Weekly Roundup: Beatrice Morrow, Ankeny Apartments, Grove Hotel, and more

Posted on March 26, 2017 by nextportland

The Beatrice Morrow Apartments will include 80 affordable housing units, offered under the city’s preference policy to those displaced from N/NE Portland.

The Oregonian wrote about the affordable housing planned for the former Grant Warehouse site on NE MLK. The building will be named the Beatrice Morrow, after the African American attorney who ran for state office in 1932.

The Willamette Week wrote about Home First Development’s plans to build 300 apartments and sell them to the city for $100,000 apiece.

The DJC wrote about how the Portland Development Commission is “driving ahead to expand parking stock“*, with investments totaling tens of millions of dollars planned at Old Town Chinatown Block 33, the Convention Center Hotel and at the 10th & Yamhill Smart Park.

The Portland Business Journal reported that the City Council and PDC have chosen to move forward with a full redevelopment of the Centennial Mills site. As a consequence, the Mounted Patrol Unit will not return to the site.

Portland Architecture spoke to Allied Works associate principal Dan Koch to about plans to rebuild the destroyed Robert and Ann Sacks House at 2281 NW Glisan and create a new building at 510 NW 23rd Ave.

The Grove Hotel has topped out, writes the Portland Business Journal. When it opens later this year it will include a new restaurant by Kurt Huffman’s ChefStable group.

In a two part series, the Business Tribune wrote about the Design Commission’s denial of the Ankeny Apartments, and the upcoming appeal to City Council.

An article in Portland Monthly argued that the future of Portland’s skyline Is made of wood. Recent and planned wood buildings include The Radiator, Framework (CEID), 38 Davis, Albina Yard, Framework (Pearl) and Carbon12.

The Portland Business Journal broke the news that the AMF Bowling Alley at 3031 SE Powell Blvd is set to be redeveloped for a ‘national retailer’. The Portland Mercury republished a statement from AMF expressing their plan to continue operating “for its remaining lease term and perhaps longer“.

The Hollywood Star News wrote about plans by Koz Development for a new six-story, 114-unit studio apartment building at 4708 NE Sandy Blvd—a site currently occupied by Umpqua Bank.

The Business Tribune reported that the remodeled Macy’s building downtown will officially be known as the Meier & Frank Building.

*This article will be unlocked for the rest of this week. After this week it will only be viewable by DJC subscribers.

Weekly Roundup: Robert Sacks, Schools Bond, SolTerra, and more

Posted on January 23, 2017 by nextportland

A potential massing for a rebuilt Lincoln High School, by Bora Architects. Under this option the existing school would remain in operation while a new building is constructed where the football field is currently located.

According to The Oregonian, Portland Public Schools now plans to include complete modernization of three high schools, Lincoln, Benson and Madison, in its May 2017 bond measure.

In the wake of the NW Portland natural gas explosion, the DJC wrote about developer Robert Sacks’ plans to move forward*. Allied Works Architecture, who designed the damaged building 2281 NW Glisan, are preparing drawings that will allow the building to be rebuild. They are also working on designs for a new three-story building building at 510 NW 23rd Ave to replace the 111-year-old building that was destroyed.

Places Over Time looked at the 2016 works of architecture and urban planning that have “creatively added to the livability, artistry, and longevity of Portland’s built environment“, including Albina Yard, Pearl West and Milwaukie Way.

A 100-bed winter shelter has opened in the Washington Center, reported The Oregonian. The building is currently sitting vacant while developer Greystar and architects ZGF prepares plans for the 4W Tower.

The Portland Chronicle reported that a 106-year-old apartment complex and automotive repair shop at 1335 SE Stark St will be torn down to make way for a four-story, 39-unit apartment complex.

The DJC reported that design-build firm SolTerra has split into two businesses and laid off design professionals.

The Business Tribune asked developers if they would still build housing in PDX under the inclusionary zoning policy.

The Portland Business Journal looked at the 34 most prominent real estate projects to watch in 2017.

*This article will be unlocked for the rest of this week. After this week it will only be viewable by DJC subscribers.

Weekly Roundup: Fair Haired Dumbell, AIA Portland Awards, PSU School of Business Administration, and more

Posted on November 21, 2016 by nextportland

The Fair-Haired Dumbell will have a facade painted with a mural by Los Angeles-based artist James Jean

The DJC wrote about the ‘elaborate’ Building Information Modelling (BIM) process* being used to help deliver the PSU School of Business Administration.

The Portland Business Journal reported that the paint scheme has been chosen Fair-Haired Dumbbell building, and “it’s unlike anything else in town“. They also revealed that co-working company TENpod will occupy 8,000 sq ft in the building.

The Oregonian reported that the Sears building in the Lloyd Center has been sold, and the retailer’s presence in the mall “will either shrink significantly or disappear altogether“. On Thursday morning, the ice rink at the center of the mall reopened, after a major renovation.

Eater PDX reported that Tom’s First Avenue Bento will close after nearly 25 years, to make way for the Multnomah County Central Courthouse.

The 12-unit Jarrett Street Condos are receiving very little interest from those eligible to receive the city subsidized down-payment assistance, according to The Oregonian.

Portland Architecture wrote about the winning projects at the AIA Portland Architecture Awards. Buildings honored include Slate, 1638 NW Overton St, Framework (CEID), Albina Yard, Karuna at One North, The Cosmopolitan on the Park and Park Avenue West.

Preservation group Restore Oregon announced their top restoration projects of 2016, including the Pine Street Market and the Society Hotel.

The Portland Business Journal showcased the “stellar views and cool workspaces” at Slate.

*This article will be unlocked for the rest of this week. After this week it will only be viewable by DJC subscribers.

Weekly Roundup: Jantzen Apartments, Zidell Marine, Eastside Health Center, and more

Posted on September 26, 2016 by nextportland

The Eastside Health Center at 122nd and Burnside

After Portland-based ZGF Architects were named the nation’s top firm, Portland Architecture profiled the firm and looked at how it achieved the title.

Walls of the City looked at whether mid rise buildings can be family friendly.

With the Pearl District Post Office now in PDC ownership, Portland Monthly reported on the PSU students who are coming up with ideas for the future of the site.

After more than 50 years of building barges in South Waterfront, Zidell Marine is now building its last barge. The firm will now concentrated on the redevelopment of the Zidell Yards. Last year Design Advice was offered for office building on Zidell Blocks 4 and 6, although neither building has moved forward since then.

The Business Tribune reported on the “lightened up” iteration of Modera Davis, which was recently approved by the Design Commission.

OPB’s ‘State of Wonder’ covered the wood framed Albina Yard, the recently completed North Portland office building that is the first building to use domestically fabricated structural CLT panels.

The Portland Business Journal reported on the 6 Portland health organizations that have pledged $21.5M for low-income housing projects. The money will help fund three projects, in partnership with Central City Concern: the Eastside Health Center at NE 122nd and Burnside; the Stark Street Apartments at 12647 S.E. Stark St; and the Interstate Apartments at 6905 N. Interstate Ave. The paper also provided renderings of the three projects.

The Business Tribune looked at the Jantzen Apartments, which recently went before the Design Commission for its first hearing.

The DJC published photos of the demolition of a single story building in downtown, which is set to be replaced by the new office building at 1127 SW Morrison St.

Weekly Roundup: Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Residential Infill Project, $250 million housing bond and more

Posted on June 12, 2016 by nextportland

Image of a potential “north end party deck” at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, identified as one of the potential improvements by the 2015 study into the building.

Veterans Memorial Coliseum was declared a “National Treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Described by Curbed in article about the designation as “one of the finest International-Style civic buildings in the west”, the fate of the building remains unclear. A report published last year identified a number of options for the building, ranging from demolition to major improvements, however the Portland City Council has yet to take any action on the report.

As work on the Residential Infill Project wraps up, the Oregonian reported that Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is readying their recommendations for changes to the Zoning Code. Developers “would be required to reduce the scale of homes they build in Portland’s single-family zones and would be allowed to construct more duplexes, triplexes and other forms of so-called ‘middle housing’.”

The Portland Chronicle reported on the ten story building at 1500 SW Taylor St, likely to replace the 1892 Holman House in Goose Hollow.

BikePortland broke that the news that Tesla Motors will build a missing section of the Willamette Greenway Trail, as part of their new showroom and repair center at 4330 SW Macadam. Initial plans submitted to the City indicated that they would not build the trail.

The Portland Development Commission will own a new mixed income building in Lents Town Center at 9101 SE Foster Rd. The public agency is taking over development from the original owner, Williams & Dame.

The City Council is getting ready to ask voters to approve a $250 million bond measure, to fund affordable housing. If approved, the measure would add $75 a year to the taxes owed on a typical single family home.

Central City Concern published a blog post about their current affordable housing developments. Miracles Central is scheduled to open in August of this year, with the Hill Park Apartments at 110 SW Arthur following in Spring of 2017.

Bloomberg wrote about D.R. Johnson, the Riddle, OR company that is the first domestic manufacturer of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels. CLT is new to the United States, but has a long history of use in Europe. Current CLT projects in Portland include Albina Yard, Framework (Pearl) and Carbon12.

KGW had a sneak peak inside the nearly complete Yard tower at the Burnside Bridgehead.

The Oregonian reviewed a Portland Art Museum exhibition about Portland-based Allied Works Architecture.

Weekly Roundup: Framework, Park Avenue West, Block 75 Phase II and more

Posted on February 21, 2016 by nextportland

The 12 story Framework building by Lever Architecture, planned for a site as NW 11th & Glisan in the Pearl

The 12 story Framework building by Lever Architecture, planned for a site at NW 10th & Glisan in the Pearl

In an article titled “Wooden Buildings as Strong as Steel” Newsweek wrote about how Portland is leading the nation in the adoption of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). The article includes quotes from Ben Kaiser of PATH, architect and developer of Carbon12, and Thomas Robinson of Lever who is the architect for Framework in the Pearl and Albina Yard.

An article and photo gallery in the Portland Business Journal showed how CLT is made. Riddle-based D.R. Johnson Lumber Co is currently the only domestic lumber mill certified as capable of producing the wood panels.

The Portland Business Journal covered Block 75 Phase II, the next high-rise building planned for the Burnside Bridgehead. The Works Partnership designed building is the latest partnership between Beam Development and Urban Development + Partners.

The Oregonian noted that a Travel Portland found that hotel prices have soared since 2010. The rising rates have led to a hotel construction boom, as Next Portland covered last year.

Construction is underway on the expansion of the SERA designed NW Portland International Hostel. In a story about the project KGW wrote that the hostel is trying “to keep up with the booming tourism in the Rose City”.

The Portland City Council approved a realignment to the route of the proposed extension of SW Bond between the Tilikum Crossing and SW River Parkway. The extension, which will begin construction this year, allows OHSU projects including the Knight Cancer Research Building to move head.

The first residential tenants are moving into Park Avenue West, reported the Portland Business Journal. The TVA Architects designed building is now the fourth tallest building in Portland.

The Portland Development Commission is increasing its contribution to projects in Lents by $6.3 million, according to the Portland Business Journal. The projects include the Asian Health and Services Center by Holst Architecture, Oliver Station by Ankrom Moisan Architects and 9101 SE Foster Rd by Hacker Architects. The developers behind Oliver Station have gained control of the Chevron station at SE 92nd and Foster, enabling the project to occupy the full block.

Commissioner Steve Novick wrote about an idea that is rapidly gaining traction as a way to bring affordability back to Portland’s neighborhoods. “Missing middle housing” is new term for old styles of development, currently prohibited in most of Portland, at a density between that of single family detached houses and large mid-rise apartment buildings. These include housing types such as rowhomes, courtyard apartments, triplexes, built to the same height and scale as single-family homes.

A post at Portland Shoupistas asked if the PDC’s $26 million garage at the Convention Center Hotel will be a money maker or a money loser. Though planned as revenue generator, the post points out that “just to break even, this garage will need to generate more than $12 per space every day of every year for 20 years, starting in 2020.”

KOIN reported that “Ivy Island may not be ‘gateway’ to St. Johns for long“. A street vacation in the St Johns neighborhood was approved this week. The vacation will allow the mixed use Union at St Johns building by Jones Architecture to move ahead, while creating a safer road layout.

Weekly Roundup: 21 Astor, Convention Center parking garage, Providore Fine Foods and more

Posted on February 14, 2016 by nextportland

The proposed garage at the Convention Center Hotel

The Portland Business Journal reported that the board of the Portland Development Commission approved a resolution to build a $26 million garage adjacent to Convention Center Hotel. The 425-stall parking garage will include 375 stalls dedicated to the hotel. The majority of the remaining stalls will be used by Trimet.

The City is looking for feedback on the Central City 2035 plan, according to the Portland Business Journal. The new plan will rewrite the zoning code for Downtown, the Pearl, the Lloyd District and other areas of Portland’s Central Business District, and was released for public comment this week. Public displays will happen at the Development Services Center from February 22nd to 26th and at the Olympic Mills Building from February 29th to March 4th.

An opinion piece by three employees of ECONorthwest, a regional economic consulting firm, asked if Oregonians really want housing that’s affordable. The authors argued that the first order of business should be to bring the supply of housing into line with demand, and that there are three options to achieve this: build out, build up, or do both.

History Treasured & Sometimes Endangered wrote about the pros and cons of the vacation of a piece of right-of-way in St Johns known as “Ivy Island”. The vacation, which went before City Council this week for a first reading, will allow the Union at St Johns development to move ahead.

Developer Bob Ball has set up a new company, Robert Ball Companies, and is moving forward with a new building at 915 NW 21st Ave. The 21 Astor mixed-use building will include 27 apartments and 4,500 sq ft of ground floor retail.

The Daily Journal of Commerce published photos of the under construction Albina Yard office building. The four-story, 16,000 sq ft building is using Oregon fabricated Cross-laminated timber for its primary structure.

Portland Architecture wrote about the lecture and interview given by Kengo Kuma at Portland Art Museum. The Japanese architect is the designer of the new buildings currently under construction at the Portland Japanese Garden.

The Oregonian reported that Patrick Quinton, director of the Portland Development Commission, will step down this year after 5 years leading the agency.

Deconstruction has begun on two 1920s houses at NE 45th and Fremont, according to the Hollywood Star News. The project is the first commercial development so far to take advantage of Bureau of Planning & Sustainability offered incentives for deconstruction over demolition. The buildings will be replaced by the Bridgetown mixed-use development, which include 50 units of housing and 6,000 sq ft of retail.

After news broke about the Ankeny Blocks development last weekend, Food Carts Portland noted that the project could threaten the food carts at SW 5th and Stark, SW 3rd and Washington and SW 2nd and Stark. Journalist Michael Anderson replied with an article published on Medium titled “Chill, Portland: The downtown food carts are not about to close“.

The Willamette Week wrote that like the house in ‘Up’, the Dockside Saloon will live forever in a slot in the Field Office by Hacker Architects.

The Portland Business Journal wrote about how the onsite sewer and stormwater treatment system at Hassalo on Eighth saved the developers $1.5 million in City levied development charges. The NORM system treats 100 percent of the grey and black water created by the three residential buildings, along with the Lloyd 700 Office building.

Providore Fine Foods opened this week on NE Sandy, with vendors that include Pastaworks, Flying Fish Company and Oyster Bar, The Meat Monger, Little T Baker, Rubinette Produce Market, Emerald Petals and Arrosto. Eater PDX published photos of the completed interior.

Weekly Roundup: Albina Yard, Slate, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and more

Posted on February 1, 2016 by nextportland

Construction is underway on the Albina Yard office building, which is using Cross-laminated Timber

Venerable restaurant Besaw’s reopened last week at the LL Hawkins apartment building in Slabtown. Eater PDX published photos of the new interior.

History Treasured & Sometimes Endangered wrote about the demolition of a number of houses in order to make way for a mixed use development at 2301 NW Savier. The new building by GBD Architects will wrap around the building that was formerly home to Besaw’s restaurant.

BikePortland reported that a “gear sphere” sculpture was set to be installed outside the under construction Cook Street Apartments by LRS Architects.

OHSU is in the early stages of planning for a major expansion of the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, according to a story in the Portland Business Journal.

The Portland Chronicle wrote about the potential demolition of a building at 3336 SE Belmont St, slated to be replaced by a three-story mixed use building by BKL/A Architecture.

Construction is about to begin on the Works Partnership designed PDX Commons senior co-housing at SE 43rd and Belmont. The site was formerly the location of the Good Food Here food cart pod. As The Oregonian reports more than half of the carts have now relocated across the street to form the Bite on Belmont pod.

As the Pine Street Market gets ready to open The Oregonian published their ultimate guide to the vendors planned for the Old Town food hall.

Portland Architecture published their notes from the Centennial Mills public forum, which explored how the historic building complex might still be saved.

The developers behind 3rd and Taylor have laid out their plans for the block, wrote the Portland Business Journal. The design review package for the hotel portion of the project has been submitted by Ankrom Moisan Architects. The office building is planned to move forward separately in the coming months.

In [mis]representation Places over Time wrote about the tools architects use to visualize their designs, how these can shape the design itself, and how it is easy to present a false sense of reality.

Coworking firm CENTRL Office will expand into the Slate building at the Burnside Bridgehead Block 75, according to a story in the Portland Business Journal. The 10 story building by Works Partnership is scheduled to open later this year.

Construction is underway at the Lever Architecture designed Albina Yard. The 4 story office building is the first commercial building in the United States to make use of domestically fabricated Cross Laminated Timber as a structural element. A video posted last week shows the progress made so far:

Focus: 25 Office Buildings Planned for Portland

Posted on January 15, 2016 by nextportland

Pearl West by Hacker / GBD Architects, the first new office building to break ground in the Central City after the recession

While Portland has long been considered a desirable place to live, it has traditionally lagged its suburbs—Washington County particulary—in income and job growth. Following the recession this appears to have changed. Employers increasingly desire a location in central Portland. As commercial vacancy rates have dropped and rental rates gone up there has been a sudden influx of new office proposals.

The vast majority of these are speculative projects, where the developer starts work on the project without a specific tenant in mind. Only three of the buildings—the Daimler Trucks North America HQ, the Multnomah County Health Department HQ and the Seven Corners Community Collaborative—are planned for a specific end user.

Click through to see our roundup of the major projects going on right now, arranged in no specific order. Where a significant portion of the building will be used for functions other than office, the area of the office floors alone has been given. Note that the area of any building may not be directly comparable to another due to differences in methods for how floor area is calculated.

Metro Reports: tower on Glisan, office on Albina, and more

Posted on August 31, 2015 by nextportland

4703 N Albina by Lever Architecture

Every week, the Bureau of Development Services publishes lists of early assistance applications, land use reviews and building permits. We publish the highlights.

SolTerra Architecture have requested Design Advice for a project on the parking lot at 3138 N Vancouver:

New development of 100 units of housing with 3,000-4,000 sq ft of ground floor commercial space. Provide 44 parking spaces at grade and in parking garage below grade. 6 stories & basement collecting and re-using storm water onsite.

Hennebery Eddy Architects have requested Early Assistance for a project at 110 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, on the same block as their recently completed 107 NE Grand project:

Rehab existing stucture to establish commercial/retail space on grd floor; upgrade apartments on the second & third floors. Alternate plan is to fully gut and re-plan apartment floors and add one floor of apartmentson top of building.

Ankrom Moisan Architects have scheduled a Pre-Application Conference to discuss a tower at 1430 NW Glisan St:

270,000 gsf 14-story residential tower, approx 273 units. 7,500 sf Retail on the ground floor. Developed jointly with abutting 4,300 sf site. Parking is below grade – 182 total stalls

A building permit was issued to Lever Architecture for one of the structures making up 4703 N Albina:

New two story accessory building with shared trash enclosure, conference room and private office on second level; see comments re: review by State of Oregon Building Codes Division PWB WGBF– DCVA required on domestic, DCDA required on fire, to be installed per PWB guidelines at www.Portlandoregon.Gov.. See permit 15-194172

(the building permit for the other building at 4703 N Albina is Approved to Issue):

New 4-story mass timber office building with elevator; see comments re: review by State of Oregon Building Codes Division DCVA required on Domestic, DCDA required on Fire service, to be installed per PWB installation requirements at www.portlandoregon,gov/water/backflowinstallationrequirements.