South Waterfront News

[crow]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

This campus rendering is starting to just piss me off now, I would like to see that campus built, not look at pretty renderings of it. I remember when OHSU got that land, they made it sound like they were expanding like crazy and was going to need this to expand. It makes me wonder why the city spent so much on the tram if OHSU isn't following through with their end other than using the South Waterfront for extra parking.

ha - pay close attention to that rendering of the master plan - get real - the buildings are 60 feet wide, and even that close together. This should have never been massed up - it is misleading, and does not show a lot of value in the effort OHSU paid for.

[urbanlife]

From what I have heard, basically asking someone who worked running the tram that people who work at OHSU get to ride it for free...though this doesn't take into account if that cost is being paid for in other ways, which I am not arguing with.

Obviously no one against the tram wants to talk about the technicalities and who is actually paid for the overcosts, which it should be OHSU because the tram is for them.

When this campus was first proposed, I was under the impression that it was in the works and we were going to be seeing new buildings for this going up by now or in near years with the construction of light rail, but now I am wondering if that will actually happen any time soon. As for financial issues, I have not heard of any financial issues with OSHU, and figured their campus was actively expanding regardless of the economy.

Just ranting cause masterplan work tends to annoy me when there is no movement towards making it a reality, just a pet peeve of mine I guess.

[MarkDaMan]

OHSU also is paying 85 percent of the annual operating costs for the first five years of operations on the assumption that most riders will be OHSU employees and patients and VA Hospital patients. During that five-year period the city's share of annual operating costs will be capped at approximately $240,000 and all public fare revenues up to that total will go to the city to cover its share. If annual fare revenue exceeds the city's share of annual operating costs, it will be shared 85 percent- 15 percent between OSHU and the city. After five years, the operating costs - which currently are projected to run about $1.7 million a year - will be apportioned between OHSU and the city based on the actual rather than the currently estimated split between OHSU and public riders.

http://www.portlandtram.org/news_item/Tram_Now_Open.htm

[pdxtraveler]

I always was under the impression that the OHSU expansion to the South Waterfront area was a LONG term situation. A build as needed situation as they had run out of room up on the hill. I never was under the impression that this was a build out right of way situation.

[Shilo Rune 96]

Originally Posted by pdxtraveler

I always was under the impression that the OHSU expansion to the South Waterfront area was a LONG term situation. A build as needed situation as they had run out of room up on the hill. I never was under the impression that this was a build out right of way situation.

They are out of room. Parking is the number 1 issue, if they build more parking garages on the hill they will need to expand or improve the roads going up the hill. Getting off the hill at 4:30 PM is quite congested.


Also, they are now charging $11 a day for employees to park, while at the same time encouraging biking incentives and deep Trimet / C-Tran discounts. In fact, after biking to work 30 trips I get $50 added to my paycheck. We log are biking hours online with an honesty system and it calculates how many miles logged, calories burned, fuel savings, C02 saved, total trips logged, etc.. It's pretty cool. But they are almost trying to force us NOT to drive cars. (I don't drive.)

Personally, the only problem I see with the Schnitzer campus is its proximity to the tram. Nobody's going to wait for the streetcar to get five blocks. Nor will anyone enjoy walking those odd five blocks in the rain.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Shilo Rune 96

They are out of room. Parking is the number 1 issue, if they build more parking garages on the hill they will need to expand or improve the roads going up the hill. Getting off the hill at 4:30 PM is quite congested.

Unless you take a bike down that hill, which in that case is extremely fun. I did that for the first time last fall. It was one hell of a rush going down a hill like that on a bike. I do remember thinking to myself, "where do I want to fall, if I start to fall." But what is also fun is when you hit the bottom of the hill where the traffic really backs up and the bike lane starts, then you just fly past all the cars sitting in traffic, another favorite pasttime of mine when biking.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by Shilo Rune 96

Nobody's going to wait for the streetcar to get five blocks. Nor will anyone enjoy walking those odd five blocks in the rain.

In a city like Chicago, New York, Boston or LA, a five block walk transporting you between one major campus to another, would be a blessing instead of a discouragement.

I can't wait until we realize the utility of what we've created.

[RED_PDXer]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

In a city like Chicago, New York, Boston or LA, a five block walk transporting you between one major campus to another, would be a blessing instead of a discouragement.

When I went to college, I had to walk about a half mile to get from my parking spot to my classes and longer if I went for the free street parking, which I often did. 5 blocks is nothing, especially for a student.

As for the length of time it's taking for OHSU to develop the campus, I believe there was a court ruling regarding state tort law that opened the university up to significant litigation liabilities. They are now paying a fortune for liability insurance, which probably has something to do with their expansion plans.

[MarkDaMan]

Bioscience groups blast center decision
Portland Business Journal - by Andy Giegerich, Business Journal staff writer
Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 2:50pm PST

Oregon’s bioscience advocates are upset that the splashy life sciences center planned for Portland’s South Waterfront won’t contain business development space.

The $160 million life sciences building, a collaboration between the Oregon University System, Portland State University and Oregon Health and Science University, will forego the incubator option after developers Homer Williams and Dyke Dames withdrew from the project. Their decision means the university partners have some $10 million less to pour into the project.

As a result, the building will now contain seven stories, instead of the planned eight. It will also be developed without a space that, with the help of a proposed Oregon Bioscience Accelerator Fund, would have supported university and private bioscience commercialization efforts.

The fund was going to seek between $20 million and $25 million from private investors and public funds such as the Oregon Growth Account.

Lindsay Desrochers, PSU’s vice president for finance and administration, said while the incubator isn’t a part of the current structure plan, it could reemerge in another South Waterfront building down the road.

“We would have liked to have had that element and it still might be possible,” she said. “But at this particular time, the investors couldn’t quite make it work. This very significant building is still going up, and it will be a building in which OHSU and others can grow.”

A request for proposal was sent Feb. 11 to architectural and engineering services firms. Construction on the facility is set to begin in late 2011 and finish by mid-2014.

Patricia Beckmann, executive director of the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute, said the state had agreed to bond the project based on the inclusion of a business incubator.

“Without the lab facilities to develop new companies, the growth of the bioscience sector is at risk,” she said.

Beckmann’s group and the Oregon Bioscience Association had won a $1.6 million federal grant last year to develop the incubator idea.

Beckmann helped establish a Seattle “accelerator” that attracted $25 million in investments from many top Northwest venture capital firms. Of the 10 companies started at the Seattle incubator in 2003, eight still exist.

@andygiegerich | agiegerich@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3419


http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...u&ana=e_du_pub

[MarkDaMan]

South Waterfront Condos Benefit From Public Spending
Posted on 02/22/11 5:10 PM
Latest Round Of Public Investment Proves That South Waterfront Is “Too Big Too Fail”

As construction for Portland’s South Waterfront began back in 2005, the district was heralded as the next Pearl District. Then came the credit crunch and buyers largely disappeared. Home values at high end condominium projects such as The Atwater or The Meriwether Condos plummeted and it was almost unanimously concluded that the district would end up as a ghost town. A closer look at the present conditions, however, shows that the “ghost town hypothesis” is actually the most unlikely of all scenarios. Granted, the South Waterfront indeed has a ways to go in terms of becoming a truly vibrant neighborhood on par with the Pearl District or NW 23rd, but it remains one of the few downtown areas that has continued to attract both private and public funding. In an age where funding has dried up for pretty much everything, the South Waterfront District has been on the receiving end, benefiting from new infrastructure projects (park, walkways, streetcar etc.) in every year since the recession begun.

Doesn’t sound like the makings of a ghost town to me, more like “too big to fail”. An there’s more in the pipeline: construction has begun on the Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge, there are plans to improve the freeway on and off ramps, and now this:

New Life Sciences Building Planned For South Waterfront District

Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University are moving ahead with the construction of a new life sciences building in Portland’s South Waterfront District. According to the PDC, funding for the $160 million project is in place; about $110 million will come from state bonds, with the balance coming from a private donation ($40 million) and TriMet ($10 million) to align the project with a new MAX light-rail line.

The plan calls for approximately 235,000 square feet. Most of the space in the seven-story structure will be used for educational and research purposes. The building will occupy a site owned by OHSU slightly north of the proposed light-rail bridge and slightly south of the Ross Island Bridge on-ramp. About half of the building will be used as educational space by medical, life sciences, engineering and pharmacy students. The building also will have ground-floor retail space and a couple of floors of research space for staff and students.

Demand For South Waterfront Condos Is Quietly Picking Up

Gradually an increasing number of residential property buyers with a long-term outlook are beginning to capitalize on the real estate economics at work in the district i.e. ongoing improvements and public spending are raising the value of the land, and creating a set of amenities and infrastructure that attracts private business – in turn generating demand for office and retail space…and ultimately housing.

Already the pace of sales at The Atwater Condos has noticeably picked up. The building is now more than 70% occupied, up more than 35% from a year ago. Neighboring John Ross Condos sold out late last year. Over the past six months these two buildings have consistently been among the top five producers in terms of sales volume per month. Several of these buyers are likely applying the lessons they learned from “too big to fail” episodes in other industries; when it comes to buying with a margin of safety you can’t beat a deal backed by Uncle Sam (Adams*).

*Sam Adams: Mayor of Portland, 2008- current

http://agent503.com/2011/02/22/south-waterfront-condos/

[MarkDaMan]

S. Waterfront neighbors win cell battle
Portland Business Journal - by Andy Giegerich, Business Journal staff writer
Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011, 7:29am PST

Portland city commissioners have agreed to give South Waterfront neighbors more say into the redevelopment of an office building set to be occupied by the Homeland Security Administration.

The council decided that if the agency’s addition to an existing building at 4310 S.W. Macadam Ave. contains holding cells, the structure could be considered a detention facility. As a result, it requires a conditional use review.

The review is expected to give more weight to concerns expressed by South Waterfront residents who’d protested the prospect that their neighborhood would host a building with holding cells.

The Portland City Council voted 5-0 to approve requiring a conditional use for the 65,000-square-foot structure. The Homeland Security site is currently zoned for office developments.

“The commission’s decision gives neighbors more input into what happens there,” said Jim Davis, land use chairman for the South Portland Neighborhood Association, which led the protests. “This is the best outcome we could have hoped for.”

@andygiegerich | agiegerich@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3419


http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...ana=e_ptl_rdup

[Sioux612]

Hmm, what exactly is this rendering of?

-edit-

It looks like what could have been the Vestas SoWa HQ.

[downtownpdx]

Sigh ... what coulda been ^^ Looks like Vestas signs on the buildings. While this would have been nice in its original plan because of the jobs, I think I actually prefer what's going on now with the restoration of the Meier&Frank warehouse in the Pearl. They aren't creating as many jobs as they had planned several years ago (recession), but I'm more excited to see the downtown area get the action than Sowa for some reason. I'd like see small businesses etc around DT benefit from the high-paying jobs concentrated here, rather than the more-isolated SOWA where people don't really go. (But those HQ buildings do look niiiice.....)

[crow]

Originally Posted by Sioux612

Hmm, what exactly is this rendering of?

-edit-

It looks like what could have been the Vestas SoWa HQ.

Those were some quick studies by GBD for the Vestas RFP sometime ago.

[Shilo Rune 96]

OHSU and south waterfront shown in this recent CBS news video:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...in;contentBody

[65MAX]

^^^^
About 4:10 into the video.

[crow]

Originally Posted by 65MAX

^^^^
About 4:10 into the video.

That is actually pretty fascinating to discuss beyond housing, lifestyle, and hospitals, but technology and longevity.

[MarkDaMan]

Groundbreaking set for Southwest Moody Avenue project
Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 3:31 PM Updated: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 3:37 PM
James Mayer, The Oregonian

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will join Mayor Sam Adams next Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Southwest Moody Avenue project in South Waterfront.

The project will rebuild Southwest Moody Avenue between Southwest River Parkway and Southwest Gibbs Street to support redevelopment of adjacent brown fields, and facilitate the completion of light rail and streetcar expansions to the east side.

Also on hand to thank LaHood for $23 million in federal stimulus money for the project will be U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, David Wu and Kurt Schrader.

The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Moody Avenue approximately halfway between the Marquam and Ross Island bridges.

--James Mayer

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i...r_southwe.html

[pdxtraveler]

So hopefully I am not guilibly falling for another April Fools joke!

http://www.portlandonline.com/bds/in...47126&a=344522

A new 18 floor tower!

[VONzipper]

Well, for my introductory post, I shall give you the design team that was selected for the project.

SERA and CO Architecture JV