South Waterfront News

[65MAX]

The restaurants on the 26th floor are for residents and their guests only. The bistro on the ground floor is open to the public.

[Artist]

The Bistro is not yet open to the public, as this is currently the only dining venue for Mirabella residents. Expect the Bistro the welcome the public in late October/early November when Mirabella's main dining room is complete.

I've heard only raves about the food that comes from the kitchen of these chefs and sous chefs. The reduced sauces are full of flavor, meat is tender, salmon is devine, fruit is fresh and very sweet. I hope you will enjoy is as much as I do!

[dkealoha]

Goodbye South Waterfront! We are moving to a little craftsman bungalow in Irvington (NE Portland). It's been fun to be part of this brand new neighborhood, but after 2 years surrounded by construction and waiting for the elevator on the 19th floor so we can take our dog out, I'm really excited to be in a house with a back yard! I'll miss our beautiful corner apartment with panoramic views, but I've lived in apartments on all sides of downtown for almost 5 years and it's time for a change. I still work in the Pearl and look forward to posting about developments there and infill projects in NE.

Here's a short blog post I did with shots from our apartment: http://dundeegeneralstore.com/2010/0...ise-to-a-home/

and here is our cute little bungalow!

[erinkg]

Thanks for the info! So is this a sit down restaurant or a cafeteria style place? We can't tell by looking through the windows.

[Artist]

It's sit-down dining, not fast-food or cafeteria. I think you will be able to call your order ahead for take out, but you would need to verify that after the Bistro opens.

The potato chips are made in-house! Sandwiches and panninis are a full meal.

[Artist]

DKEAloha, that is a sweetheart of a bungalow. Love the exterior details.

Thank you for your posts to Mirabella and South Waterfront pages. You helped acquaint me to SW before I got to Oregon (here, now, and enjoying it.)

[Artist]

Monday, October 11, Dolce Vita Bistro opens to the public for breakfast and lunch! Enjoy!

[erinkg]

Cool! Thanks for the heads up!

[urbanlife]

I rode down to the SoWa this afternoon and took a ride on the tram, I have to say I am a huge fan of this tower, the materials that were used for it look really amazing.

Granted the SoWa is still a tiny area of glass tower condos and lacking a great deal of what makes Portland great...I imagine with time it will eventually get its own character. But I will say the tram is a lot of fun to ride and if you have your bike with you, that hill is even more fun to ride down going back into downtown.

[Shilo Rune 96]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I rode down to the SoWa this afternoon and took a ride on the tram, I have to say I am a huge fan of this tower, the materials that were used for it look really amazing.

Granted the SoWa is still a tiny area of glass tower condos and lacking a great deal of what makes Portland great...I imagine with time it will eventually get its own character. But I will say the tram is a lot of fun to ride and if you have your bike with you, that hill is even more fun to ride down going back into downtown.

Hehe - I ride the tram every work day. I used to think the same thing, now it's just another part of my commute (my commute from the Pearl, wow that's so far!). I wouldn't mind living in the South Waterfront someday, for now the Pearl District is my home. Back to the tram, they've been talking about getting bigger cabins, during specific times of day they are actually making people wait because of capacity problems. This is just word of mouth operators... so I don't find it credible yet.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Shilo Rune 96

Hehe - I ride the tram every work day. I used to think the same thing, now it's just another part of my commute (my commute from the Pearl, wow that's so far!). I wouldn't mind living in the South Waterfront someday, for now the Pearl District is my home. Back to the tram, they've been talking about getting bigger cabins, during specific times of day they are actually making people wait because of capacity problems. This is just word of mouth operators... so I don't find it credible yet.

I was actually surprised with how much the tram was being used. Each car I saw during my time down there was packed full. Which makes me happy to know that it is being used heavily and is kind of cool to have something unique like that in the city even if it did go way over budget.

[Shilo Rune 96]

Ruling on Zidell site could clear way for more riverfront cleanup

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that Lloyd's of London and other insurance companies may be liable to cover the cost of the environmental cleanup of Willamette riverfront land owned by Zidell Marine Corp., a Portland barge-building operation.

The ruling could prove important for other owners of industrial land further north in the Portland Harbor. There, dozens of parties face a massive cleanup of their own that could top $1 billion.

"This is a significant decision for Zidell and other policyholders," said Bruce Campbell, an attorney with the Miller Nash firm in Portland that represented Zidell before the Supreme Court. "It will help make insurance money available to clean up contaminated properties."

Zidell's ZRZ Realty had sued its insurance carriers in 1997 after they denied coverage of the estimated $20 million cleanup of its land and contaminated river-bottom in the South Waterfront neighborhood. Zidell Marine scrapped ships at the site for years, generating a stew of toxins that contaminated the soil and river sediments.

Like many insurance coverage disputes, Zidell's beef with Lloyds and its other carriers was complex, forcing the court to carefully parse the language of decades-old insurance policies. One of the bones of contention was the scope of "marine" insurance policies that stated the carriers would indemnify Zidell for activity in a port that resulted in "damage to any... other fixed or moveable thing whatsoever."

The issue boiled down to whether the language applied to only to ships, docks, pilings and other manmade structures in a busy port or whether the coverage extended beyond that to the riverbank and river's bottom.

The Supreme Court sided with Zidell -- reversing an earlier Appeals Court ruling -- agreeing that the marine policy coverage was broad, including the river sediment.

"This is good news for us and all of the players in the marine industry," said Len Bergstein, spokesman for Zidell. "It pretty clearly states that the insurance covers toxins in the sediment."

Tom Sondag, a Portland lawyer who represented the insurance carriers, said the case is far from over. The Supreme Court punted on some issues, remanding them back to the Appeals Court, some of which could be key to determining the ultimate financial responsibility.

Zidell hopes to move its cleanup of its South Waterfront property into high gear next summer. Current plans call for the company to cap the contaminated river sediment rather than remove it with a dredge.

Zidell Marine still builds barges at its South Waterfront site, now overshadowed by the glitzy condo towers built in the area in the last decade. It is one of the last vestiges of the heavy industry that once dominated the area.

The Portland Harbor cleanup is several years behind Zidell's South Waterfront effort. The so-called Lower Willamette Group, made up of property owners in the area, is scheduled to deliver a draft cleanup feasibility study next June, said Judy Smith, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

It could be 2014 before the cleanup gets underway in earnest.


--Jeff Manning
Oregonlive.com

[tworivers]

Promising news.


South Waterfront housing project faces council
POSTED: Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:25 PM PT
BY: Nathalie Weinstein

A long-stalled, nearly $50 million affordable housing project planned for Portland’s South Waterfront could begin construction this spring, according to Portland Housing Bureau director Margaret Van Vliet.

Portland City Council next week will consider approval of a disposition and development agreement for Block 49, where an Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects-designed, mixed-use project is slated to be built. Once that agreement is approved by the council, the project team will be able to finish assembling private financing for the project, Van Vliet said. REACH Community Development will develop the project and relocate its offices and 50 employees to the building’s ground floor.

“We’re not at ground breaking yet, but this is an important step,” Van Vliet said. “We are moving as quickly as we can to start construction in April.”

The building will be 6 stories tall. Out of 209 housing units there, 42 will be leased to homeless veterans. The remaining units will be available to people making between 0 and 50 percent of the median family income.

[RoseCtyRoks]

Portland approves $80 million for affordable housing, road project in South Waterfront

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i...pproves_6.html

Published: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 8:50 PM Updated: Thursday, December 16, 2010, 11:02 AM
Ryan Frank, The Oregonian

The Portland City Council on Wednesday endorsed two major projects in South Waterfront, boosting the total taxpayer investment to at least $175 million for one of Portland's most ambitious economic development projects.

A $51 million overhaul of Moody Avenue will improve streetcar, light-rail and bike routes into the district of glassy condo towers and health clinics. A 209-unit apartment building -- with $30 million in public money -- would be South Waterfront's first affordable-housing project.

The two projects bring the city's total financial stake in South Waterfront to at least $175 million from local, state or federal sources.

The Moody Avenue project is expected to start in January and finish by February 2012. The council's vote approved a contract with construction company Stacy and Witbeck Inc., based in Alameda, Calif.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams made a strong push to attract federal stimulus money for the project. The work covers just six-tenths of a mile but is expensive because it requires a completely rebuilt street under a tight federal deadline. Workers will dig out the existing street and raise it by as much as 17 feet, install new water and sewer lines, add one traffic lane, re-install streetcar tracks and make room for the Portland-to-Milwaukie MAX line.

Adams said the expanded transportation network will also help the Oregon University System's plans for a $170 million science complex along Moody Avenue.

Critics have questioned the city's investments in the high-rise neighborhood that continues to grow despite struggles from the real estate bust. But Adams and others say they're relying on South Waterfront to absorb residential and business expansion and reduce suburban sprawl over the next decade or more. This fresh round of work will also provide work for a construction industry battered by the recession, Adams said.

"This is a significant step forward on a project of citywide significance," Adams said at the meeting.

The council also approved a contract with Reach Community Development to build the apartment project at Moody Avenue and Bancroft Street. Reach still has to find millions of dollars in private funding before a scheduled groundbreaking this spring.

Affordable-housing advocates have criticized the city for its slow progress. South Waterfront's first affordable apartments were supposed to be under construction in October 2005.

Of the 209 apartments, 42 will be for veterans; all the apartments will be restricted to people making less than 50 percent of the region's median income, or about $25,000 a year for a single person.

Commissioner Randy Leonard credited Commissioner Nick Fish with solving "fatal flaws" in the original proposals and said the project would be a symbol for the way the city takes care of veterans.

Early next year, the city expects to start work on another South Waterfront project: a $12.6 million pedestrian bridge over Interstate 5 that will run under the tram cables.

[pdxtraveler]

OHSU Building article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...arly-done.html

[MarkDaMan]

John Ross condos sell out
Portland Business Journal - by Wendy , Culverwell
Date: Monday, December 20, 2010, 4:08pm PST

Unit 1316 is sold.

It took more than three years, but the South Waterfront's John Ross condominiums has at long last sold its final unit. Unit 1316, a studio with 636 square feet, sweeping views of the Willamette River and an asking price of $179,000, sold this week, according to the brokers selling units in the glitzy tower.

Realty Trust said in November that Unit 1316 was the only unit left and predicted it would be gone within a few weeks. Principals Todd Prendergast and Patrick Clark announced the final sale Monday afternoon.

The John Ross, 3601 S.W. River Parkway, was the South Waterfront's second residential project. The 31-story building offered 303 condominiums. Gerding Edlen Development Co. and Williams & Dame Development opened the $130 million project in March 2007. After a strong start, sales stalled as demand for condominiums evaporated.

An auction organized by the lender resulted in 47 sales in April, leaving 28 units unsold.


Read more: John Ross condos sell out | Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...-sell-out.html

[2oh1]

My, how quickly three years pass... and yet, that seems like so long ago.

13th floor, 636 sq/ft, river views... for $179,000. Anybody know how high the original asking price for that unit was?

[JordanL]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

My, how quickly three years pass... and yet, that seems like so long ago.

13th floor, 636 sq/ft, river views... for $179,000. Anybody know how high the original asking price for that unit was?

No way it was under $300k

[Sioux612]

Not a real proposal but I like the creativeness in this idea:

[tworivers]

Where is that from? I Like the building on the lower right.