Pretzel logic from the DJC
The kids over at the Daily Journal of Commerce have decided to parrot back the dubious official story that the pending giveaway of land by the Portland Development Commission for an office tower and some other mystery tower across from the Oregon Convention Center is somehow a wonderful thing -- and that the prospect of a publicly financed Convention Center hotel across the street is what's driving it all.
Linchpin City!
Come on, people. More likely, this is another bootstrap developer scam, with the worst-case scenario being a new office tower next to the freeway. I suspect that the real hope in the backrooms of the PDC and Metro is that somehow, before anyone notices, they can get to the point where they can say to the public, "It's too late to turn back now" on the construction and giveaway of the big hotel.
Let's hold an essay contest: Explain in 1,000 words or less what the heck is really going on over there, and how the office tower deal and the hotel are really connected. Winner gets a free ride on the MAX from the Convention Center to Pioneer Courthouse Square.
| Posted at 3:37 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (9)
I think its part of a bigger scam to eventually remove the I-5-- have you seen how close the proposed building is to the freeway?
There would be absolutely no room for any kind of freeway expansion and only a matter of time before the building's tenants complained about freeway noise.
Posted by Anthony | May 29, 2008 4:02 PM
Anthony, that's not a scam to get rid of the I-5. That's a scam to get the city to buy out our mystery tenants in two years or less. Mark my words: the office building goes up only after the developers manage to beat more money out of the city to finish it, the tenants suddenly look surprised when they discover that the building is right next to a major freeway, and the city ends up buying the building because the tenants claim that they can't work with that noise in the background. For what, we don't know, but I'm sure that some developer will be able to buy the property for pennies on the dollar, demolish it, and build an even more ostentatious monstrosity.
Posted by Sid | May 29, 2008 4:08 PM
Jack,
You missed the best headline of the month at the DJC though. The related story titled "Portland developer brings chaos theory to Pearl District".
It is kind of nice to see that the guy who once claimed he could build a headquarter hotel without PDC money finally start eating and trough.
Greg C
Posted by Greg C | May 29, 2008 4:09 PM
I'm thinking of playing but why punish the winner?
And early thought is the punch line will come when the city discovers how easy it will be to convert the office tower to a CC hotel sometime prior or during construction.
Posted by Howard | May 29, 2008 5:46 PM
The Schlesingers are nice folks who haven't caused a ruckus at City Hall, and PDC has to do some deals with people other than Gerding-Edlen and Williams & Dame before it can let the regular customers go back to the feeding trough. Right now is a good time to be a new face in line at PDC to ask for a handout.
Posted by Isaac Laquedem | May 29, 2008 6:30 PM
This comment has nothing to do with the above post. I just wanted to note how pleasing it is to read the titles of some of these articles. Jack is definitely a pop music fan from way back and the wordplay in the titles is another reason I like the blog.
Posted by none | May 29, 2008 8:49 PM
how easy it will be to convert the office tower to a CC hotel sometime prior or during construction.
And after the developers assign the land and the contract to somebody "new" -- like Metro and Ashforth? That would be a classic move.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 29, 2008 9:35 PM
"Explain in 1,000 words or less what the heck is really going on over there, and how the office tower deal and the hotel are really connected."
OK, this was brownfields and look it can generate $28M in property taxes. See how full it keeps the streetcars! Now if we build a hotel to fill the convention center the streetcars will be even more full!!!
You missed the linchpin. They always need some faint hope to justify the pet project (biotech for the tram, PGE park for major league baseball.)
Posted by Steve | May 29, 2008 9:41 PM
"The Schlesingers are nice folks who haven't caused a ruckus at City Hall, and PDC has to do some deals with people other than Gerding-Edlen and Williams & Dame before it can let the regular customers go back to the feeding trough. Right now is a good time to be a new face in line at PDC to ask for a handout."
Bingo.
Posted by Pat | May 30, 2008 9:04 AM