The City Council voted down the Fremont Place Apartments over concerns about the width of the Greenway trail
The Portland City Council voted 5-0 to overturn the Design Commission’s approval of the Fremont Place Apartments, the Pearl District apartment building opposed by neighbors. Portland for Everyone asked if it this would create an open season for NIMBY lawsuits. City Observatory argued that Portland doesn’t really want to make housing affordable.
Later that day council voted down a series of zoning amendments that would be necessary for the Kengo Kuma-designed Riverplace Redevelopment to move forward.
The Portland Tribune noted that the series of denials added up to the rejection of nearly 3,000 new homes.
The Willamette Week reported that three developers made the shortlist for the redevelopment of the post office site in the Pearl District, known as the Broadway Corridor.
Archinect wrote about the dismantling of the “iconic Portland Building‘s postmodern, multicolored facade”.
BikePortland reported on how the University of Portland’s Franz Campus has puts greenway advocates on edge.
HA! Over the greenway margin?? What a joke… What’s next for Fremont? Is it essentially dead?
I’m bummed about the Riverplace project getting the boot. That actually looked really nice. It is frustrating to have so many votes against housing while at the same time hearing how we need more of it, are in a housing crisis, and need to create more density. It’s like the people in charge can’t make up their minds; they contradict themselves so much, and they kowtow to wealthy people. Meanwhile, things are getting worse on the ground. These were big projects getting stopped, but they also were near lots of rich people. There are many big projects in other parts of the city, not so near to rich people, that are progressing. Just blaming rich people may be counterproductive, and it is not a very neighborly thing to do. Still, there does appear to be some pattern emerging, and wealthier interests often do work at cross purposes to the interest of less wealthy people, especially in the realm of housing. I understand not wanting to see your beloved neighborhood change. I watched it happen to the one I grew up in. The world changes, though, as do cities. Somehow it doesn’t seem fair either to keep change at bay while being all right with it changing other neighborhoods less able to resist it. I wish I had the answer, but I don’t. It’s depressing.
We are getting a redone Portland Building which should have been torn down, and new buildings can’t get built. What’s this city coming to? /s
This city is trash
Portland has shown again that it has an anti-growth mentality, and investors everywhere are going to take notice and pull back. Why bother to propose anything here, when it will either be neutered down or blocked entirely? Such is life in Moscow-on-The Willamette….
I’m not sure what recourse there is for the Fremont Place project, but for everyone who is disappointed with the decision on the Kengo Kuma project at Riverplace, there is still leverage. There is another vote to be held on the Riveplace development on the 22nd of March, and Chloe Eudaly (who – we ought not let her forget – ran on a platform of addressing the housing crisis) is the council’s swing vote to green-light this project. Commissioner Eudaly can be contacted on the City of Portland website. I would strongly recommend that anyone interested in clearing the way for a world-renowned architect to design an iconic development that will provide housing up and down the affordability spectrum should contact Commissioner Eudaly before the next council vote and express your concerns in a strong, clear, civil, and unequivocal manner. Our voices matter, but only when the right people hear them.
I think it’s not for everyone. But I understand. Thats okay
What is wrong with Portland, bends over backwards to let the homeless and non taxpayers trash our public parks and natural areas by not enforcing exiting laws, but a developer that pay TAXES and wants to add 3,000 more homes to the market and the City doubles DOWN to BLOCK the projects . . .
The housing shortage and lawless homeless camps will only get worse by in my fair city . . .
Portland Native.