Focus: Our 25 Most Popular Posts of 2016

Posted on December 31, 2016 by nextportland

The post about 5 MLK’s first Design Advice Request hearing was Next Portland’s most popular post of the year. [See this follow up post for the most recent images of the project.]

2016 is the second full year Next Portland has been in operation. With development showing no signs of slowing down it’s been a busy year. We published 234 new blog posts, and our development map now has almost 800 unique projects listed (including completed and cancelled projects). Over the course of the year the site had almost 900,000 page views; up 84% over 2015.

6 of the articles that made the top 25 viewed posts were published in 2015; 2 were published in 2014. Our second most popular article from the 2015 list, about the Goat Blocks, was still the fourth most popular article of 2016 despite having been written in December 2014. Our most popular post of 2015, about the 25 tallest buildings planned in the city, remained in the list at third place, and was just beaten out in popularity by the updated 2016 list. Two pioneering Cross Laminated Timber buildings, Carbon12 and Framework, took up three places on the list.

In reverse order, here are our 25 most popular posts of the year:

Weekly Roundup: The Woodlark, 1127 SW Morrison, 5 MLK, and more

Posted on September 18, 2016 by nextportland

Image of The Woodlark hotel, after renovation

Architect magazine released its top 50 firms of the year, with Portland-based ZGF Architects in the #1 place. Also on the list from Portland was Hacker, at #13. In the design rankings of nationwide firms Works Partnership came in at #5, ZGF at #7 and Hacker at #17.

A single story commercial building at SW 12th & Morrison is about to be demolished, reports the Portland Business Journal. The building will make way for the 1127 SW Morrison office building.

The DJC reported on how “Sellwood growth stirs residents“*. Projects planned or under construction in the neighborhood include Spokane.13, 7119 SE Milwaukie, Galaxie Lofts and Sellwood Bridgehead.

Knot Springs Spa & Fitness has opened in the Burnside Bridgehead tower Yard, according to the Portland Business Journal. The 11,500 sq ft facility “offers monthly memberships as well as services by appointment”.

The Oregonian reported that ‘Top Chef’ finalist Doug Adams will be opening a restaurant named Bullard in The Woodlark, the Downtown hotel that be created in the Hotel Cornelius and Woodlark building. Existing business Johnny Sole, currently located at the site, will close according to the Portland Business Journal.

City Observatory asked if inclusionary zoning in Portland is “a good way to provide more affordable housing, or will it actually worsen the constrained housing supply that’s a big cause of higher rents?”

The Portland Business Journal wrote that the Portland Development Commission has agreed to spend a further $1 million to demolish the feed mill building at Centennial Mills. Current plans still envision the retention of the iconic flour mill.

An investigation by The Oregonian covered how Commissioner Saltzman withdrew the award of city owned land and funding for Meta Housing’s Creators Collective project, and instead gave it to Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives Inc, for their King Parks project.

The Abigail, the latest affordable housing development in the Pearl, had a grand opening on Friday. The 155-unit apartment building includes 128 units for families making between 30 and 60 % of area median family income.

Places over Time wrote about the latest iteration of 5 MLK in “How I Learned to Stop Being and Architect and Design by Committee.”

The Foster Powell blog wrote about the 131 Units of Housing Coming to Foster at 5811 SE Boise, with more on the way at other sites.

The Portland Business Alliance endorsed the city’s affordable housing bond as an “important part of the equation to address housing affordability in Portland,” reports the Portland Business Journal.

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

Going tall: new projects complete the north Pearl District

Posted on October 12, 2015 by nextportland

July 11, 2013 LU 13-139762 DZM AD - Applicant Presentation - 05

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.

…continue reading our guest post at Portland Architecture.

Weekly Roundup: progress on Zidell Yards, 419 E Burnside, 1510 NE Multnomah and more

Posted on June 14, 2015 by nextportland

Conceptual image of the Ross Island Bridge Park at the Zidell Yards

The Portland Development Commission and ZRZ Realty came to an agreement over development at the Zidell Yards. The Development Agreement, backed by $23.7 million of public money, will lead to 1.5 million sq ft of commercial and residential development.

The Willamette Week published rebuttals to the 5 Myths About Portland Apartments.

The Oregonian published the first images of what the massive development at 1510 NE Multnomah might look like. The three building development could include as many as 1,125 units.

Multnomah County voted to allow Central City Concern to sell a quarter block parcel to developer Trinsic Residential Group. The land deal will 419 E Burnside to move ahead.

A grand opening was held for the Hotel Eastlund, the newly renovated hotel in the Lloyd District. The Daily Journal of Commerce published a photo gallery, with shots of both the exterior and interiors.

Construction is about to begin on the first building of the Dharma Rain Zen Center. The center will be built on a site on NE Siskiyou St, which was used for years as a dump for construction debris, leaving the site too contaminated to develop. The Buddhist nonprofit bought the site in 2012, and has worked since then on the site remediation.

A warehouse at 2330 NW Raleigh St is set to replaced by a 40 new apartments. The Portland Chronicle looked into the history of the property about to be redeveloped.

Eater Portland reports that the Pine Street Market has named its latest tenant: Peruvian restaurant Andina. The market is set to open in November.

A gallery in the Daily Journal of Commerce showed the progress on The Abigail, the latest affordable housing project in the Pearl.

Under construction in the Pearl – The Abigail (images)

Posted on January 7, 2015 by nextportland

The Abigail Apartments are currently under construction at NW 13th & Raleigh. The project, being built for Bridge Housing, will offer 155 apartments, with 127 apartments reserved for families earning 30% to 60% of Portland’s Median Family Income. These units will join 2,200 units of existing affordable housing in the River District Urban Renewal Area, a number which while large, has fallen short of a 1994 target that 35% of new buildings in the area be affordable. The architects for the project are Ankrom Moisan, who also designed the nearby Ramona apartments and The Sitka, which are also affordable housing.