Tall buildings in Portland

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by crackerd

Make Portland's Skyline Great Again!!! 😂😂

it used to be great?--

[Natural]

A partial, but significant explanation for the absence of tall structures would be the lack of a large Corporate presence in Portland. Large companies are best positioned to absorb, afford expensive leases or build a high cost high-rise structure. I am puzzled why PDX isn't more aggressive trying to recruit new Companies to town?....Texas and the Carolina's have been getting really fat doing this.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Natural

A partial, but significant explanation for the absence of tall structures would be the lack of a large Corporate presence in Portland. Large companies are best positioned to absorb, afford expensive leases or build a high cost high-rise structure. I am puzzled why PDX isn't more aggressive trying to recruit new Companies to town?....Texas and the Carolina's have been getting really fat doing this.

Portland would rather nurture small businesses, which works for us.

[justrmor]

Originally Posted by Natural

A partial, but significant explanation for the absence of tall structures would be the lack of a large Corporate presence in Portland. Large companies are best positioned to absorb, afford expensive leases or build a high cost high-rise structure. I am puzzled why PDX isn't more aggressive trying to recruit new Companies to town?....Texas and the Carolina's have been getting really fat doing this.

I don't know if you've notice, but Portland isn't really struggling to attract companies or people. If anything, I suspect slower growth might help ease the growing pains currently affecting the city.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by justrmor

I suspect slower growth might help ease the growing pains currently affecting the city.

I very strongly agree.

Take the Amazon proposal, for example. That might have led to some fascinating things happening in the post office site, but it would have added to the housing crunch, driving up prices even further.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

I very strongly agree.

Take the Amazon proposal, for example. That might have led to some fascinating things happening in the post office site, but it would have added to the housing crunch, driving up prices even further.

I am so happy the Amazon proposal isn't happening in Portland for this reason. Overall, it would have done more bad for Portland than good. I also like that Portland basically said, here's a site for you guys, but that's it, no incentives, nothing because we don't need Amazon in Portland.

I did like that Milwaukie submitted a proposal too, quite ambitious for the little town, and very forward thinking of them.

[NOPO]

We should remove all height restrictions downtown, south waterfront, pearl, central east side and surrounding close-in areas.

[M Kass]

Originally Posted by NOPO

We should remove all height restrictions downtown, south waterfront, pearl, central east side and surrounding close-in areas.

I've lived in PDX my whole adult life and I grew up just down the road in Silverton and I never once viewed Portland as a metropolitan or cosmopolitan city as a kid. It lived up to its name 'Stumptown'.. Seattle and SF were the closest cities in my mind. A lot of that had to do with the squatty skyline of PDX. I fear, though, that the time for building iconically and upward have passed. Even if they remove the archaic and only serving the rich 'view corridor' statutes, developers don't want to build tall. It's expensive and tenants are few and far between on the commercial side, and residential is not likely to happen on the level of anything more that 5 or 6 over 1 brick and stick, unless in SoWa or a few other locales.
I fear that with the current 'leadership' and the departure of REI (a huge loss) and others, that any moves to entice vertical growth will be met with a lot of rightful skepticism and pushback...
Now, outside downtown? That's a different story. Beaverton? Not saying they'd be best served to build a 780' tower in the middle of the TC, but maybe a 25 story or cluster of 18-25s? That would be cool. With hybrid work environs and not enough downtown density, I don't think we're going to see a corporate HQ or developer funded new tallest any time soon in PDX proper, and it would appear that the PO site in NW is going to be an underwhelming punt. I'm hoping for a different result, but the lack of vision here is ridiculous. I think that the best hope would be for a freestanding spire or tower as an icon and new tallest, but I don't think any of the local benefactors with deep pockets would build such an icon for a city in such straits. Hoping for better times here. Hoping. Hoping. Hoping.

[CorbinWarrick]

Portland will never have true tall towers.. great post

[NOPO]

I don’t think our chance for tall buildings has passed. Not at all.

[downtownpdx]

The chances of a corporate hq in the city center is nil these days, and height restrictions pretty much guarantee we're not gonna look like Seattle or SF anytime soon. I know this discussion has occurred many times here, but I think the small blocks, shorter towers and extra daylight has always created a more inviting and human scaled city. Only cities like NY and Chicago really have enough density, historic architecture and pedestrian activity to pull off super talls and not end up with lifeless, long canyons with nothing else. I don't find South Waterfront, for example, to be inviting, it seems dark and sterile. (If they'd activated the waterfront with something besides a path I suppose wouldn't care as much about the neighborhood vibe, but if you wanna get a bite to eat don't actually expect a water view... in a place named "waterfront" ). Ok rant over.

[NOPO]

I don’t think we need an office tower. We need some 700ft+ residential/mixed towers.

[MarkDaMan]

One of my most favorite cities in the world to take a daytime stroll is Savannah, GA. It's absolutely beautiful, world class even, and doesn't have a single building taller than 255 feet.

I do think our max height limit is arbitrary and mistaken, but I also don't think taller buildings make us world class or in a shadow of other West Coast cities. The tiny pubs on the corner fronting a park, the best food truck scene in the country, the airport that punches above their weight, and the friendly Oregonians that want to show you the must sees (even if they don't know you), makes us world class.

[NOPO]

I just like big skylines. Sue me, lol.

[MarkDaMan]

^That's great! I like interesting skylines when heading into a city, but love the streetscape more when on the ground.

[NOPO]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

^That's great! I like interesting skylines when heading into a city, but love the streetscape more when on the ground.

I definitely think even a tall tower can have a quaint ground-floor presence. And I think downtown is the place for bigger towers. We have tons of nice, squat neighborhoods all over the city.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by NOPO

I definitely think even a tall tower can have a quaint ground-floor presence. And I think downtown is the place for bigger towers. We have tons of nice, squat neighborhoods all over the city.

Of course. I'm looking forward to a few lunch trips to Flock.

[NOPO]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Of course. I'm looking forward to a few lunch trips to Flock.

Looks really cool! I’ll have to check it out with my husband!

[MarkDaMan]

^Perhaps we should all arrange an SSP meet up for those available when it opens this summer?

[NOPO]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

^Perhaps we should all arrange an SSP meet up for those available when it opens this summer?

I’d love to meet folks here. This is a great forum. I mostly really enjoy following new projects and everyone who stay on top of it. It’d be great to make new friends.