Portland Development News

[CrazyAboutCities]

Originally Posted by dougall5505

storage tower on east side





reported heights of 368' and 294' but it is possible the tallest would be 431'

WOW! I never thought Portland would recieve that type of architecture. That's so awesome! I'm very happy to see that Portland is getting futuristic looking skyscrapers lately!

[Dancer]

OMG! YES! I LOVE IT! I just saw this on SSP

[pwalker]

I certainly like what is happening at south riverfront. Time will tell if it will be fully built out...

Portland has always been a unique U.S. city/metro...what with the urban growth boundary, etc. But if and when s. riverfront is built out, won't this create two distinct high rise districts within a mile of each other? Not totally unique, (Atlanta has managed to accomplish this with downtown and midtown).

As for suburban high-rise development, I'm quite surprised that it is practically non-existent in the Portland metro. The closest thing may be a tower near Washington Square in suburban Tigard, but it's only about 150 feet tall with 12 stories.

Beaverton is a logical place for this to happen. Does anyone know if there are restrictions to height there? I wouldn't rule out Wilsonville, what with the I-5 access. I don't have any idea how Wilsonville officials feel about this subject, but seems to me that this could become a very nicely situated "edge city". There may be some opposition to that, I'm not really sure.

For a metro that prides itself on dense development due to urban growth boundaries, why have we not seen more high-rise development inside the UGB? Just curious.

[MarkDaMan]

Ladd Tower's shift to apartments jibes with national trends
Downtown Portland - Investors turn from condos to luxury apartments to meet housing market demands
Friday, March 23, 2007
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian

Large national investment funds are starting to shy away from financing condo projects, instead turning their focus to apartments.

Portland saw the trend for the first time Thursday when the developers of Ladd Tower, a planned $85 million condo high-rise, changed course. They announced they will build luxury apartments overlooking the South Park Blocks.

The shift in investment interest doesn't mean the urban condo boom is over. It does mean that high-rise apartments will soon join condos in downtown's skyline. And it means downtown rents will reach new heights as land prices, construction costs and investors' expectations climb.

The course change on Ladd Tower, which was supposed to start construction almost a year ago, reverses Portland's pattern of recent years. In a decade of overwhelming demand for urban condos, countless apartment buildings have been converted into condominiums. Now condo construction may slow while builders move to fill a new demand for expensive apartment units.

Wealthy individuals, pension funds and other institutional investors have billions of dollars burning holes in their pockets as they are searching for apartment buildings to buy. At the same time, funds that finance condos have made lots of investments in a form of housing that is struggling in many cities.

Economic fundamentals have returned to the apartment market in urban Portland: Supply is down, in part because of the conversion of so many apartments to condos. Condo dwellers and retail growth have added excitement to the city's core. And with the region's job growth still outpacing the rest of the nation, more people are willing to pay at least $1,000 to $3,000 in monthly rent.

Some landlords are reporting 12 percent rent growth in the past 12 months, said Tom Wilson, a commercial mortgage broker with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler.

"The apartment market here in Portland is probably one of the better-positioned apartment markets in the nation," Wilson said. "There's no more concessions. There's substantial rent growth, and apartment operators are betting on the market to continue to strengthen."

Developer Opus Northwest, based in Minneapolis, said it changed plans for the Ladd Tower because the world changed around it in the past year.

"The condominium market is healthy here in Portland," said John Bartell, vice president of Opus Northwest's Portland office. "It just seemed that there's an adequate supply of condominium units in the central Portland area for the next couple years, and this is an opportunity for us to build a rental project that will diversify the housing stock in the city and produce some rental opportunities for people who choose not to buy."

Portland developer John Carroll, who said he believes condos would still work well on the site, has left the venture.

Old and new elements

The project has several costly elements not directly related to housing. The First Christian Church, which owns the block, hired Opus Northwest to redevelop the property, build parking spaces and add 20,000 square feet of activity space for the church.

The block, bounded by Southwest Jefferson and Columbia streets, Broadway and Park Avenue, includes the Ladd Carriage House, an important historic building downtown. The project will preserve the Carriage House but demolish the next-door Rosefriend Apartments, even as it reuses some of the apartments' architectural elements.

A year ago, condos seemed like the perfect cash machine to fund the redevelopment. The Housing Authority of Portland had signed with another developer to use cash from a high-rise condo building, The Civic, to fund housing for the homeless near PGE Park.

But delays, design challenges and market shifts changed the picture.

Developers had hoped to begin construction on the Ladd Tower last summer. But to accommodate neighborhood activists and the Portland Design Commission, they spent about six months redoing the design.

Placing the tower above a wide-open church fellowship hall created a costly engineering challenge, said Opus Northwest's Bartell.

Also, he said condos weren't selling as quickly as he hoped. The developer is returning 5 percent deposits from about 60 buyers of the proposed 200 units.

Opus decided to shelve the condos and go for apartments, using the same architectural design, which looks like a glassy new tower nestled in older buildings at the base. Ladd Tower will have more than 220 units, catering to demand for smaller apartments.

More equity sought

Investors are asking for more equity -- sort of like a down payment -- from condo developers. In the past, developers could put down 10 percent and borrow the rest. Now, they must put down as much as 15 percent, said Portland developer Homer Williams.

"You've got to work harder, but it's there," Williams said.

Primary lenders such as Wells Fargo Bank, the main financier for Hoyt Street Properties in the Pearl District, are still eager to lend money for condos. But lenders for secondary mortgages have more to risk and now want more equity from developers and higher interest rates, Williams said.

That affected the Ladd project, Bartell said.

The decision to build apartments is a retreat from conventional wisdom in several respects.

The word among developers for years had been that building apartments downtown was a sure-fire way to lose money. It was even touchy for projects that qualified for a longstanding city program of 10-year property tax abatements -- a common incentive for urban housing in many cities that are trying to revive downtowns.

But the Portland City Council made the abatements tougher to qualify for -- requiring low-income affordable housing -- and then put the program on hold indefinitely.

Then, the condo boom took several apartment buildings off the market, including the University Park Apartments on the South Park Blocks and the Portland Center Apartments, three towers totaling 537 apartments.

Developer Williams has converted two of Portland Center's three towers into The Harrison condominiums. Now he's considering selling off the third tower to be an apartment building again.

"The market has a way of correcting itself," Williams said. "The apartment market is almost as profitable as the condo market these days, so you just pick out your position."

Gerding/Edlen Development Co., Portland's largest developer, is renting units in The Louisa for $2 a square foot. It will soon break ground on an office and apartment building at Southwest 12th Avenue and Washington Street that will charge about $2.40 a square foot when it opens in two years -- a record price range the Ladd Tower will surely try to match.

Nothing underscored the potential for the apartment market more than the recent sale of City Heights Apartments at Southwest Jefferson Street and Third Avenue. Prometheus Real Estate Group Inc. paid $39.7 million for the building, or $254,487 a unit, a record price.

The Bay Area real estate investor said it would immediately spend at least $3 million upgrading the building, announced a rent increase and said it wants to buy more buildings like that in Portland.

"They set a new benchmark for everybody," Williams said.

Dylan Rivera: 503-221-8532, dylanrivera@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/o...490.xml&coll=7

[unclejim]

Does anybody know whats goin on with the 3rd and Oak block?

[MarkDaMan]

^The city council (Randy Leonard mostly) is reviewing this project. I think all things are on hold until they are done with their witch hunt. Trammell Crow has said they still want to build apartments there, as they have spent too much money now to pull out.


Prometheus Development's first South Waterfront projects block 41 (not block 46 as previously thought)
image hosted on flickr

[MarkDaMan]

new Park Avenue West renderings

[Minimaha]

I read that this tower will actually be 432' feet?

I'm glad we're building taller and taller buildings. Now if only we can get a new tallest to take the attention off of the Wells Fargo tower.

[MarkDaMan]

^I always thought a recladding of the Wells Fargo skin would do the trick. In NYC a building that resembled the WF had a new skin laid on top of the old, the building looks fantastic now. I doubt it will happen, but would be nice.

[CrazyAboutCities]

WOW!!!!!!! AMAZING! GO PORTLAND!

[JoshYent]

YES! it looks good!

[mSeattle]

I like that Park Ave. design.

[pwalker]

More interesting differences between Portland and Seattle. Portland has evidently put a priority on apartments over condos. OK, good for some, but bad for others. Portland could really develop into three distinct in-town high-rise districts, (downtown/pearl, lloyd center, and s. riverfront). But unlike Seattle, no other highrise districts outside of the main city. Perhaps this will ultimately be the right direction as it will keep the central city dense, but I believe major metro areas must develop satellite downtowns as Seattle has done with Bellevue and future plans for Lynnwood, Federal Way, Renton, Everett, etc. to disperse some of the traffic and to bring economic strength to all corners of the metro. Just some thoughts to ponder...

[MarkDaMan]

^Portland is one the way. The downtown district that have high rises, or proposed high rises grows. You mentioned the CBD/West End, Pearl, South Waterfront, and Lloyd but also Goose Hollow, Northwest with (Con-Way), Central Eastside and Rose Quarter/Portland Public HQ could also very soon see additional high rises.

Gresham, Vancouver, possibly Tigard, and a proposed super development in Hillsboro will start bringing height into the suburbs. With 2 million less people metro wide than Seattle, our density is just now high enough to start justifying high rises outside the central city.

[pwalker]

Yes, I think you are probably correct. I just figured that if you put an urban growth boundary up, then more dense growth would occur inside that boundary.

What is this super Hillsboro development? Have not heard about that...

Oh, and the Lloyd Center area seems a logical place for more high-rise development. I have seen proposals, but is anything close to breaking ground?

[MarkDaMan]

our urban growth boudary works much different the Washingtons. Ours is managed by a metro wide regional government and they must include at least a 20 year supply of developable land available. Our UGB works much more to keep protected farmland and forests from being developed, while targeting areas with less valuable use to be the first to be developed, instead of a forced dense development by artificially crimping the supply of land. However, Metro also has programs that give tax breaks and such for TODs and required densities for new development which has lead to some terrific suburban development, dense, but not necessarily tall. Metro also, about a decade ago, created something like 10 major urban centers and 35 towne centers to be developed into high density. The infrastructure is slowly being built with new MAX and streetcar lines, as well as master planned urban communities such as Oregon's newest city Damascus. As our mass becomes critical, the policies we've been living for over a decade will lead to denser and taller growth. If you haven't seen it, check out MitchE's Portland suburban development thread over on SSP, he has some terrific examples of our progress so far. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...tland+Suburban

and here is the story on the possible Hillsboro super development.

Is this the next Pearl District?
A daring vision in Tanasbourne to build a high-rise community of 10,000 people could make the suburbs the new urban jungle
Thursday, November 16, 2006
ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ
The Oregonian

HILLSBORO -- Imagine: New York City in Hillsboro.

Or a scaled-down version of Central Park and all the sky-high buildings that surround it, at least.

Five years from now, the idea could start to become reality as the city plans to build an urban community that would attract an expected 10,000 new residents to nearly 600 acres in the Tanasbourne area. Buildings would reach 20 stories tall, and the budget could call for billions of dollars.

"This project is a wake-up call for people who don't think of us as part of the Portland metro area," Mayor Tom Hughes said. "It asks them, 'Have you thought of Hillsboro lately?' "

Known for bold moves such as Orenco Station and Intel's Ronler Acres campus, city planners want this area south of Northwest Cornell Road to be a magnet for high-income singles and two-person households seeking alternatives to Portland.

Planners and developers face a series of hurdles with the project, including its high cost, securing land rights and lining up public and private funding -- not to mention the traffic congestion that could result when developments go in.

Although it's not clear whether the real estate market will take to the idea, the time and location are ideal to build the project, officials said. The planning area consists of plenty of vacant and redevelopable lots, it's next to Beaverton, it's easily accessible for U.S. 26 commuters, and it's adjacent to Tanasbourne, one of the county's most popular hubs with its variety of stores and restaurants.

Also, in coming years 7,000 to 8,000 new employees are expected to settle in Hillsboro as companies such as Genentech and Standard Insurance build sites and Kaiser Permanente plans a new hospital a few blocks from the planned new community. And in the next 25 years, it's expected that more than 270,000 more residents will arrive in Washington County.

Planners want to expand on the success of Streets of Tanasbourne, an outdoor shopping mall that opened in 2004 along Northwest Cornell Road, to build the new community. Construction could begin as early as 2010 and be complete in 2026.

High-rises and a park

The plan, with as many as nine 20-story buildings and a series of smaller towers stacked around a 35-acre central park, would set a new urban tone in suburbia. Condos and town houses would mix with retail, office space and research centers.

The planning area is bounded by Northwest Cornell and Walker roads on the north, 185th Avenue on the east, the MAX line on the south and Northwest 206th Avenue on the west. The city owns five acres of the land on the west end.

Referred to as the OHSU/AmberGlen Area Plan, it now consists of vacant lots, green space, office buildings, research facilities for Oregon Health & Science University and education centers for Portland Community College and the state.

Planners see the new community -- built intensely dense and unusually high -- as a way to alleviate concerns about growth citywide and as a solution to the land crunch brought by the urban growth boundary. The more people who live in this area, the more relief the rest of Hillsboro will see, said Wink Brooks, the city's planning director.

"It really is unique," said Brian Campbell, a project manager with PB PlaceMaking, an international consulting company based in Washington, D.C., that is working with the city to plan the community.

Though there are a few examples nationwide of this concept, Hillsboro's community would be a first in the Portland suburbs, Campbell said. Portland's Pearl District would be the closest example, with its mix of condos and town houses built along a streetcar route that's dotted with shops and restaurants.

"Hillsboro has stepped out there," Campbell said.

Yet it's difficult to predict how suburbia would react to such a project, although Hillsboro's concept has the right ingredients and makes sense, said Matt Brown, a project manager who looks into new projects for Williams & Dame Development.

The Portland-based company was one of the primary developers of the Pearl District and has been heavily involved with projects in Portland's South Waterfront and, most recently, in Los Angeles.

Developers would need to study closely the demographics of the area, Brown said. "The $64,000 question is whether Hillsboro and the western suburbs are ready," he said. "When you think of suburbs, you don't think of that type of environment."

Brown said suburban areas are challenged because "you have to create a highly vibrant, mixed-use community out of whole cloth. You don't have the bare bones of an interesting urban area. It can be done, but it must done right."

Residents weigh in

During open houses this year about the project, residents greeted the vision with awe. Although some are troubled by the project's high density and high cost, many welcome the idea and hope it will pan out during the next 20 years.

"I think it's great," said Kevin LaBreche, who's lived northwest of the property for a decade. "They're really putting a lot of thought into how these people are going to fit in this area. . . . Things are going to change."

Bob Martin, who lives west of the planned area, said he's "cautiously enthusiastic." The Beaverton School District employee said he likes that the city is planning this far in advance but worries about the quality of the development and the traffic headaches it could generate.

"I know there's no escaping it," Martin said about growth in the area. "I'm concerned whether they can maintain the original vision to make sure it's consistent and compatible so that the last building looks like the first."

With the long timeline, some wonder whether the city and property owners can deliver. Steve Cook, a retired dentist and businessman who lives on six wooded acres inside the planning area, welcomes the proposal. He just wonders whether the market will support it.

"Somebody's gotta say, 'This is so unique that I'm willing to go out on a limb to support it,' " said Cook, who wants to preserve the tree-filled land he's owned for 30 years south of Northwest Walker Road. "In order for this thing to be pulled off, there has to be instant attraction."

Potential roadblocks

Because the idea is so new, officials say they'll have a hard time testing market forces. The fact that real estate sales have slowed in recent months does not intimidate planners, because the project won't be built for at least five years, Brooks said.

Along with the market, other challenges have given developers and property owners pause.

The city must find savvy developers -- the fewer, the better -- willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the idea. The project also will require significant changes to the surrounding roads to accommodate traffic, which will be one of the biggest hurdles, Campbell said.

In addition, because the 582 acres have more than a half-dozen owners, the city must coordinate a vision and keep property owners from selling and dividing the land. Officials say it will be difficult to settle on a master plan if there are too many participants.

Oregon Health & Science University, which owns 300 acres at the site, is the key landholder. In coming years, the university plans to maintain a presence on about 160 acres in the center of the site where its primate center, the Neurological Sciences Institute and the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute are located.

Last month, OHSU agreed to sell its 40-acre Oregon Graduate Institute campus at the site for about $44 million. The buyer has not been disclosed. Officials are discussing whether to sell about another 70 acres of the land.

"We're not sure who we would sell it to," said chief administrative officer Steve Stadum. "We're studying whether or not it makes sense to sell."

Esmeralda Bermudez: 503-221-4388; ebermudez@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/waweeklyh/...940.xml&coll=7

[pwalker]

Re: Hillsboro plans

Thanks for posting. Interesting concept, in that most of these type of communities (usually around bigger cities) come together in a piece-meal fashion instead of one planned concept. Will be watching...

[MarkDaMan]

update Mirabella renderings

[CrazyAboutCities]

WOW! Very nice rendering! It is seen like it will be taller than John Ross Building... Is that correct?

[MarkDaMan]

all three towers in that second row should top out at 325'...would be nice if the Mirabella got a height exemption of another 50' though...