attempt at invention, not even a feeble rotation of the form or touch of bling (sorry ZGF) to distract from its mundanity. I'll take the tree over this any day. A big boring box built with cost efficiency in mind, nothing more - in the heart of Portland's creative district no less! Not to mention its most expensive inner city residential district.
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  #31  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2019, 9:40 PM
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A big boring box built with cost efficiency in mind, nothing more - in the heart of Portland's creative district no less! Not to mention its most expensive inner city residential district.
These two sentences are in conflict.

If you honestly think the Pearl, and not just the Pearl, but the Pearl near the established and gentrified Brewery Blocks, is Portland's creative district, you need to go on a walk with Ms. Cliff. Make sure to cross a bridge to N, NE and SE to see some real creativity going on.
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  #32  
Old Posted Jan 15, 2019, 2:15 AM
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23 Stories and zero parking stalls: Proposed Pearl District hotel/apartment project packs meeting



A building that would likely be the city’s tallest to have no on-site parking went before the Portland Design Commission on January 3rd. The meeting was reported to be packed with residents, many of whom opposed the development’s height and impact on traffic. But others in the neighborhood, including the Pearl District Neighborhood Association (PDNA), were more supportive of the project with some reservations.

The 250 foot tall building would provide roughly 170 hotel rooms on 11 floors and another 110 apartments on 11 more floors as well as ground level retail, all parking would be provided by off-site valet services.
...continues at Portlanders for Parking Reform.
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  #33  
Old Posted Jan 15, 2019, 9:17 PM
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Originally Posted by MarkDaMan View Post
These two sentences are in conflict.

If you honestly think the Pearl, and not just the Pearl, but the Pearl near the established and gentrified Brewery Blocks, is Portland's creative district, you need to go on a walk with Ms. Cliff. Make sure to cross a bridge to N, NE and SE to see some real creativity going on.
I'll pass on the hike with Ms Cliff, having had 30 years' experience walking the streets of this town long before she arrived on the scene. My characterization of the Pearl is based on the district's recent history and my own experience as a graphic designer. Back in 1988 I had the pleasure of leasing one of Al Solheim's very first office loft rehabs at 13th & Everett - directly across the street from the old Ice House that now houses the Weiden & Kennedy advertising agency after Allied Works' acclaimed renovation - an occurrence that involved two of our burg's most renowned creative firms and which served as a primary catalyst in transforming the district. At that time the Pearl was also home to many of Portland's most respected graphic arts printing, typesetting and pre-press companies. Many have since either moved to cheaper environs or closed due to the advance of digital technologies, however many creative-related tech firms have since taken their place.

More recently my office was located in a small studio at 9th & Flanders (thank you Peggy Oliver for keeping your rents affordable for small businesses!), a building that remains full of creative professionals. It's certainly true that many fine artists and freelancers who first inhabited the district have also fled to less expensive territory in as you say N, NE and SE Portland. Nonetheless the Pearl retains a more diverse and significant creative presence than these other areas, from ad agencies, architects, theaters and galleries to software developers and technology firms. It is home to RACC and PNCA, the Armory, Art in the Pearl, Bullseye Glass Gallery, Tanner Creek Park and the Jamison Square fountain and totems... not to mention Powell's for Pete's sake! If someone would ever fund the restoration of the Lovejoy columns I could throw those in the mix also. And, perhaps most critically the only Blick art supply store in town!

As a creative person the vibe you get walking the Pearl is way beyond anything happening elsewhere in town. These other districts are up-and-coming, but not there yet. Not even close.

But really Mark, what is the argument you're trying to make? Let's assume the location has no bearing as far as you're concerned, are you pleased with direction of this building's architecture? For me, if the building were downtown grouped among similarly sized structures the design wouldn't be as big a deal. Even at the north end of the Pearl - adjacent the NV let's say - one might be more forgiving of dull architecture in appreciation of its contribution to the vertical mass of that area. At 12th & Flanders though, it will tower above its neighbors and much like the Cosmopolitan to the north it will, due to its height alone, become the focal point in that part of the district. I would like to see a Cosmo-like level of thoughtful - perhaps even inspired - design applied here as well. Too much to ask?
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  #34  
Old Posted Jan 16, 2019, 12:57 AM
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As a creative person the vibe you get walking the Pearl is way beyond anything happening elsewhere in town. These other districts are up-and-coming, but not there yet. Not even close.
Okay, okay, I'll agree that compared to most district's you find in other cities the Pearl has charm and, dare I say, creativity. However I also find that the vibe in the Pearl has actually become quite sterile. I remember walking past the old Weinhard Brewery and into the "abandoned" and underused warehouses teaming with creatives. I think, especially with the expansion North of Lovejoy (NV anyone?) that the district has lost a lot of the creativity and energy that made the area so attractive in the 90s and early 2000s. It's become corporate and even if those corporations are creative, it's just not the same energy as you find in other pockets of the city that can support creatives that can't afford the prices the Pearl demands to live and work there.

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Originally Posted by AcmeGreg View Post
But really Mark, what is the argument you're trying to make? Let's assume the location has no bearing as far as you're concerned, are you pleased with direction of this building's architecture? For me, if the building were downtown grouped among similarly sized structures the design wouldn't be as big a deal. Even at the north end of the Pearl - adjacent the NV let's say - one might be more forgiving of dull architecture in appreciation of its contribution to the vertical mass of that area. At 12th & Flanders though, it will tower above its neighbors and much like the Cosmopolitan to the north it will, due to its height alone, become the focal point in that part of the district. I would like to see a Cosmo-like level of thoughtful - perhaps even inspired - design applied here as well. Too much to ask?
I'm fine with the direction of this building's architecture. I'm especially supportive of the fact that this building has no proposed parking. It will be a model for future mixed use buildings in the central city should it be successful.

And let's be honest, 250' is tall but not obscenely so. I assume with the increased height limits as part of the CC2035, we will see other buildings in the area achieve similar height blunting the impact of this buildings effect on the Pearl "skyline".
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  #35  
Old Posted Jan 16, 2019, 4:54 AM
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I'm usually opposed to no-parking developments because everyone knows that the occupants own cars and need to park them somewhere, so you basically have the developer fobbing the needed infrastructure burden onto the surrounding neighborhood. But this is different. People living in this building simply won't be able to park their cars on the streets of this neighborhood, lack of spaces and meters assure that. The more affluent with cars can pay for off-site valet parking at $300+ a month (guessing). But new apartments with parking in the Pearl are not in short supply. So I think the residents here really will be households who don't own cars. It will be interesting to see how much of a customer base this actually is: can afford a pretty costly Pearl apartment + live car-free.

Vibrant Cities has other projects that depend on an untapped and unproven market for non traditional housing. On Vancouver they are doing a micro apartment project with lots of $1,000/mo 300 sf (IIRC) dorm rooms (private bath, no kitchenette) and lots of food vendor stalls on the ground floor.

Are they visionaries who see trends before others do, or simply doing what optimizes the returns on paper?

I personally think one or both of these projects will flop. I'd bet on this Pearl building before betting on the micro apartments.

Last edited by johnliu; Jan 16, 2019 at 5:12 AM.
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  #36  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2019, 8:28 PM
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  #37  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2019, 9:37 PM
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I'm usually opposed to no-parking developments because everyone knows that the occupants own cars and need to park them somewhere, so you basically have the developer fobbing the needed infrastructure burden onto the surrounding neighborhood.
I don't know what you mean by "needed infrastructure burden" but I'll assume that, with this line of thinking, you agree that a comprehensive city-wide permit program is needed to control demand for on-street auto storage (i.e., the storage of privately-owned vehicles in the public ROW) and end the hidden public subsidy that is "free" parking -- certainly before the city increases requirements for auto storage in new developments, especially given the deeply classist implications of such policies. The Patricia Cliff's of the world can be "opposed" to no-parking developments all they want but zoning is zoning.

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Originally Posted by johnliu View Post
Vibrant Cities has other projects that depend on an untapped and unproven market for non traditional housing. On Vancouver they are doing a micro apartment project with lots of $1,000/mo 300 sf (IIRC) dorm rooms (private bath, no kitchenette) and lots of food vendor stalls on the ground floor.

I personally think one or both of these projects will flop. I'd bet on this Pearl building before betting on the micro apartments.
"Flop" meaning what? The Brio micro-apts on Vancouver are U/C.
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  #38  
Old Posted Jan 28, 2019, 6:27 PM
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I don't know what you mean by "needed infrastructure burden" but I'll assume that, with this line of thinking, you agree that a comprehensive city-wide permit program is needed to control demand for on-street auto storage (i.e., the storage of privately-owned vehicles in the public ROW) and end the hidden public subsidy that is "free" parking -
Totally agree! We bend over backward and waste plenty of resources to provide "free" parking.
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  #39  
Old Posted Jan 30, 2019, 7:10 AM
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"Flop" meaning the completed project won't be commercially successful enough to lead to many more.
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  #40  
Old Posted Jan 30, 2019, 2:34 PM
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"Flop" meaning the completed project won't be commercially successful enough to lead to many more.
Are the existing two micro-apartments in Portland not doing well? Footprint Properties I find this housing type very attractive.
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