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.**
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Next week: A look at rhe outcome
o f the nearly two-year-old Econom
ic Development Program for the
Northeast Target Area
I
4