[MarkDaMan]

Market dictating Pearl District housing plans
POSTED: Monday, June 18, 2012 at 02:48 PM PT
BY: Lee Fehrenbacher, Daily Journal of Commerce

http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/06/18...housing-plans/


The interior courtyard at The Parker will feature fire pits and concrete pingpong tables. About 75 percent of the apartments will have only one bedroom. (Rendering courtesy of Fletcher Farr Ayotte)

Development is driven by demand, and Astor Pacific’s latest project in the Pearl District is no exception.

Company officials are hoping to break ground in September on a six-story, 177-unit apartment building called The Parker. Approximately 25 percent of it will be junior one-bedroom units roughly 500 square feet, 50 percent will be one-bedroom units around 600 square feet, and 25 percent will be two-bedroom units between 1,000 and 1,100 square feet.

“For this building, I’m trying to do what I believe the market is, so that’s why I have these units at these sizes,” said Robert Ball, principal and CEO of Astor Pacific.

Bigger spaces translate to higher rents, and Ball, like many downtown developers, is pursuing smaller units to keep them affordable. Many tenants, he said, are willing to forgo floor space in order to live in the core. However, some downtown residents are concerned that smaller units will impact diversity and push families out of the city.

“We really don’t want to be pigeonholed as a young 20s, wealthy neighborhood,” said Kate Washington, communications chairwoman for the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. “We feel like people who have invested early in their lives shouldn’t have to leave because they want to have a family.”

For many such couples, upgrading to a two- or three-bedroom apartment would likely mean moving out of the downtown core. Sam Rodriguez, managing director of Mill Creek Residential Trust, said the going rate for a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Portland is roughly $2,000.

“If you’re going to live downtown, unless you are an incredibly, incredibly rich person, you’re going to live in a small space,” he said...