Portland Bayside

markhb said:
I don't want to divert this thread into electoral politics, but it occurs to me that the sort of leadership that Jon Jennings has apparently shown on this is what the elected mayor position was supposed to bring to the table, particularly in cases when the city manager has more of a nuts-and-bolts, day-to-day management style (Joe Gray and Mark Rees as contrasted with Bob Ganley).
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Agreed. Jennings seems like he can get things done. I guess a guy who was an assistant coach on the 1980's Boston Celtics knows how to win!
 
Has anyone heard anything about Midtown moving forward now that the land deal has closed, or is Federated still looking to package this up as a shovel-ready project to sell? It has been awfully on that front.
 
Great find ^! I like how the proposed projects are over the 4 story status quo we've been seeing over the last few years (with a couple of exceptions). I'm cautiously all for them, but I can't help to be a bit worried about this trend though. Usually when we see the projects getting bigger and bigger, a recession always sets in so that many of those great proposals go to the garage bin (reference the late 80's stock market crash and the mid 2000's bubble burst).
 
I've been a Portland resident and architecture enthusiast for years, but I just discovered this wonderful forum!

I was wondering if anyone knew if Federated had a timeline for actually starting work on midtown? It's listed as "under construction" on their webpage, but as of today there's still no sign of life on the site.
 
Cosakita18 said:
I've been a Portland resident and architecture enthusiast for years, but I just discovered this wonderful forum!

I was wondering if anyone knew if Federated had a timeline for actually starting work on midtown? It's listed as "under construction" on their webpage, but as of today there's still no sign of life on the site.
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Welcome to the forum! I'm not sure about Federated's construction timeline, but hopefully work gets started soon on this long delayed project.
 
Updated renderings for 75 Chestnut Street, going to its 2nd planning board workshop tonight. It includes 54 apartments, including 6 "workforce" units per the city's new inclusionary housing ordinance, and a storefront space on Chestnut Street:


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Thanks for the update cneal, building looks interesting especially looking up Chestnut Street. Not sure why anyone would want to live next door to the Oxford Street Shelter though, maybe the project will help improve the neighborhood?
 
The plopping down of condos everywhere and anywhere in Portland remind me of when I lived in San Diego in the early 2000s.
 
Most of the current projects planned or under construction are currently market rate apartments like Chestnut Street, York Street and Congress Street @ Longfellow Square. A few subsidized apartment complexes are close to completion in the East Bayside area. You are correct mainejeff, Portland has also had it's fair share of condos added to the recent market.

When you give people the opportunity to live downtown whether it's in a condo or an apartment, they are more likely to dine, be entertained and shop downtown. The goal has been to slowly reverse the migration to the suburbs that hurt most relevant cities starting back in the 60's and lasting for decades.

Portland is doing pretty well for a city with a population of close to 70,000, (down from almost 80,000 in 1950 and up from 61,000 in 1980) some urban centers will never recover.
 
^ There's an important distinction between "condos" and "rental apartments."

A "condo" is a place that you own outright, generally with a mortgage, as opposed to renting.

But a growing proportion of new housing – here in Portland and in many cities nationwide – is being designed not as condos, but as rentals.

Condo projects tend to attract a wealthier clientele that is statistically older and whiter than the general population – the demographic that got rich from 20th-century financial policies like redlining and Fannie Mae. And so condos have mostly been going up where older wealthy people want to live – around Munjoy Hill and India Street.

But apartments don't require a credit history or a down payment, and they're more accessible to younger, more mobile workers who don't want to be tied down with a mortgage. Redfern's newer projects in East Bayside and the West End are all rentals, and I believe that the building going up on York Street and this project on Chestnut Street are being designed as a rentals as well.

Snobby baby-boomers who got rich off of white flight certainly won't want to own a condo a block away from the city's homeless shelter. But I'd argue that younger renters just don't care as much – especially if they can live near all the other amenities of downtown Portland.
 
Between Chestnut and Elm? That would be the site of Midtown 3. I always thought their plan was to start with Midtown 1 and build 1-4 consecutively. Although I suppose any site work is a good sign.
 
mainejeff said:
The plopping down of condos everywhere and anywhere in Portland remind me of when I lived in San Diego in the early 2000s.
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As cneal responded there is a difference between rentals and condos, but even if "condos were plopping down everywhere" that's a good thing in my book. It means that developers are willing to invest in Portland and people are willing to buy in Portland. All forms of new housing are going to help make Portland a more vibrant place.

As to who wants to live next to the homeless shelter -- plenty of people would, and by adding more housing of any sort we're hopefully working towards having less homelessness in the city.
 
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