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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1984)
Page 2 Portland Observer, January 26, 1984 Today's planning determines Portland's future by Chuck Goodmocher The creation o f a “ pre-planning” committee for a Central City Plan is being hailed as a bold step toward coordination o f scattered develop ment efforts throughout the core, inner-city areas o f Portland. Praise for the concept o f a new “ central c ity " planning effort came from politicians, neighborhood activists and developers alike. Each o f these groups also has expressed concern over just what direction the Plan it self will take the City and what means will be proposed as the vehi cle^*) to take us there. As envisioned by the Plan’s prime sponsor. Commissioner Margaret Strachan, the Central City Plan will update the Downtown Plan and “ develop a vision for the Central C ity, augmented by appropriate policies. . and implementing tools to support the vision." That vision will included expanding current de velopment funds favoring large pro jects if the Central City Plan reflects the current political balance, contend critics and advocates alike. The pre-planning committee cre ated last week will determine the scope o f the plan as well as who will participate in its creation over the expected two- to three-year planning process. The pre-planning commit tee is subject to some restraints, however. Both a Technical Advisory Committee (consisting o f C ity agen cy chiefs) and a Citizens Advisory Committee are to be created to par ticipate in shaping the plan. Commissioner Strachan has called the pre-planning stage crucial and has agreed to allow for citizen input during this time. Since both the full scope o f the Central City Plan and the process for allowing different groups within the city to share in the power o f creating it are not determined yet, know ledgeable observers are reluctant to speculate about the impact o f the plan on the city as a whole and on specific neighborhoods in particu lar Most experts do agree however that future development activities will be shaped largely by the eco nomic state o f the city during the planning period. Development pro jects and trends today are shaped by opportunities and constraints hand ed down from the past. And most urban planners and observers agree, today's projects create new prob lems and possibilities for tomorrow. Major Facelifting Portland's central city now is un dergoing a major facelift— even as many neighborhoods, especially in inner Northeast, continue to decay. A large number o f projects, many o f which are underwritten with enormous sums of public money, are currently shaping the Portland o f tomorrow. Some minor projects are under way in the neighbor hoods. but the bulk continue to be in or near downtown. Il is this Port land which is the context in which the Central City Plan will take shape. Perhaps the most conspicuous of today's developments are Fountain Plaza, the Morrison Street Project and the South W aterfront Develop ment Area. Each of these projects is under the auspices o f the Portland Development Commission. Most Portlanders think o f the towering brick and blue-topped K O IN center as an isolated develop ment. Rather, it is just the first o f three phases in the development o f Fountain Plaza—a two-and-a-half- block mixed-use redevelopment pro ject in the South Auditorium Urban Renewal Area. Total project invest ment is $105 million. P D C sold the land to O lym pia and York at market rates ($40 a square foot). When completed in 1986, the pro ject will consist o f over one million square feet o f development— princi pally office space. The “ thin” top part of the K O IN tower will be used for luxury condominiums priced from $295,000 to $540,000. K O IN - T V is also to be provided a new off- fice and broadcast facility in the tower, as well as a new cinema. Phase I I o f Fountain Plaza will be a 250- to 27 0ro o m hotel and phase I I I another office tower with limited retail use. Though further from completion, the Morrison Street Project will bring even greater changes to the busy heart o f downtown Portland. This project involves the develop ment o f a $130 million. 3-block re- tail/h o tel/o ffice project near Pion eer Square. Twenty million dollars Greyhound Terminal Convention Center Central City Ren Aree South Waterfront Development Morrlaon Street Project o f public funds are allocated for this project alone. The City expects to recoup these funds eight to ten years after the project enters the tax roles through a tax increment financing program. P D C and the Rouse Company of Portland are currently negotiating the final agreement for Morrison Street so the illustration presented here only approximates the final de sign. The centerpiece o f this project is a glass domed central pavillion with covered access to three retail levels on all three blocks. One o f the adjoining buildings will be 22 stories high and will in clude a hotel, a major department store and small specialty shops. Another tower, 19 stories high, completes (he project. It will include office space in addition to another department store and small retail ers. According to Chris Kopca, P D C Project Coordinator, the de partment stores will be "higher quality— fashion oriented" anchors to draw wealthy shoppers into downtown. As such, they are not designed to compete with suburban shopping malls. The 73-acre South Downtown W aterfront area, bounded by the Hawthorne and M arquam Bridges, Front Avenue and the Willamette River, will soon be home to a mixed- use commercial-residential center valued at $83 million. Cornerstone Development Co. o f Seattle, a Wey- erhauser subsidiary, will begin phase I o f the project very soon. Phase I includes: 270 luxury condo miniums, a 75-room luxury hotel, restaurants and retail space, an ath letic club, a 270-ship marina and parking space. This at a time when (he luxury condominium market is glutted: only 82 o f 384 units now on (he market have been sold and four o f seven major projects have been repossessed by banks. Pacific Power and Light will build mid-rise office buildings adja cent to South W aterfront and the Zidell property between the M a r quam and Ross Island bridges in the next decade, according to Kopca. Pioneer Square is still another ex ample o f major public involvement in the development o f downtown Portland. Due for completion this A p ril, the square is designed as an open public space where residents and visitors can relax amidst the bustle o f downtown. The Performing Arts Center, being built at a cost o f $30 million, will shape the future o f the South Park Blocks area for years to come. As with most o f the major new pro jects, it is hoped the Center will draw people downtown after-hours. The U .S Bank building symbol izes the move northward o f high- priced real estate previously asso ciated only with downtown. One Pacific Square, the steel mirror-like office tower near the Steel Bridge, is only the first o f four to be develop ed by Hayden Island Development Company*. The controversial relocation of Oreyhound from the bus mall to a new $7 million, two-block terminal located between N .W . Fifth and Sixth Avenues and N .W . Irving and Glisan near Union Station also will bring many changes to the area Ru mors about some o f the rail lines in N .W . Portland being removed in fa vor o f new projects are also now fly ing. The P D C is also in the business o f actively promoting private busi ness downtown. An eight-page glossy multi-color flyer entices tour ists and Portlanders alike to the areas known as the Yam hill, Skid more, and Old Town Historic Dis tricts Renovations in the area were made possible largely by the C ity’s use o f Federal Urban Development Action Grant money. The flyer fo cuses on businesses specializing in high-priced goods catering to the upper-middle class and the extreme ly wealthy. Twenty-nine businesses and their goods are described in de tail and (heir specific locations and hours of business listed in the flyer. On th e East Side Across the W illamette, on the East Side, some major changes are in the works as well. A controversial heliport, opposed by Southeast resi dents, to be built on the river bank by the Hawthorne Bridge, is being championed by the City. So too are future developments in the central East Side industrial area—especially the sale o f land cleared by the PDC for an ill-fated central warehouse facility. PGE will announce this spring an industrial development proposal for 35 acres it owns under the Marquam Bridge's east ramps. Looming even larger for the East Side is a planned addition to the Memorial Coliseum complex o f fa cilities for "moderate size" conven tions. " W e ’re not kidding ourselves that we can compete for major con ventions,” said PDC 's Kopca. The convention facilities carry an esti mated $40 million price tag. but, said Kopca, the project has "direct and obvious benefits" for the city and especially the East Side. The City hopes to generate new business for the hotel and food industries, in dustries which are labor intensive and have a large amount of "break- in " jobs for previously untrained workers. This project may be as much as a decade from completion. The Central City Plan clearly will be coming on (he heels of develop ment projects which are the result of long-term trends shaping the uneven development patterns of Portland. Regardless o f who is appointed to the Citizen Advisory Committee (and how much power is accorded that body by the “ pre-planners” ), the Central City Plan is expected by most simply to draw together under one “ vision" the disparate projects already being shaped. For Commissioner Margaret Strachan, and many others down town, the central city planning ef fort is also crucial to the neighbor hoods. Pointing to Eastern cities with decaying downtowns, Strachan commented, " A viable central city is important to every citizen in Port land.** Cure the common cold. T ry our home heating remedy. Ifp w irh u m e lie.uuig h ill* leave ysiucuU. here's an easy cure »witch to natural gas heating. New n itu r.il gas Inmate» have reni.irk.ihlc annual efficiency rate» up tu 9 7 percent. 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