city news...
Oct 22,2008
North Pearl District Plan Hearing
by shooter
During the City Council's first review of the North Pearl District Plan (NPDP) held Wednesday, September 24th, various stakeholders proposed amendments to either the plan itself or the accompanying package of Zoning Code amendments proposed to implement the plan. Each of the amendments proposed on the 24th and the staff's recommendation to Council are summarized in this downloadable document .The City Council will review these amendments and take additional testimony on these requests at a follow-up hearing scheduled for Thursday, October 30th at 2:00PM. It is anticipated that the Council will decide to adopt the North Pearl District Plan package at this hearing and will decide which of the above referenced amendments to include through the adoption process.
What follows is a brief summary of the proposed amendments. Please read the downloadable document for complete details and the city staff recommendations.
Amendment 1 - Repea
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posted at 03:35 PM
1 comments 
Sep 25,2008
Pearl District Quiet Zone Will Become a Reality
by shooter
After much effort by Pearl residents and developers, the quest to create a railroad quiet zone has finally paid off. PDC paid for a study to determine the cost of creating a quiet zone, and has allocated money from Urban Renewal funds to pay for the required changes.The total cost to install the necessary equipment at three crossings is $280,000. PDC has allocated $250,000 and, according to today's Portland Tribune article , Hoyt Street Properties says that it will pay for half of the project. As the largest developer in the Pearl District—with a concentration of buildings in the North Pearl—this is a move that makes sense. Many North Pearl residents who live in Hoyt's properties are affected by the noise, and Hoyt's newest building, The Encore, is right next to the railroad tracks where NW 9th Avenue crosses the tracks at Naito Parkway. The quiet zone issue has been loudly contested throughout the neighborhood by fans and p
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posted at 07:57 AM
5 comments
Sep 24,2008
Portland Voted Greenest City In The U.S.
by Agent503
According to a ranking by SustainLane, Portland is the greenest city in the nation. The rankings track the unfolding story of cities working to improve their residents’ quality of life. Cities with decentralized energy supplies, renewable water sources, abundant mass transit etc score high. Green building and land use policies also play an important role in determining who's green and who's not. Portland's placing at the top may not come as a surprise to many, but the city may not be as green as it's made out to be. Find out more here . Related Info: Portland is the Greenest U.S. City-Well, Mostly!
posted at 01:20 PM
0 comments
Sep 3,2008
1350 NW Raleigh » Affordable Family Housing in the North Pearl
by pearlgirl
Family housing may be coming to the Pearl District in a big way. A developer hopes to start construction in August 2009 on 135 apartments designed for families with children. Ed McNamara, one of the developers of the Sitka Apartments , has been working on this effort for over two years. He recently secured a full block site at NW 13th and Quimby (Benson Glass Building), two blocks from the site of "The Fields" park. The Portland Development Commission has provided a loan to help with predevelopment expenses. Ed and his team are moving rapidly with design, public approvals, and financing. In mid-August, they submitted for a Pre-Application conference with the city. The project is about two months into design, but here's what it looks like so far: The Building
The building will be 6 stories with a full level of underground parking. The apartments will be a mix of 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom units. There will be small community rooms on every floor and
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posted at 11:07 AM
2 comments
Aug 20,2008
Condo Foreclosures Pick Up the Pace
by Agent503
We've all heard about the foreclosure-epidemic in Miami and Las Vegas, but how has Portland been affected? Given the recent condo glut, what can condo-hunters and residents in the Pearl, Downtown or South Waterfront expect in the coming months? According to RealtyTrac, a leading provider of foreclosure information, the number of Oregon properties in foreclosure is up 200% over July 2007. Although we're still a long way off from Arizona or California, where 1 in every 200 households faces a foreclosure filing, a number of condo projects in Portland are starting to struggle. You may have heard that McCormick Pier is among them, but foreclosure filings are also making the rounds at more prestigious projects such as the Elizabeth. Read the full report and find out which condos are getting hit hardest here .
posted at 08:20 AM
4 comments
Aug 14,2008
Goodbye SW 10th & Yamhill SmartPark—Hello Condos!
by shooter
From the Portland Tribune... The PDC approved a preliminary agreement with developer John Carroll to raze the SmartPark at SW 10th and SW Yamhill and build a mid-rise mixed-use building with 16-floors of hotel or residential, eight-floors of parking, and ground-floor retail. Carroll sees this property as a linchpin for downtown, connecting the main downtown shopping district with the Pearl District, and would bring new residents and businesses to downtown on the MAX and Streetcar lines. Some parking would be lost in the process, spaces would be reduced from 800 to 600. On the other hand, the public toilets - aka stairwells - would be eliminated.
Read more *8/15 Additional Coverage PDC Gives Preliminary OK to Downtown Portland Smart Park Tower
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posted at 08:46 AM
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Aug 12,2008
PDC Says Worthwhile Projects Put on Hold During Appeal
by shooter
The PDC has sent out a press release stating that the appeal filed with the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), regarding the expansion of the River District URA, may delay important projects located in the 50 acres that the City agreed to include in the RDURA. The appeal questions the River District expansion, as well as the satellite district created to build a school in David Douglas.
In my opinion, the satellite district should be overturned. The satellite URA is 8.5 acres of property currently owned by the David Douglas School District at 7144 SE Deardorff Rd. Here is a satellite view of the property from Google Maps:
David Douglas has real needs, but using urban renewal money in this way is illegal. One of the prime objectives of urban renewal is the removal of blight. This property is virtually empty and currently owned by the district. Can it really be considered blight? The fact that it is non-contiguous to the rest of the
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posted at 12:25 PM
0 comments
Aug 7,2008
ONE WATERFRONT PLACE CREATES PORTLAND’S GREENEST MULTI-TENANT OFFICE SPACE
by pearlgirl
One Waterfront Place , a $100 million, 270,000 square-foot commercial office building under development in the River District, has received Platinum-level precertification by the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED® for Core & Shell program (LEED-CS). One Waterfront Place is the first Platinum precertified project on the West Coast and the first precertified office building of any level in Oregon."One Waterfront Place is in a dynamic location," said Jim Winkler, Winkler Naito Development, developers of the 12-story building located at 1201 NW Naito Parkway. "It is poised at the epicenter of what we believe will be the largest concentration of sustainable buildings and green collar jobs in the region, making it our obligation to build an environmentally responsible workplace."
The building is also the first new multi-tenant office building in Portland to set the ambitious LEED Platinum certification as a goal. The project ea
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posted at 02:31 AM
0 comments
Aug 5,2008
More info about the affordable housing that isn't
by shooter
We mentioned this a few days ago when the story first came out. Today the Mercury has dug a little deeper into the audit that found promised and tax-abated affordable housing wasn't built. The Louisa is still the only development mentioned by name, but the story says City Auditor Gary Blackmer reviewed four developments, two of which were found to be selling units for more than allowed. The audit also points to the lack of review and oversight by the City and PDC.
Is this audit continuing? Will the City Auditor look at all affordable housing? Does the City Auditor have the manpower to conduct such a broad audit?
Is this audit continuing? Will the City Auditor look at all affordable housing? Does the City Auditor have the manpower to conduct such a broad audit?
posted at 10:45 AM
0 comments
Aug 3,2008
Legal questions about rental car taxes could affect Convention Center support
by shooter
It appears there's a question about the legality of how Multnomah County is spending motor vehicle taxes from car rentals. The money is being spent on basic services and tourism promotion, but a recent opinion by the Oregon Legislative Counsel claims the county is violating the Oregon Constitution because the money is being spent on services not related to road construction. Multnomah County Counsel argues differently, saying, "We can spend it any way we want". Such an absolute statement sounds dangerous to me. Read this story from The Portland Tribune for more details. There is no certainty about who is right, but if a decision goes against the county it could jeopardize the Convention Center Hotel project .
posted at 11:33 AM
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