Portland, Oregon+wine country+mountain+coast

[downtownpdx]

[tdawg]

wow, incredible tour. Autumn really seems to suit Portland. I'm a huge fan of Oregon Pinot Noir and hope to make it out to the wine country in the not too distant future. thanks for sharing.

[ThatDarnSacramentan]

I love this city. Great set.

If I may ask, is that observation deck in SoWa open to the public?

[destroycreate]

Beautiful fall colors! I really want to go back to Portland and experience it...it's been more than 10 years and I'm sure there have been vast changes. I love how full the city is of pedestrians...surely there is no other mid-size American city with that much action in its core.

One question - does dowtown Portland ever plan on getting some new high-rises or skyscrapers?r That skyline is really stuck in 1994.

[downtownpdx]

Sacramentan ~ Yes, there is an observation seck spanning the full length of the OHSU tower on the 16th floor. I sorta fell upon it looking for a shot in that area, had no idea it was there. Great views!

Destroycreate ~ Yeah Portland's changed a lot in 10 years, especially the neighborhoods surrounding downtown. I totally know what you mean about the 1994 skyline - most of the new condo high-rises from the boom a few years ago went to South Waterfront or the Pearl District. Downtown's skyline hasn't seen a lot of major high-rise construction since the 1990s; a third-tallest (Park Avenue West) was under construction recently but stalled with the recession in 2009, even with office and retail pre-leases. Still hasn't resumed construction although PDX has one of the nation's lowest office vacancy rates. Hopefully soon ....

[destroycreate]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Sacramentan ~ Yes, there is an observation seck spanning the full length of the OHSU tower on the 16th floor. I sorta fell upon it looking for a shot in that area, had no idea it was there. Great views!

Destroycreate ~ Yeah Portland's changed a lot in 10 years, especially the neighborhoods surrounding downtown. I totally know what you mean about the 1994 skyline - most of the new condo high-rises from the boom a few years ago went to South Waterfront or the Pearl District. Downtown's skyline hasn't seen a lot of major high-rise construction since the 1990s; a third-tallest (Park Avenue West) was under construction recently but stalled with the recession in 2009, even with office and retail pre-leases. Still hasn't resumed construction although PDX has one of the nation's lowest office vacancy rates. Hopefully soon ....

PDX apparently has the same metro population as Vancouver, BC right? It's a shame about the skyline because it makes the city appear smaller/more provincial than it really is. I know skylines aren't everything, but you wouldn't think 2 million people given its current state.

Do you have a picture of the skyline of these other developing areas, just out of curiosity?

I'm mostly interested in the surrounding neighborhoods, I've heard great things. Perhaps I'll plan a little road trip soon

[diskojoe]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

PDX apparently has the same metro population as Vancouver, BC right? It's a shame about the skyline because it makes the city appear smaller/more provincial than it really is. I know skylines aren't everything, but you wouldn't think 2 million people given its current state.

Do you have a picture of the skyline of these other developing areas, just out of curiosity?

I'm mostly interested in the surrounding neighborhoods, I've heard great things. Perhaps I'll plan a little road trip soon

1 million of them are unemployed hipsters

[downtownpdx]

Vancouver, from what I understand, has had a much more Chinese/Asian influence in terms of its immigration/development, so it feels a lil more Hong Kong than most cities its size. Plus it's locked-in by water and mountains, and it has probably the most aggressive high-density growth planning of any city in North America.

The neighborhoods you're referring to... there are a couple pics of South Watherfront in this thread with the glassy towers along the freeway. And the first photo is taken from that area, looking north to DT.

The Pearl District is north of DT. It isn't really shown in this thread, but is mostly mid-rise infill development. From a distance it's not gonna wow anybody with high-rise architecture, but on foot it is a major success story considering it was all warehouses and railyards 20 years ago. The challenge is maintaining the character of the area and some of the beautiful old brick industrial architecture. Mostly this has been preserved and restored. But there are two hotels planned and many more apt projects in the pipeline ... and Portland has to be careful because while these are welcome developments, the architecture looks pretty sad in some renderings, especially the hotels. But it's a very walkable, urban, well-connected neighborhood.

[fflint]

Awesome as always. Portland is one of the few cities I kind of "miss" after a while, even though I've never lived there.

[OhioGuy]

Great photos!

[giovanni sasso]

nice pics, you commie puke! those shots of hood over the fall-colors-vineyard are sick. didn't realize there was a public area atop the OHSU building, either.

[volguus zildrohar]

OMG, Portland is so Hood.

[fern]

one of my favourite cities in North America, fantastic tour

[fflint]

What is under construction in the second-to-last photo?

[giovanni sasso]

fflinty, that's OHSU's (oregon health & science university) collaborative life sciences building. they're the hospital complex that's the mini-skyline built into the hillside at the upper end of the tram. they're expanding their campus to the south waterfront, and this building is sort of the benchmark for future development, along with the light rail bridge right next to it (seen in this picture).



the bridge will carry a new (orange) line to milwaukie, a suburb just to the south of the city, and also be open to the streetcar, buses, bikes, and pedestrians, but not auto traffic.

[fflint]

Thanks, Brad! It's been great to watch the south waterfront get built over the years.

[PacificNW]

Nice! Beautiful city and the fall colors throughout your thread are awesome! Thanks!

[ColDayMan]

Very nice!

[Norelco]

Amazing tour of the city and wine country. Having lived downtown for over two years (and will for many more), I enjoy seeing all of the little details that you captured. We walk a lot of the same streets.

[Metro-One]

Great set, very enjoyable, thanks!