Surprise! Office space.
Remember the months and months of anguished hand-wringing about what the Burnside Bridgehead project was going to look like, and who was going to build it? Well, it looks as though at least half of the plans have been ripped up, and the winning developers are talking about building something considerably different from what was promised back then. They suddenly realized that the city is badly condo-overbuilt (duh), and so much of the live-work blather and affordable housing malarkey in the original discussions is about to get round-filed in favor of good old Dilbert office space. The new blah-blah is "maybe a return of Columbia Sportswear." Hold onto your wallets, folks.
I asked this question back in May, and it came up again a couple of weeks ago in connection with the proposed Winkler-Naito taxpayer-built parking garage in Old Town: Shouldn't there be a stated shelf life for the approval on these deals? If they don't get built at least somewhat promptly, and at least somewhat along the lines originally advertised, then shouldn't the process reopen, or even start over? If the developers can just switch housing to office space without another round of serious new public input, what would stop them from switching back to their original scheme -- a Home Depot? The good faith of the city planning bureaucrats?
It was bad enough that the city abused the process on the original award for this project. Now the very nature of the buildings is morphing, and when that happens, it's just a short hop to aerial tram time.
| Posted at 12:54 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (14)
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a ton of vacant office space in Portland?
Posted by LC | July 2, 2007 2:00 PM
We've got 10,000 biotech jobs coming in. Those folks are going to need space to work.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 2, 2007 2:06 PM
Jack, you have to stop making me fall off my chair laughing. (I should have seen it coming though.)
Posted by Michael | July 2, 2007 2:27 PM
Jack, I think your "self life" of land use decisions needs to be addressed-and not in the back rooms. It is time for legal action to address this issue, at least consider taking items like these two examples to the Land Use Board of Appeal, and beyond if needed. These switch and bait projects need to stop, unless we have open, honest, readress of the issues. This same thinking goes with the Burnside Couplet.
Posted by Lee | July 2, 2007 3:11 PM
Reneging on promises to the citizenry has no cost. Reneging on promises to the "development community" costs campaign contributions, and sometimes tort claims. You do the math.
Posted by dyspeptic | July 2, 2007 5:41 PM
Ok, so this is one of those frustrating moments for me...
WHAT THE HELL CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS??
I saw it in theO today and obviously above, but now what? What's the recourse for us lowly taxpayers?
Posted by DR | July 2, 2007 6:40 PM
Gresham.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 2, 2007 8:42 PM
Wow, I'm really gonna get it for this comment, but...wouldn't it be a good thing to bring Columbia Sportswear back to Portland?
Full disclosure, I'm a neighborhood representative on the Burnside-Bridgehead Citizen Advisory Committee...and last month expressed my support for just such an outcome. The fact is, the "project" has been continually morphing all along...but now the company on the river side of Burnside Bridgehead is moving, making that land available too, for an ever bigger project. Including, perhaps, Columbia Sportswear.
I'd rather see jobs in the Central Eastside Industrial District than condos.
Posted by Frank Dufay | July 2, 2007 9:39 PM
Me too, but if it's no longer the Burnside Bridgehead project as we knew it, then it's time for a new RFP and a new process.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 2, 2007 10:39 PM
I don’t think I can face going through the whole rigmarole again. Some sort of time limit might be a good idea, but when you are dealing with numbers this large no developer is going to try and fight the market. It looks light the scope remains approximately the same and offices are a better fit if that area is to remain commercial.
More importantly, especially for those planning to buy a condo or a house, this is a clear warning from those that know that Portland will be joining the nationwide housing slump sometime in the next 18 months.
Posted by Sherwood | July 3, 2007 8:31 AM
Me too, but if it's no longer the Burnside Bridgehead project as we knew it, then it's time for a new RFP and a new process.
Yeah, god knows we don't have enough "process" in the City of Portland. :-)
Fundamentally you're right, Jack...but this is one of those cases of seizing the moment, if we can, for the opportunity to do something special, like bringing back Columbia Sportswear without ten years of agonizing process, hearings, RFPs, and community visioning.
If Columbia Sportswear isn't interested, then there is the issue of, OK, it is time to poop or get off the pot for SOMETHING to happen.
Posted by Frank Dufay | July 3, 2007 8:52 PM
this is one of those cases of
seizing the moment, if we can, for the opportunity to do something special,
like bringing back Columbia Sportswear without ten years of agonizing
process, hearings, RFPs, and community visioning.
Frank, Opus is playing you like a violin. Wake up. You're being had.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 4, 2007 8:36 AM
Frank, Opus is playing you like a violin. Wake up. You're being had.
It's always possible, Jack, but I'm a pretty cynical guy, and, frankly, I've never been a big fan of Pearlizing the Central Eastside Industrial District. We need jobs more than condos and streetcars, and if jobs is the new pitch, I'm open to it.
Help keep me on my toes, though. And I don't think our citizen advisory committee is going to accept much more delay without a redo of the RFP.
Posted by Frank Dufay | July 5, 2007 9:01 PM
Frank, I commend you for your openness and your dedication to the city.
If Columbia Sportswear wants to move back to Burnside Bridgehead, great! Let's get rid of Opus, have the PDC sell the property to the Boyles for a dollar, and let them do the thing right. It's obvious that Opus can't or won't build what they were selected to build, so let's start over.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 6, 2007 1:26 AM