Today I met with a developer and had a productive discussion regarding Portland’s development scene. The interesting thing about Portland is that urban sprawl is curtailed by the Portland development act, Which periodically releases more land to ensure that there is a 20 year supply of housing. But what this means is that development is slow and thoughtful. In addition it is always more dense. This is because it is more expensive, and as a result parceled out into smaller pieces. What this means is that development isn’t this massive sprawling machine, but rather a regulated expansion.
Part of the process of releasing land in the 20 year supply is the fact that redevelopment plots are taken into the process. The city therefore encourages density and adaptive reuse. It also means that there was never a full fledged plight to the suburbs, because the supply couldn’t handle it.
The other thing that it means is that parking lots are economically sized, and stores are shifted towards the streets. It must also be related to the zoning and planning requirements for how many spaces are needed for specific purposes. This must make parking a nightmare during peak times, but the spatial quality it creates is far superior.
Talking with one of the developers of the South Waterfront provided insight into some of the successes and failures of the project. The thing that is clear about the project is with the proposed density and the changing market conditions, the project has had its hiccups. A less dense development might have propelled the development and been a more sustainable approach, but as it stands the project is ok, and the newest product being built is 5-6 story apartments.
The other tipping point of the project was the ability to secure the transit coming to the site at the same time as the opening of the first buildings. This is critical because of the sites difficult accessibility by car and selling point of public transit.
The other thing we discussed was the necessity to appreciate and understand the industry that is still on site. The Neighborhood has shifted its focus to celebrating it with a boat launchings of the shipbuilder. For the developer it was a necessary relationship. Its also not the worst industry to have to work with, as its non polluting and smell less. The only potential hazard is the light of the welding torches.
Another tough decision that must be made is to bury parking garages, at a massive cost. The most successful projects on any scale are the ones that provide connectivity to their surroundings. Having surface lots or parking garages isolate developments and divide cities, and at a certain point the land is simply too valuable to under develop.
I visited one development today that’s worth talking about. This theme of transit oriented development is one that gets tossed around quite a bit. In Portland there is a surburban Greenfield mall that I visited which is adjacent to the airport. Its fairly generic but the remarkable thing about it is the fact that it has polarized toward the light rail line that is at the edge of the site. All of the smaller outlier buildings have formed into an avenue like side that is directly adjacent to the avenue with the light rail station, there is then a medium sized parking lot and then the large big box retailers sit in a row on the far side. Its not groundbreaking, but it evokes a certain amount of urbanism in a Greenfield.
Tonight I’m on the train to Seattle. Looking forward to the final leg in the first half of my trip and getting a chance to recap and add imagery.
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