Portland's Pearl: the finishing touches

[MarkDaMan]

Portland's Pearl District has been a resounding success. Below is a recent article that gives a short history of the district as well as "look" into what has already been done. This thread will follow the finishing touches that will round out the district in the next 5 to 10 years. There is still much work to do. The district has much infill potential that will keep new development happening for many more years, but there is also a new district within the district the developers have branded "NoLo." In this district (north of Lovejoy street) the city has agreed to raise its height limit to allow taller slender buildings and there is land potential for at least 15 new towers, if not many more than that, to be built. With Portland expecting 20 to 30 new towers (most if not all above 175ft) to be started by this winter, it shouldn't take long to fill this empty track.

What's old is new again in Portland's gem
Lively Pearl District teems with galleries, shops and clubs
Christine Delsol, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Portland, Ore. -- Oregon's No. 1 city has been mostly overlooked by Californians (not always to its great regret) as merely a "nice place" with rose-filled parks, pretty bridges and decent hotels -- more important as a stopover than a destination. A coterie of hippies and iconoclasts were drawn to Portland's individualism, and fans of Seattle's coffee and dot-com cultures might have had a look on the way, but mostly we haven't paid much attention.

News flash: When we weren't looking, Portland got hip.

While other cities were paving over or bulldozing places that were no longer profitable, Portland was turning them into attractive and affordable parks, restaurants, shops, music venues, art galleries, restaurants and brew pubs. It's managed to pack in all the big-city attractions while keeping urban aggravations to a minimum.

The Pearl District, whose reclaimed warehouses and rail yards have been populated in recent years with artists and designers, is an ideal vantage point for observing the city's evolution. With the recent immigrants came international flavors, sidewalk cafes, lively clubs and flashy lofts and townhouses. But art and design remain at its heart.

People pack the streets for a crash course in contemporary painting, sculpture and photography the first Thursday of the month, when galleries stay open late and offer food and entertainment. In response to growing interest in its urban style and interior design, the neighborhood staged Pearl CitySpaces, a weeklong public condominium and loft tour, in May.

The Pearl, adjacent to downtown, is also about a 15-minute walk, or a short ride by free public transit, from the city's latest arts buzz: The Portland Art Museum's new Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, which opened Saturday. The landmark former Masonic Temple is now the Pacific Northwest's largest repository of modern art.

The museum's addition occupies the south wing of the temple, built to monumental proportions in 1925. The staid brick exterior is scored by a decidedly modern, faceted glass "pleat" that pulls natural light into five levels of galleries, and capped with glowing glass penthouses. But in its core, two ballrooms were meticulously restored for public use, complete with rusticated walls, Moorish flourishes and a circular frieze of painted quotations.

The Pearl District is a similar marriage of modern culture and historic preservation. This is where young cosmopolitans, surrounded by plasma TVs and plates of Thai salad rolls, choose from 100 tap beers within the exposed brick walls and 24-foot ceilings of Henry Weinhard's original brewery. Today's Brewery Blocks house not only Henry's 12th Street Tavern but retailers, offices, restaurants, Peet's Coffee and possibly the world's most ornate Whole Foods market, in a former Chevrolet dealership facing the old brewery's smokestack.

My first glimpse of the Pearl, under the wing of my friend Renate, who lives across the river but regularly crosses the Broadway Bridge to shop or walk her dogs, was Jamison Square, a 3-year-old park where kids splashed in the fountain from morning to evening. A few blocks away, the Fremont Bridge arched beyond a red neon "Go by streetcar" sign, echoing nearby Union Station's classic "Go by train" sign.

As we strolled, Renate's boyfriend couldn't say he disagreed with complaints that the district has become too precious, a "fake" version of Europe or San Francisco. But he eagerly ushered me to Sinju, an uncharacteristically spacious and quiet sushi bar, and to the Ecotrust Building. This century-old warehouse's socially minded tenants include a Patagonia store, the Wild Salmon Center, Hot Lips Pizza, the nation's first environmental bank and Ecotrust itself, a nonprofit promoting environmental sustainability. Even the renovation was green, reusing old timbers and recycling 98 percent of the construction materials.

Returning to the Pearl on my own, I got lost in the endless stacks at Powell's City of Books, the country's largest independent bookstore. I had outrageously good Cuban chicken palomillo and a mojito at Oba. I saw the same model of running shoe that carried Jesse Owens to four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the West Coast's only Adidas Originals store, and bought a clever little notebook for my purse at Oblation. A couple sitting on their ground-level patio smiled as I passed, music spilled from bars and brew pubs, and I joined the briefcase-toting natty dressers milling around Whole Foods. It all felt so ... companionable.

When this was Henry Weinhard's neighborhood in the 1850s, it was called Couch's Addition. Union Station was built in 1896, and warehouses, manufacturing and storage facilities rose along rail spur lines throughout the district. Then the urban flight of the 1960s killed the momentum.

Artists started moving into the derelict neighborhood in the late 1970s, touching off a resurgence remarkable for its continuity between past and present. Sherman, Clay and Co., which operated here in the 1920s, returned to the Brewery Blocks in 2004. Even the district's status as a furniture and design mecca is old news: the Central Door Co., which exported building materials throughout the world a century ago, now houses JD Madison's contemporary furniture, rugs and design services.

The last train rolled in 2003, but the North Bank passenger station endures, full of townhouses. Burlington Northern's former storage yards house the Portland Streetcar, along with Jamison Square and trendy Portlanders' lofts and condos. The renovated Union Station is still a transit hub.

The juxtaposition of brick warehouses, sleek high-rises and picturesque storefronts does have a certain San Francisco feel. In the Pearl, though, stylish restaurants don't laugh if you walk in without a reservation. Streets are narrower, and traffic moves at nonlethal speeds.

Maybe it's time to start paying attention. The Pearl offers a plenty good time, and it even seems to have gotten San Francisco right.

[MarkDaMan]

projects under construction:

Cronin Block (to be named)

15-story, 244-unit building
developed by Robert Ball, designed by Fletcher Farr Ayotte with a courtyard by the late Robert Murase.

The Casey

The Casey will be one of the most energy efficient and environmentally-friendly high rise residential projects in the United States. The developer, Gerding/Edlen, is aiming for it to be the first condo tower in the country to earn a top "platinum" rating under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

The Casey will have only five condos per floor and will have 56 units. It will be a 15-story building. The average size of a Casey condo will be 2,000 square feet.

Square Foot Price: $400 and up

The Crane

The building will be converted into a mixed use with six floors total - three floors will be residential.

[MarkDaMan]

Waterfront Pearl

Amenities include an underground parking garage, lap pool, exercise room, boardroom and common area.

Plans include an extensive water feature. The water features covers almost the entire property and will range in depth from 18 to 36 inches. Water will cascade down a series of waterfalls, be recycled through a series of filters, and re-circulated. It is designed to assist with storm water management, building temperature control and irrigation. It will also provide gray water for toilet flushing and water for fire fighting.

The effect would be to make the buildings look like they're resting in the shallows of the Willamette River. The project calls for extensive landscaping, maintains view corridors from Naito Parkway and continues the riverfront trail that currently ends at the edge of the parking lot.

Soren Rasmussen, the architect, sees the project as a bridge that will connect the Pearl District to the Willamette River and teamed with Portland landscape architectural firm Walker Macy to design a central water feature intended to illustrate the connection. Rasmussen's design for the two towers calls for sculpted, wedge-shaped buildings that a Bureau of Development Services employee this summer said resemble the shape of "a ship's bow."

Metropolitan

With The Metropolitan, Hoyt Street Properties will establish a new benchmark for buildings in Portland’s Pearl District, one of the nation’s most successful new urban neighborhoods. At a mid point in their development of the area, Hoyt Street Properties envisions the 380,000-square-foot project as an icon in the city, becoming Portland’s most luxurious urban condominium building. The Metropolitan will be one of the city’s first truly mixed use projects—121 large, luxury units in a 19-story tower will be paired with a 4-story, 20,000-square-foot boutique live/work building. These two sections will be joined by over 20,000 square feet of retail space at the street level and two floors of underground parking.

At 225 feet tall, the Metropolitan will be the tallest building in the Pearl District offering sweeping views of the neighborhood, Tanner Springs Park, Jamison Square, Willamette River, mountain peaks, downtown, and the west hills. The unique design of the condominium tower allows a majority of the units to be exclusive corner units, maximizing views and daylight for unit owners.

Additional amenities are incorporated throughout the building: concierge service, a club with individual wine storage and a wine bar, an exercise room, conference facilities, guest suites, and a second floor roof garden. The building will convey the sense of luxury within—the exterior will be clad in roman travertine and a custom glass curtain wall system. Furthermore, a balance between luxury and sustainability will be promoted in the project—high performance mechanical systems, a rainwater retention and reuse system, and the incorporation of durable, low-maintenance materials will help The Metropolitan achieve LEED Silver Certification.

[MarkDaMan]

artist rendering of Pearl's "NoLo" buildout on property owned by Hoyt Street Properties.


The grayish/brown building in the center has been built also the one to the left has too. The greenspace both abutting the river at the bottom of pic and above the rail are actually other developer's property that wasn't included in this developer's image. The small buildings in the background are also being developed as high rises by other companies.

[colemonkee]

I lived in Portland from '92-'95, and this area was mainly abandoned buildings. I go back every year to visit family and friends, and I've been very pleased with the turnaround. Every time I go back I make a point to visit this area and go out to dinner or out to a bar/club. I remember seeing a Diesel store and an American Apparel on my last trip and thinking "damn, Portland's becoming a real urban city!" It's always been a great city, but now it's becoming more of a modern, urban place, not just a "northwest" place.

[MarkDaMan]

project update:

Construction starts on Waterfront Pearl

Construction started this week on Waterfront Pearl, a 192-condominium development sponsored by Naito Properties LLC.

The project is being built on the former River Queen parking lot adjacent the Albers Mill office complex. It is a joint venture between Naito Properties LLC of Portland, Pemcor Development Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and GranCorp Holdings LLC of Seattle.

The project was originally conceived as a four-tower undertaking, but was scaled back to two towers, which will be set in an extensive water feature.

Units will range between 900 and 3,000 square feet, with prices starting at $350,000.

[MarkDaMan]

Oregon to get first LEED Platinum building?

early rendering, I will replace when latest become available

Platinum Potential: Design commission gives the go-ahead for a condo project at the edge of the Pearl
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Kennedy Smith
10/11/2005

Nobody had anything bad to say about the Casey Condominiums during an Oct. 6 meeting of the Bureau of Development Services Design Commission, as it unanimously approved zoning changes that would allow construction to begin on what could be Oregon's first LEED Platinum project.
The proposed Casey Condominiums is a quarter-block mixed-use residential and retail site at the corner of Northwest Everett Street and 12th Avenue. The 17-story building is set to include 61 residential units on the second through 17th floor, 4,200 square feet of retail space on the ground level, and four levels of underground parking with 190 stalls.

Setting it aside from other condominium projects popping up in the downtown core, however, is its potential for the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification.

Stephen Domries of GBD Architects said that the Casey has earned almost 50 LEED points (Platinum certification requires at least 52 points).

The Casey would include an eco-roof for stormwater management with photovoltaic panels that would generate energy for common-area spaces, said Catherine Navarro-Silva with GBD Architects.

"We are specifying water-efficient appliances; we're looking into getting a Flexcar on the site for alternative transportation, and we are specifying efficient and appropriate glazing (on windows) to reduce heat and glare," she said. "We're also exploring ground-source heating and cooling, we're looking at efficient skin and curtain-wall design, and we have operable windows throughout the building in residential areas as well as retail."

Along with its sustainable qualities, Domries said the Casey is distinctive in other ways.

"This would be the first quarter-block building in the Pearl," he said. "We've seen the Pearl District grow from a few stray buildings to large projects, and now we get to see a much smaller-scale building on a lot size that could really (add) some contribution to the street."

"Within the Pearl District, it's a pretty strategic location in that it can provide strong north-south access and a strong east-west access," said Kara Fioravanti with the City of Portland Bureau of Development Services.

The building would sit just north of the Brewery Blocks, "bringing the scale in that area into the downtown Pearl District," she said. Going east to west, the building would connect the northwest district neighborhood across Interstate 405 to the Pearl District, she explained.

"While it isn't a gateway location as described by the city plan, it definitely has gateway qualities," she said.

But what's most exceptional about the Casey, said Domries, is its oriel window. Defined by the zoning code as "a window that projects into the right-of-way" the Casey's design calls for an art-glass spire window extending from the second floor up to above the rooftop.

The window is more aptly described as the Casey's spine, said Domries. Made of textured glass in a geometric array of clear and several shades of blue, the design element - contributed by the Casey's neighbor, Bullseye Glass Co. - acts as a focal point along Everett Street.

"We were experimenting with how to add texture to the building during the day and night," said Domries. "We've been able to add LED lighting that would make our glass stand out quite a bit during the night time."

Applicants for the zoning changes were Roger Jones, owner of the property, Bullseye Glass Co., owner of the property adjacent to the proposed condominium, Gerding/Edlen Development and GBD Architects.

Jones, who named the building after his father Casey Jones, said he felt privileged to be a part of the design process.

"Having been through innumerable land use reviews, it's absolutely wonderful to hear the commission talking about a project in relation to art and sustainability," he said.

The specific zoning changes approved last Thursday included allowing for an extension of the maximum height of the building, which exceeds the code's 175-foot maximum; a height and width clearance for the oriel window; and an exception to the zoning code's rule of having two loading stalls on-site. The Casey proposal calls for no loading stalls.

"With a quarter-block site, there's a challenge to incorporate loading, so the request is to have zero loading," explained Fioravanti. "The Portland Department of Transportation is in support of this request, and there are ongoing discussions with PDOT to allow limited use of on-street loading."

Navarro-Silva also indicated that the project has received the support of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. "We were very well received," she said.

Now that the zoning changes have been approved, GBD said it will submit a construction permit to the city in mid-October, with construction to begin in mid-November. Demolition of the site began a couple of weeks ago. Construction should be complete in 2007.

[mSeattle]

Great news. I need to get down and take pictures.

[MarkDaMan]

Pearl's newest developments moves toward the river.

Condo craze gets all wet

The Pearl is yesterday's news as focus moves to river

Wendy Culverwell
Business Journal staff writer

The construction cranes have decamped from the Pearl District for waterside sites as Portland's residential aspirations shift ever so slightly to the east.

At last count, there were some 1,439 condominium units in development along the west bank of the Willamette River. When built, they will occupy 10 separate towers at five separate locations. Four separate sets of developers are driving the waterfront construction boom.

They all have this in common beyond their waterfront location: Buyers have snapped up units almost as soon as they hit the market.

Riverscape, on Front Street near the western terminus of the Fremont Bridge, is closest to completion of the five projects in development. The first 34 units will be ready for residents this fall. The project will eventually boast about 500 units, including 104 townhouses.

Not far to the south, Waterfront Pearl is the most recent project to get going. Offered by the Naito Properties LLC and its development partners from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, it will include 192 units in two towers in the former River Queen parking lot, just north of the Broadway Bridge.

Two additional towers may be developed in the future on the adjacent site, which is owned by a separate branch of the Naito family.

The first phase opens in two years. Buyers reserved about 80 percent of the first building when it was put on the market earlier this summer.

The second building will be available in a month or so and its builders expect a similar reception.

There's no secret why some of Portland's most prominent condominium developers -- Gerding/Edlen, Homer Williams and Jack Onder -- have turned their attention to the waterfront. The Pearl District is nearly built out and high-end buyers have a seemingly unending appetite for luxury condos.

"The market is ravenous right now," said Kirk Taylor, senior vice president for investment sales at CB Richard Ellis. Taylor helped usher Waterfront Pearl to fruition when he introduced Sam and Verne Naito, who own the property, to a team of out-of-town developers, Pemcor Development Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Grancorp Holdings LLC of Seattle.

Builders aren't the only ones taking advantage of the ongoing appetite for condominiums and waterside living, Taylor said.

Almost every apartment complex along the river has converted to condominiums and very little developable land remains between Portland and Lake Oswego outside of the South Waterfront area.

Demand for luxury condominiums remains strong and mortgage interest rates remain low. And compared with other cities along the West Coast, Portland remains a bargain -- buyers would have to pay twice as much elsewhere to afford the kinds of properties available in Portland.

Builder Jack Onder got his start in the Pearl District and notes that district continues to go strong and several new projects are in the offing. But there aren't many spots left in there, which means builders are looking elsewhere.

Now, years of effort to build in the River Place urban renewal area are coming to fruition. The Strand was originally conceived as a hotel, but morphed into a residential project with the twists and turns of the economy. The 216-unit project will include three towers and is in mid-construction. The first units will be ready for residents a year from now.

RiverPlace Partners, which consists of Onder's company and Williams and Dame Development Inc., has been working on its piece for five years.

The Strand occupies one of the last sites available in the district between the Hawthorne and Interstate 5 bridges.

Developers didn't discover the river, Onder said. They work with the sites that become available. And right now, that means the river.

So far, the sales crew at The Strand has released 137 units in the first two towers to buyers. Most have been reserved.

Buyers will be asked to sign binding purchase agreements starting this weekend and, based on the conversion rate of similar properties, Onder and his broker say most reservations will convert into actual sales. Buyers are expected to occupy their units and speculative investors are turned away.

Onder describes the projects strung along the waterfront in chain-like terms -- the pieces will eventually be linked. To a large extent, they already are -- by the riverwalk that extends from the Broadway Bridge south to RiverPlace.

He believes it will eventually find its way further south and will eventually connect the northern sections of the river with the South Waterfront, where Gerding/Edlen is building the Meriwether and John Ross condominiums.

Buyers are drawn by the green aspects as much as by the river and its endless parade of pleasure boats as well as working ships, developers agree.

At the north end of the Willamette, builders of the Waterfront Pearl use terms like "working riverfront" and "retro industrial" to market their projects. It is a quaint caution to would-be buyers that Portland's riverfront is a busy -- and loud -- place to live and perhaps not suited to those who cherish silence.

Oceangoing vessels, trains, freeways, city streets and even pedestrian trails contribute decibels.

At Waterfront Pearl, which faces the Amtrak station, builders are hedging against the sound of whistle blasts with triple-glazed windows on the walls that face the tracks. An extensive water feature is being engineered to produce soothing sounds to mask the background racket that reverberates around the area, such as the hum from a grain elevator on the opposing shore.

At RiverPlace, designers addressed a different noise challenge.

There are no nearby train tracks, but an elevated bridge carries Interstate 5 across the river and past the construction site on the south.

"It is urban," agreed Onder, who said extensive noise studies indicate freeway noise drifts south and away from his project. Overall, the noise levels at RiverPlace are comparable to those in downtown. If quiet is important, he gingerly suggested that perhaps the waterfront isn't the right place to live.

Brian Ramsay, a broker with Realty Trust Group and listing agent for Riverscape, said the 104 townhouses (average price $704,000) have been well received, especially by current Pearl District residents who want more space and don't like the commercialization of the once industrial neighborhood. Of the 54 put on the market, 44 have sold.

Last week, the real estate company launched a Web site to register interest for the condominiums that will be contained in two towers. Within days, it had taken 200 names for the waiting list. Realty Trust also is the selling agency for Gerding/Edlen's Meriwether and John Ross projects at South Waterfront. Both had similar sales patterns.

Ramsay's theory about why developers are concentrating on the shoreline is simple: demand.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, he said, they're not building any more riverfront property.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415

http://portland.bizjournals.com/por...tml?t=printable

[MarkDaMan]

and more of the "gritty industry" feel has been taken from what is becoming a very Tony neighborhood.

Pearl’s thoroughly paved

Downtown’s last unpaved street reopened last week with fanfare not usually seen for the filling of potholes.
A collection of dignitaries that included city Commissioner Sam Adams, Commissioner Mark Rosenbaum of the Portland Development Commission, neighborhood leaders, developers and business owners all held forth in a ceremony at Northwest 13th Avenue between Johnson and Raleigh streets.
The occasion marked the paving of the eight-block stretch of Northwest 13th Avenue, the last unpaved street in the neighborhood. Potholes, gravel and the railroad tracks have been replaced with a concrete street, a valley gutter along the loading docks with pedestrian ramps, head-in parking and lights.
Two-thirds of the money for the $2.6 million project came from property owners, through a local improvement district, and the remainder from River District Urban Renewal Area funds.

[MarkDaMan]

Riverscape-going through the permits process

not actually considered the Pearl as this development sits just under the Fremont Bridge, but with it surrounded by heavy industry it will probably become the farthest edge of the Pearl at buildout...

[FlyersFan118]

thats wassap.

[MarkDaMan]

latest Metropolitan renderings provided on NW forum by edirp, (building under construction)

[soleri]

Beautiful. Echoes of mid-century modern. Very crisp, cool, and sophisticated.

[MarkDaMan]

nationwide the housing market might be cooling off, but here in Portland it's still HOT!

Demand Out Distances Housing Supply
11/10/2005

On Thursday November 3rd The Metropolitan sales were kicked off with a three-day buyers’ preview of the 136-unit condominium community. At the end of the preview, 500 buyers had indicated their interest in purchasing one of the homes.

“We had a sense that we would have more buyers interested than we had homes to sell,” said Tiffany Sweitzer, President of Hoyt Street Properties (HSP). “Prior to the launch more than 4,600 inquiries had been received regarding the project.”

Faced with this enviable problem, HSP and Hoyt Realty Group designed a lottery system that gave everyone an equal chance at purchasing a home. On Sunday November 6th two hundred names were drawn and the process of informing the winners began the following day.

As the developer of a 30-block neighborhood in the Pearl District, Hoyt Street Properties is accustomed to a high level of interest in its projects. For example, the 124 unit Park Place condominium, overlooking Jamison Park, sold out just 8 months after it opened in May 2004. A year later the Pinnacle Condominium’s 176 homes were sold before its doors opened.

“We believe this increased level of interest is directly related to the progress we are making in transforming a former railroad yard into a unique mixed-use community,” speculated Sweitzer. “After 10 years of effort people are now able to feel and visualize the distinctive nature of our urban neighborhood with its own lively character and personality.”

[MarkDaMan]

Affordable housing is as crucial as jobs
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The Sitka Apartments -- the Pearl District's latest entry into Portland's red-hot housing market -- takes up a full city block at Northwest 12th Avenue and Northrup Street.

Its studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments have some of the same amenities -- free high-speed Internet, keyless entry and a fitness center -- as the rest of its neighboring condos, some of which are selling for $1 million or more. It even has its own streetcar stop, landscaped courtyard and a rental unit available for guests.

However, all but seven of the 210 apartments are available only to working folks who don't qualify for housing subsidies but otherwise couldn't afford a trendy Pearl address. Many of the units were already leased before the Sitka officially opened Tuesday.

"I think this is one of the best buildings that's been built in the whole affordable-housing portfolio," says City Commissioner Erik Sten, a seasoned champion of low-income housing. "They're units that you can imagine living in for a long time."

The Pearl, where the name of your building typically reflects the depth of your bank account, already houses about 600 affordable apartments. But Sitka is the first to qualify as predominately "work force housing" -- a buzzword that may be as essential to Portland's economic stability as new jobs.

With housing prices out of reach of the average income and more rental apartments converting to condos, many different types of workers -- such as retail salespeople, police officers and registered nurses -- are being squeezed out of the city.

This flight of the working class puts stress on neighboring communities. It also siphons children out of Portland's schools, creates more traffic congestion and erodes the city's tax base.

What's more, growing companies -- such as California's Keen Footwear -- want to relocate in urban cities where employees can afford to live near their job. But without more work force housing, Portland is at a disadvantage before it even gets to the table.

City Hall does a good job advocating for affordable housing for folks at the lower end of the economic scale. But we also need more housing for those whose paychecks aren't keeping pace with the cost of living.

"This is the perfect prototype for what we should replicate," Andrew Wilch, housing director for the Portland Development Commission, says about Sitka. But, he adds, "we're not focusing on the work force housing needs in any active manner."

The problem is that it requires an aggressive public subsidy, with buy-in from private investors and a developer that has the vision to build energy-efficient, affordable apartments that are roomy and attractive enough for both singles and families.

To make the numbers work for Sitka, it took a team of bankers, corporate investors, and local and state government. Albina Community Bank made a short-term, $2 million loan to buy the land. PDC gave its lead developer, Ed McNamara, a $9 million construction loan.

The Oregon Housing and Community Services Department floated a $17 million tax-exempt bond -- purchased by U.S. Bank to use as a construction loan. The state also provided a predevelopment loan and $1 million in tax credits. And the city offered a 10-year abatement on property taxes.

Another major player on the project, Portland-based Homestead Capital, lured $9.5 million in equity from private investors, which earn tax credits for investing in low-income housing.

"We're glad to have the building there," says Joan Pendergast, the recently elected president of the Pearl Neighborhood Association. Her community, she adds, "isn't all full of rich yuppies like so many people think."

It's hard to believe, but with the opening of the Sitka, the Pearl now qualifies as a mixed-income neighborhood. It's time for the whole city -- for its own sake -- to follow suit.

S. Renee Mitchell: 503-221-8142; rmitch@news.oregonian.com;1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland OR 97201

[James Bond Agent 007]

Yay.

[MarkDaMan]

Sierra Club praises Pearl District

In a November report announcing America's best new development projects, the Sierra Club named Portland's Pearl District a top example of successful development.

The report recognized Portland based-Hoyt Street Properties for spearheading the transformation of a faded industrial zone into a revitalized multiuse community. It also praised Gerding/Edlen Development Co. for renewing the historic Pearl District Brewery Blocks.

In its report, the Sierra Club profiled 12 of the nation's top projects and named players that helped realize innovative development plans. Favorable projects reused previously developed land, offered a range of eco-friendly transportation options, and helped foster and preserve community values.

Hoyt Street Properties was recognized for turning a former railyard into a unique urban neighborhood in which homes, businesses, retail shops and parks are successfully integrated. The Sierra Club commended the developer for working with the Portland Development Commission in creating a pedestrian-friendly environment where walking, cycling and streetcars are seen as viable means of transportation.

[MarkDaMan]

Financing in Place for Next Phase of Riverscape

Using $24.65 million in construction financing from Home Street Bank, local developer Tim Ralston has begun construction on the next phase of the 390-unit Riverscape condominiums here. The development site is immediately north of the Fremont Bridge on the west side of the Willamette River.

When completed, the entire development will include 104 town homes, two condominium towers (this one and a second with 120 units, to be built after this tower is completed), and 91 brownstone-style homes. About 84 units are currently under construction, not including this latest phase for which Ralston has obtained financing.

The new phase is one of the two planned towers. It will be an eight-story building with 74 units and partially underground parking. Units are expected to fetch at least $407 per sf.

The size of the units will range from 539 sf to 2,705 sf, and the price tags will range from $250,000 to $1.3 million. Units will be upscale with hardwood floors, plush carpeting and/or tile floors, European fixtures, slab granite counter tops and Jenn-Air appliances in the kitchens. Windows will cover about 70% of the building exteriors.

At least 40% of the units are expected to be pre-sold. The remaining units are expected to be sold off at a rate of at least four a month once the tower is completed in mid 2007.

Ralston is co-owner of Apollo Development and Apollo Homes. The architect for the project is LRS. The general contractor is LCG Pence.

[MarkDaMan]

new, albeit, low quality rendering of Casey Condos (under construction)