March 3, 2010
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H ome L oan
P redators
A sian
C uisine
Page 3
home
FOR
SALE
page 4
page 6
C ollege P reperation
page 7
O
pinion
;
page 8-9
H ealth M atters
page 14-15
An architectural drawing shows the mixed-use housing planned for a vacant lot on the corner o f
Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rosa Parks Way. For-sale townhomes are scheduled
for construction this year with three story condominiums coming in the fall o f 2012.
Housing Plan Moves Again
Two-stage development approved
by L ee
tNIfOTAIMttNI
page 10-13
G ospel P icnic
C lassifieds
F o o d
P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
In the depths of a sour economy,
with its chill on land development, a
long-stalled project on Northeast
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
and Rosa Parks Way has finally
moved forward.
The Portland Development Com
mission recently approved a con
tract with Tom Walsh Jr. and Serena
Cruz Walsh for what is now called
the King/Park project. It is a two-
stage, multi-use project for a long-
vacant parcel of land.
In the first phase, Walsh will de
velop 16 for-sale townhouses on
the west end of the lot, facing Garfield
Avenue, for first-time home buyers
in cooperation with the non-profit
Proud Ground.
Buyers will be able to purchase
the homes at well below market rate.
As part of the sales agreement they
must, if and when they sell, provide
Proud Ground the right to buy the
homes back at an agreed-upon rate.
This will provide the homeowner
with a return on their investment,
but keep the homes permanently
affordable. Construction is planned
for this year.
The second phase will consist of
three buildings, each three stories
tall, containing a total of eight con
dominium units and a total of 7,000
square feet of commercial space fac
ing MLK. Construction for this
phase should begin by September
2012.
PDC is contributing $3.5 million
toward the $7 million project, and is
donating the land subject to certain
terms. To achieve the benefits of the
development, including the low cost
to the home buyers, “We need to
not only offer the land at no cost but
add a subsidy,” said John Warner,
a PDC staff member.
In 2005, PDC offered the prop
erty to Tom Walsh Sr. for a similar
project called Piedmont Place, but
he was unable to bring the project to
fruition. (Phase II of that proposal
called for buildings four stories tall
with a total of 51 units facing MLK.)
Walsh Jr. thanked the Piedmont
Neighborhood Association, who
had participated in the planning of
the project and given input to it, for
their “patience.”
“It’s exciting to see this project
move forward in these tough eco
nomic times,” PDC Commissioner
Steven Straus said. “Martin Luther
King is a very important street.
Aesthetics of the highest sort should
be maintained for this project.”
PDC Commission Chair Scott
Andrews, added, “This is a great
project.”
page 17
NW at Risk of Megaquake
page 18
Coast fault like
one in Chile
(AP) - Just 50 miles off the Pacific
Northwest coast is an earthquake
hotspot that threatens to unleash
on Seattle, Portland and Vancouver
the kind of damage that has shat
tered Chile.
The fault has been dormant for
more than 300 years, but when it
awakens — tomorrow or decades
from now— the consequences could
be devastating.
Recent computer simulations of
a hypothetical magnitude-9 quake
found that shaking could last 2 to 5
minutes — strong enough to poten
tially cause poorly constructed
buildings from British Columbia to
Northern California to collapse and
severely damage highways and
bridges.
Such a quake would also send
powerful tsunami waves rushing to
shore in minutes. While big cities
such as Portland and Seattle would
be protected from severe flooding,
low-lying seaside communities may
not be as lucky.
The last one hit in 1700, a magni
tude-9 that sent 30- to 40-foot-tall
tsunami waves crashing onto the
coast and racing across the Pacific.
There's an 80 percent chance the
southern end of the fault off south
ern Oregon and Northern California
would break in the next 50 years.