South Waterfront News

[65MAX]

Because they're usually out in the burbs. This one will be marketed, I'm sure, to wealthy empty nesters who want to be close to OHSU and all the future amenities of SoWa. You won't be able to tell the difference between a hotel, condo, apartment or assisted living tower. They all have similar floor to floor heights.

[65MAX]

...and the elevators will be sized to accommodate stretchers, just like in hospitals, so transporting elderly from any floor wouldn't be an issue.

[MarkDaMan]

Dougall, I have to say I had the same fear when I flipped open the Oregonian and saw that this morning, but I agree with 65Max, there are several 'assisted living' homes in major cities that are tall, urban, and high quality. I think Seattle has one in the 20 story + range. Even in the Lloyd they have a tall building for assisted living. 70's all the way, but tall.

[Dougall5505]

your right but i still can't picture it. i totally forgot about the proximity to OHSU that has to be a major plus

[pdxstreetcar]

it is a little hard to picture Dotty with tennis balls on the bottom of her walker on the 20th floor of a south waterfront tower. i guess they are thinking long term especially with regard to the now-retiring baby boomers who are largely fueling this urban condo boom

[Dougall5505]

maybe this will make no sense at all but maybe it will.
Maybe if the hotel isn't built in the south waterfront that will make the convention center hotel a bigger priority. just another one of my crazy thoughts

[MarkDaMan]

it is a little hard to picture Dotty with tennis balls on the bottom of her walker on the 20th floor of a south waterfront tower. i guess they are thinking long term especially with regard to the now-retiring baby boomers who are largely fueling this urban condo boom

a built in money maker? OHSU doesn't do senior living, but they do senior care, which in my understanding is a lucrative business. If a senior can afford the most expensive nursing home in Portland, they surely have insurance, and if something goes wrong, they are just a tram ride away from the hospital.

[Dougall5505]

i know where im going to go when im too old to take care of myself. i might even fake a few ailments to get a free tram ride

[tworivers]

Have any of you seen this before?

http://www.pdc.us/pdf/ura/north_maca...ndout_6-06.pdf

Has a brief mention of the Zidell property and future plans for the site involving a "nationally reknowned" urban design firm. Isn't the barge operation supposed to move to the riverfront below U of P in N PDX? I thought they'd even bought land up there.

[der Reisender]

i would bet it still will move up there and that zidell just plans to make some money in the process by putting some buildings on what they own in sowa

[pdxstreetcar]

Block 46
http://www.portlandonline.com/bds/in...125738&c=42263

[sirsimon]

I find the shorter buildings that are part of this project to be the most interesting as the corners appear rounded.

If some of these projects are going to be stuck in the monolithic mold (slabby design), I wish they would at least get creative with different colored glass (why not mix it up with unusual colors like bright green, rose, and aqua), and perhaps different textures to the skin (ribbed for your pleasure, etc.).

[MarkDaMan]

This lady has an incredible view of the John Ross. If anyone can scan the pic from the back pages of today's inPortland, it's an awesome site!

Room with a 'whew!' -- riverfront plan is lofty
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Fred Leeson
The Oregonian

Norys Glenna lives in a strange neighborhood.

Big trucks jounce on uneven streets. Power tools whine. Clanging emanates from unfinished buildings. Dust fills the air. Temporary street closures make driving difficult. The new city park is a veritable swamp.

Glenna loves it all. "I have this incredible view," she says of her 19th-floor condominium in the Meriwether. "I have everything. It's a fabulous dream come true."

The two-tower Meriwether project is the first of several towers to open for residents in the South Waterfront Central District, where condos are springing up from former industrial land south of the Ross Island Bridge. Three other towers are under construction, and the Portland Design Commission this month approved plans for a fourth.

The planned 3,000-unit neighborhood will take several years to finish, but changes are unfolding quickly. The Portland Streetcar will expand to Southwest Gibbs Street next month, soon to be followed by the aerial tram.

A temporary riverfront esplanade has been installed along the Willamette River, and a rental storage building has been replaced by two blocks of a green -- if muddy -- public park.

A 40-year veteran of Minnesota winters, Glenna wanted milder weather as she looked for a place to retire. "I also wanted a community where urban development was well prepared," she says.

After looking over plans for the South Waterfront, she was convinced. "The urban planning seems to have taken a lot into consideration," she says. Since taking possession in July, Glenna has been impressed by Portland's friendliness -- in her neighborhood and elsewhere. "Nobody has been too busy to help," she says. "The people are alive and friendly."

The Portland Design Commission, which reviews all new buildings in the area, recently approved a three-building complex that will add 330 units on a block bounded by Southwest Moody and Bond avenues between Abernethy and Lowell streets. The tallest building will stand 20 stories; the others will have five and seven.

Plans call for a T-shaped public walkway through the new complex, including one 60-foot-wide plaza. "The more dense we get, the more important these voids are," says Mike McCulloch, the commission chairman. "Even though it's a big open field at the moment, someday we're going to cherish these public spaces."

Designed by Ankrom Moisan architects, the as-yet unnamed project "goes well beyond some other projects in the neighborhood," McCulloch adds, including a heavy concentration of ground-level retail and restaurant space.

But whether everything gets built on schedule could be affected by a downturn in the condo market. Likewise, budget issues could delay further development of the park and an ambitious riverfront greenway plan.

Glenna, for one, took note of plans for a small marina near her building and the connection of the hiking/bicycle trail to the larger Willamette Greenway. "That will make it frosting on the cake," she says.

Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/o...800.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

does anyone know where our Block 46 thread is?

From the article above, I wanted to post this:

"The Portland Design Commission, which reviews all new buildings in the area, recently approved a three-building complex that will add 330 units on a block bounded by Southwest Moody and Bond avenues between Abernethy and Lowell streets. The tallest building will stand 20 stories; the others will have five and seven.

Plans call for a T-shaped public walkway through the new complex, including one 60-foot-wide plaza. "The more dense we get, the more important these voids are," says Mike McCulloch, the commission chairman. "Even though it's a big open field at the moment, someday we're going to cherish these public spaces."

Designed by Ankrom Moisan architects, the as-yet unnamed project "goes well beyond some other projects in the neighborhood," McCulloch adds, including a heavy concentration of ground-level retail and restaurant space."

Looks like we should be seeing some activity on the Prometheus property pretty soon!

[CouvScott]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

This lady has an incredible view of the John Ross. If anyone can scan the pic from the back pages of today's inPortland, it's an awesome site!

[Dougall5505]

thanks for the scan couvscott. l like how from one side the building looks like a perfect circle but from the other it looks very elliptical

[MarkDaMan]

City overpaid for building rights, officials say
South Waterfront - An appraisal suggests Portland's offer was double the value
Thursday, September 07, 2006
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian

This spring, City of Portland leaders agreed to pay $3 million for the rights to build affordable apartments on a two-block site in the growing district of condos and medical research buildings in South Waterfront.

On Wednesday, the same officials told the City Council that an independent appraisal -- done after the city agreed to the $3 million price tag -- pegged the value at half that cost, $1.5 million.

Larry Brown, who manages the South Waterfront District for the city's Portland Development Commission, says they aren't paying too much.

With 400 affordable apartments planned for the spot along Southwest Moody Avenue, Brown said, the per-apartment cost is a relative steal compared with similar downtown projects. "That's what it all boils down to," Brown said. "It's a very good price."

But city commissioners Randy Leonard and Erik Sten questioned the price. "It's pretty clear we paid too much for too little," Sten said.

The deal was a brief debate Wednesday as the council gave its final OK to increase taxpayers' investment in South Waterfront through 2011.

Under the new deal, about $126 million in local, state and federal money will help turn the former warehouse and industrial district into a collection of condo towers and Oregon Health & Science University's expanded campus. The aerial tram made it all possible by linking OHSU's Marquam Hill campus to its South Waterfront buildings.

Wednesday's 3-2 vote provided a relatively quiet end to 10 months of turmoil.

After costs for the tram jumped in October, City Hall began wrangling over how and when the city should put more money into the tram and South Waterfront's other public improvements: affordable housing, parks, the streetcar and a riverfront greenway. The debates continued into the spring amid election politics until Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who was up for re-election, provided the swing vote to get a tentative funding deal approved.

On Wednesday, the council approved the legal documents to make the deal final. The vote fell along the same lines as before: Mayor Tom Potter and commissioners Saltzman and Sam Adams for it; Leonard and Sten against it.

As part of the deal this spring, Bruce Warner, the Portland Development Commission's executive director, agreed to pay North Macadam Investors, South Waterfront's lead developers, $3 million for the rights to build apartments on the site known as Block 33.

The payment wouldn't buy the land. But it does give the commission the right to build apartments above a planned OHSU parking garage at the site.

Warner said he didn't have time to get his own appraisal -- given the political rush to finish the deal -- before agreeing to the $3 million price. So he relied on appraisals done for OHSU and North Macadam Investors that valued the rights at $4 million and $5.6 million.

Homer Williams, a lead developer at North Macadam Investors, says he hasn't seen the PDC's appraisal but thinks $3 million is a fair price.

Adams suggested the city look for more independent reviews to make sure they don't overpay when it's unnecessary.

The sale is expected to close by the end of November.

Ryan Frank: 503-221-8564; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/o...710.xml&coll=7

[CouvScott]

ANALYSIS: PDC deal squeaks by city as public input, strategy questioned
By Nick Budnick

The Portland Tribune 14.3 hours ago

L.E. Baskow / Portland Tribune

Construction continues in the South Waterfront, Portland’s newest neighborhood, for which the city just narrowly approved an amended development agreement.
Continuing controversy Wednesday over the Portland Development Commission’s plan for the future of South Waterfront suggests that the City Council’s heightened scrutiny of the urban renewal agency is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.

In a 3-2 vote, the council approved an amended development agreement for the project, intended to spur private investment in the biggest remaining parcel of underdeveloped land in the city, following a public hearing that revisited old disagreements and raised new ones.

Commissioner Sam Adams was joined by Mayor Tom Potter and Commissioner Dan Saltzman in voting in favor of the agreement. But Potter and Saltzman remained largely silent as Adams championed the deal and deflected criticism and questions raised by Commissioners Randy Leonard and Erik Sten.

Leonard and Sten attacked the plan as too generous to landowners and developers in the district, including Oregon Health & Science University.

Leonard zeroed in on new language in the agreement that capped OHSU’s financial contribution to infrastructure improvements, but did not do the same for the city of Portland.

“If I were representing OHSU, I would fight for language exactly like this,” Leonard said. “I’m wondering, Who is fighting for us?”

Sten, for his part, called it a “fundamentally flawed agreement” but said that since the basic framework of the project had been approved by the council in April, it was beyond repair. He joined Leonard in questioning why the city had paid $3 million for a piece of property for affordable housing that was later appraised at $1.5 million.

Sten said that his concern today is similar to one he expressed a decade ago over the PDC’s urban renewal plan for the River District, where the so-called Pearl District is located: that the PDC should have acquired property for housing in the area years earlier, before the city had boosted property values by committing to spend millions on road, greenway and park improvements.

“I have learned from history, but I fear our (city) negotiators have not,” he said.

However, Bruce Warner, head of the PDC, stressed the positives of the deal – progress on a streetcar extension as well as in housing and green spaces, describing it as a “good news story” and a “reasonable agreement.”

Warner said that the district is well on its way to becoming a success, to which Leonard responded that he did not doubt it – but, he asked, a success for who?

Leonard questioned why, rather than focusing on building housing for the very poor, the city was including approximately 100 units of affordable housing for people who are making more than 80 percent of the region’s median family income. As defined by the federal government, 80 percent of the median family income for a family of four is $54,300 a year.

“The question is, Who is benefiting from this?” Leonard said.

Supporters of the project say that the city’s investment will be repaid with a thriving, high-quality residential neighborhood. The South Waterfront deal is just the latest in a series of public-private partnerships that have advanced the city, they say.

Although the deal was approved, the tenor of the hearing was significant as a barometer in the continuing drama over the relationship between the PDC and the council. The semi-independent agency is the city’s main economic development arm and is largely under the control of Potter.

But despite the reform efforts undertaken by the mayor, Sten, Leonard and Adams have discussed placing a measure on the ballot next year that would give the council more control over the PDC’s internal budgeting.

Following months of controversy, relations between the city’s elected council and the PDC seemed to be improving. But the resurgence of tension over South Waterfront signals that Leonard and Sten are unlikely to stop asking questions.

Nor did the hearing satisfy citizens who have been monitoring the South Waterfront agreement.

“It’s a scam, and you can quote me on that,” said neighbor and architect Jerry Ward, who sits on the citizens advisory committee that oversees the PDC’s activities in South Waterfront. He thinks the deal is too generous.

Ward was echoed by Shelly Lorenzen of the League of Women Voters of Portland, meanwhile, who complained that the earlier version of the agreement approved by the council in April had progressed through the public process in just 48 hours – hardly enough time for a meaningful public debate.

When the league complained in April, she said, city officials promised that the final agreement, considered Wednesday, would receive a full public discussion – a promise that she said the city has not fulfilled.

This observation was echoed by a landowner’s representative, Edward Trompke of the Jordan Schrader law firm. Representing Zidell Marine, he submitted written comments saying that although the agreement had “evolved” since being approved by the council in April, the “amount of public review and input has been very limited.”

[CouvScott]

[CouvScott]

http://www.pdc.us/pdf/about/commissi...t%2006-96).pdf

...Acquisition of Blocks 49 and Block 33 air rights for affordable housing

The acquisition of Block 49 and assignment and assumption of the Block 33 air rights by PDC is required by and a precondition for execution of the Eight Amendment by the DA Parties. Collectively, these sites will provide development opportunities for the construction of more than 600 units of affordable housing. Execution of the Eight Amendment is expected to lead to the development of the North Macadam URA’s first 200 units within the next 18 months. Attached to the Resolution as Exhibit B are the proposed purchase agreement for Block 49 and the assignment and assumption agreement for the Block 33 air rights...