Portland Astoria Apts. (140 SW Columbia St) | 200' | 20 floors | Complete

[maccoinnich]

Drawings [PDF - 15MB].

[maccoinnich]

[BlazerBeav]

Between this, the new Hilton and the County Courthouse, that's a lot of growth in this corner of downtown!

[innovativethinking]

Originally Posted by BlazerBeav

Between this, the new Hilton and the County Courthouse, that's a lot of growth in this corner of downtown!

Too bad it's not between the huge gap in our skyline though

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by innovativethinking

Too bad it's not between the huge gap in our skyline though

I'll never understand why some people seem more concerned with how Portland looks in postcards than how the city functions as a place to live, work and play. Sure, I love skyscrapers too. I love tall, and yes, I love skylines... but I'm far more interested in life in the city than I am at gazing at the city from afar.

I'll be glad to see this built in exactly this spot. I'm really excited about the hotel being built diagonally across the street (along 2nd between Columbia and Jefferson). This section of downtown is so active, and yet, it has had some dead spots for decades. The infill will be fantastic!

[DMH]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

I'll never understand why some people seem more concerned with how Portland looks in postcards than how the city functions as a place to live, work and play. Sure, I love skyscrapers too. I love tall, and yes, I love skylines... but I'm far more interested in life in the city than I am at gazing at the city from afar.

I'll be glad to see this built in exactly this spot. I'm really excited about the hotel being built diagonally across the street (along 2nd between Columbia and Jefferson). This section of downtown is so active, and yet, it has had some dead spots for decades. The infill will be fantastic!

I too am very pleased to see development filling in the empty blocks in the south end of Downtown. But a bigger problem has been the lack of ground floor active uses, so despite relatively tall buildings, the sidewalks are often empty and we face nothing of interest in storefront windows, where those rarely occur. Regarding this proposal, I hope a more bold form can be created that better integrates the existing parking/loading entrance for Koin Tower. It would be great if that existing ramp could be configured to also serve the new building. That would eliminate the need for an additional garage entrance.

[maccoinnich]

The streets in that part of town are really dead. I'm hopeful that this project and the Porter Hotel can make a positive change, but those would only be the first of many steps necessary to make SW 2nd Ave into a vibrant street.

[ORNative]

I have thought the Porter location strange since it was announced. It is certainly not vibrant with slab concrete 70's architecture and lack of street life. The Essex house provides a cool streetscape and with the Porter that whole block should be energized. Its just one block - but a city is built one block at a time. Both of these projects will be good for the area.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

The streets in that part of town are really dead. I'm hopeful that this project and the Porter Hotel can make a positive change, but those would only be the first of many steps necessary to make SW 2nd Ave into a vibrant street.

That is very true, I remember during the years of living on the edge of downtown, that whenever I was over in this part of downtown, it was almost always dead. For being such a dense area, it is sad to see the sidewalks so empty, I too am hoping this new developments follow the Portland streetscape style and bring new life to that area.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by ORNative

I have thought the Porter location strange since it was announced. It is certainly not vibrant with slab concrete 70's architecture and lack of street life. The Essex house provides a cool streetscape and with the Porter that whole block should be energized. Its just one block - but a city is built one block at a time. Both of these projects will be good for the area.

I agree. I lived at The Essex House back in the late 90s. It felt like a strange location for an apartment building because the area was so dead outside of the 9 to 5 workday - and that was back when there were movie theaters in KOIN Tower.

I'm hoping The Porter will be a huge success. It'll be odd for the east facing apartments in The Essex House! For the past 24 years, most of those apartments had a river view. Now, they'll be looking in on hotel rooms.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

I agree. I lived at The Essex House back in the late 90s. It felt like a strange location for an apartment building because the area was so dead outside of the 9 to 5 workday - and that was back when there were movie theaters in KOIN Tower.

I'm hoping The Porter will be a huge success. It'll be odd for the east facing apartments in The Essex House! For the past 24 years, most of those apartments had a river view. Now, they'll be looking in on hotel rooms.

I suspect both people in the hotel and the apartment building might see things they would rather wish they didn't....or did see.

[maccoinnich]

I work in an office across the street from a hotel. Can confirm that interesting activities can be seen.

[pdxf]

Yeah, I actually lived in the Essex House with a view out to Mt. Hood several years ago, this would be quite the change. I wonder how much those rental prices in the Essex House will drop as a result.

[maccoinnich]

140 SW Columbia has been submitted for Type III Design Review by GBD Architects:

New construction high-rise mixed-use housing with ground-level retail, housing
lobby and service functions and above grade parking.

[maccoinnich]

Now on Design Commission agenda for July 20th.

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

I'll never understand why some people seem more concerned with how Portland looks in postcards than how the city functions as a place to live, work and play. Sure, I love skyscrapers too. I love tall, and yes, I love skylines... but I'm far more interested in life in the city than I am at gazing at the city from afar.

I'll be glad to see this built in exactly this spot. I'm really excited about the hotel being built diagonally across the street (along 2nd between Columbia and Jefferson). This section of downtown is so active, and yet, it has had some dead spots for decades. The infill will be fantastic!

its the SKYSCRAPER PAGE--not the short buildings page,and what gives you the idea that we function better than any other city our size?

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

its the SKYSCRAPER PAGE--not the short buildings page,and what gives you the idea that we function better than any other city our size?

SSP Portland has its own culture that tracks tall buildings, short buildings, parks, transit, suburbs, infill, etc. etc. This has been the culture of our corner on SSP since it was carved out almost a decade ago. As a fairly new forumer you are expected to learn the culture of our forum and contribute appropriately. Should you like a forum that only tracks high rises, you're more than welcome to create one.

Let's get the threads back on topic.

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

SSP Portland has its own culture that tracks tall buildings, short buildings, parks, transit, suburbs, infill, etc. etc. This has been the culture of our corner on SSP since it was carved out almost a decade ago. As a fairly new forumer you are expected to learn the culture of our forum and contribute appropriately. Should you like a forum that only tracks high rises, you're more than welcome to create one.

Let's get the threads back on topic.

[maccoinnich]

Request for Response

[maccoinnich]

Drawings [PDF - 34 MB]