Architecture and Development in PDX
This is an updated version of a post originally published on April 22nd 2015.
Construction is well underway on the Modera Pearl apartments, at the north end of the Pearl District. The project will include 290 rental apartments, including live/work spaces at the ground level. Two level of below-grade parking will provide 220 car parking spaces. The design of the building is by SERA Architects for Mill Creek Residential Trust.
There are few neighborhoods in Portland that have seen more changes in recent decades than the Pearl District.
Today the Pearl has evolved from what The Oregonian described in 1994 as “a decaying portion of Northwest Portland once devoted to industry and transportation” into a mixed-use neighborhood with thousands of residents, large offices and numerous shops and restaurants. Despite the huge changes, architects and developers working in the early phases of large development in the neighborhood were often responding to the historic context of one of Portland’s older neighborhoods: Couch’s Addition was platted in 1842; the North Park Blocks were acquired by the City in 1869; and many of the warehouses in the NW 13th Ave Historic District date back to the early 20th Century. Developments such as the Brewery Blocks or the Ecotrust incorporated historic buildings, while new condominiums mimicked their aesthetic. While little of the industry that once defined the area is left today, one of the charms of the neighborhood is the juxtaposition of high rises such as the Casey and historic low rises such as the Bullseye Glass Building.
Further north in the Pearl there was less context to respond to. Much of the developable land was former railway yards, and the warehouses along NW 13th Avenue were more often single-story concrete structures rather than charming brick buildings. As development started to cross Lovejoy—once an elevated ramp leading to the Broadway Bridge—planners and neighborhood activists started to wonder if the North Pearl might develop in a different way. Instead of the bulky full block developments that had been built on some blocks south of Lovejoy, it was proposed that the developers might be allowed to build taller, but narrower.
In 2008 the Zoning Code was amended to incorporate a provision that exists nowhere else in the City: in the North Pearl Height Opportunity Area there are no maximum building heights for buildings with narrow floor plates.
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Modera Pearl apartments
The Oregonian reported that the Portland Development Commission is close to striking a deal with ZRZ Realty for redevelopment of the Zidell Yards in South Waterfront.
According to the Mid-County Memo, the first tenants will move into Glisan Commons Phase II on April 15th. The building will be known as Gilman Court.
An expansion of the Portland Rock Gym will add 10,000 sq ft of new climbing terrain. The Portland Business Journal published images of what the finished project will look like.
Talks between the Portland Development Commission and USPS have resumed for the Post Office Redevelopment, which would free 14 acres of land in the Pearl District.
The planned Multnomah County Health Department Headquarters in Old Town will require a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to increase the maximum heights from 75′ to 150′. As reported on page 10 of the Northwest Examiner [PDF] the changes are being opposed by the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.
The Portland Housing Bureau is close to striking a deal to purchase Block 26 from Hoyt Street Properties. This will enable to Bureau to develop another affordable housing project in the Pearl District.
The Portland Mercado opened this week. An article in The Oregonian looked at how the project will provide space and support for Latino business owners.
The Cash & Carry in the Pearl is moving to allow the construction of the Modera Pearl apartments. Work is expected to begin on the new building later this spring or early this summer.
Plaza del Toro, John Gorham’s new test kitchen and private event space in the Plow Works Building, will have a launch party on April 17th.
The Portland Mercury had a look inside the under construction Society Hotel. The new hotel in Old Town will have bunk beds starting at $35-40 a night.
The Goat Blocks