See the one on the first floor, front corner? That's mine. You hear!?

I'll take one

I really like the design.

Love it. All the haters can just move to Eugene if you ask me.

Those protruding white boxes are incredibly stupid-looking, and I will not be moving to Eugene.

B!X, go back over to jack's blog and lament the passing of Portland.

Design looks AWESOME! Can't wait untill all the condos start showing up on Mississippi and drive the prices up.

It's a good line, dieselboi, but full of shit.

Did I say "oh my god why are they putting anything there at all" or "that entire building is crap"?

No. I said that white protrusions were stupid.

Jack wouldn't worry about random bits of architecture on a larger project. He'd just crack on the entire thing.

Didn't realize we'd reached the point in development discussions that any critic of any element or any project suddenly gets tossed a "go back over to jack's blog and lament the passing of Portland". Are you all really that simple-minded?

Yeah, I for one am sick of both the "don't like Portland? move back to _____" and, conversely, "don't like the direction Portland's going? take it to bojack.org."

No more of this opposing camps bullshit. Let's hash it out, right here!

Opposing camps! Opposing camps!

Actually, I like the white boxes, but respect B!X's right not to like them, while continuing to live in Portland.

I am not at all against this particular development. In fact, I think it is pretty cool that this family is dedicated to their corner and wants to stay there. However, I agree with B!x that the white boxes are pretty ugly. That's a personal taste issue, not an anti-development issue.

And, deiselboi's point about prices rising around condos is something to consider when thinking about Amy's drive to bring more (creative, weird) people to Portland. The weirdness of Portland has thrived in the past because people could afford to live here on part-time or artists salaries, which allowed time for art and music on a bigger scale. This is part of what I worry about losing.

I don't need Portland to freeze in a certain era or ban new development, but I think there needs to be serious thought about affordability as we move forward as a city. Do we want to be a city that caters to the wealthy or to the weird? Is there a way to do both (since developers aren't in it for the art)?

I hope a real discussion can be had on these issues without people being labeled and dismissed as belonging to a certain camp.

I have no problem with condos on 28th and BS or anywhere for that matter. I think this "creative class" everyone likes to talk about, will just have to get creative about where they choose to live (like they always have). It's nothing new and it's nothing that many cities aren't continuing to undergo. Anything that brings money to small bussiness is good and that's exactly what these places are going to do. The more housing you can get around small commercial districts the better. It's called fueling an economy right?

RWW—You're exactly right. I'm here in PDX largely because I was priced out of Seattle (a reporter's salary doesn't go far), and I don't want that to happen again. I don't always like to say that, though, because the knee jerk reaction is to assume there's no way to do density and development and a built up city without shoving everyone who was already here aside.

I think Portland is innovative, and can come up with a way to make the city work for everyone—those who've got old roots here, and those yet to arrive.

I don't know the whole picture answer (I've got a report on my desk out of Vancouver, that studied this exact issue—I'll be reading that tonight). For starters, though, I do believe that increasing the supply of housing will help keep prices in check. But there's a huge question of the basic price of new development in a city—maybe the city needs to explore ways to drive that down, so developers don't have to charge an arm and a leg for a new place?

I think the ultra-modern white boxes look sweet contrasted against the exposed wood grain. It's sort of rustic and modern at the same time. My only concern would be that whatever material they make the white boxes out of stays a nice clean white over time, but I'm sure whoever is putting it together is smart enough to figure that one out.

hate to nag, but the ratio of income to mortgage servicing for portland metro people has been within just a few percentage points since the 80's.

portland in general is no more or less expensive roughly for the last 20 years or so, despite what everyone is saying...

and heck its CHEAPER then the early 80's when interest rates were super high.

Attack of the pod-people condos! I like them. However, knowing how cranky that particular neighborhood association is, and how wussy our Design Comission can be, I have a feeling the design shown here will get redrafted through design review to the point that it becomes another "non-offensive" bland square structure. Call me either a cynic or...experienced.

Jack Bog must be close to a stroke over this one.

The wealthy (think California retirees or NY trustafarians) come to Portland BECAUSE of the weirdness, the vitality and the creativity.

It is their patronage (either through supporting events like First Thursday, or eating in creative class restaurants, or shopping in creative class stores) that helps keep Portland weird. It is a symbiotic relationship.

The mere existence of the wealthy among us does not make Portland any less "weird" - rather, I would say it makes it possible for Portland to be MORE weird.

The patronage of the wealthy enables creativity on a scale of which the rest of us can actually enjoy.

What I was curious about is where all the condo tenants are supposed to park. I know that not everyone who lives close-in drives a car, but with so many bars/restaurants/shops in the 28th & Burnside area, it's going to get pretty congested with competing motorists on the weekends.

"However, knowing how cranky that particular neighborhood association is, and how wussy our Design Comission can be, I have a feeling the design shown here will get redrafted through design review to the point that it becomes another "non-offensive" bland square structure."

Buckman is super active in development issues, especially lately—there's been a lot of it. But this project's just across the street from Buckman, and technically falls in the Kerns neighborhood. I don't feel like I've heard a lot out of Kerns on development... what have they spoken out on?

That buiding is horribly ugly, and will not fit in with the area at all. It looks like some cocaine-addled fantasy someone dreamed up in a Colorado ski lodge. Why can't modern architects and builders come up with anything approaching good taste ? What architecture Portland has left from it's past is beautiful. Even the run-down houses from 80 years ago display some pride on the part of the craftsmen who built them. They don't make 'em like that anymore, that's for sure.

mmmm....cocaine....ski lodge....yes.

personally i like the camry.

Everything built in Portland should be built with the same old growth lumber and level of poorly compensated craftsmanship that made 1890-1930 so great.

Also, exactly the same designs. Those designs were perfect. Sure, they were and would be expensive, but who cares? A few families got to own homes, while everyone else lived in tenements. Awesome. Don't allow anyone to change a thing.

For serial, it's cool with me if you think the design "is stupid", but isn't there a better way to have this conversation? Those 'anarchists' down on Mississippi opposing that Kurisu development are as 'conservative' as anyone, in the context of their reflexive opposition to anything different.

For me, what I hate most about Jack Bog is his arrogant and ridiculous supposition that he ought to be able to impose his will upon Portland's physical form, just because he's a law professor and thinks he's pretty smart or something.

I'm going to be in a Colorado ski lodge in 2 weeks. I'll try said formula and see what I can come up with.

i would point out that depending on how far those white boxes hang out over the sidewalk, they may not even be legal. let's not forget that one way or another, design review of the city of portland is going to have a field day with this, and the building you see now will definitely look different by the time it is built.

I like it. It's kind of like the "futuristic" designs in those old Gerry Anderson Supermarionation productions of the 60's.

Kind of like what the past thought the future would look like.

I'm sure they will be nice but I'm still going to miss the Hungry Tiger. Then in the next couple years I'm going to miss Holman's and SMUT. I've already heard rumors of developers walking around the neighborhood with dollar signs in their eyes. I'll be checking my mailbox for an eviction notice.

I've been waiting for that eviction notice to come, too, and I live in what used to be a terribly run down slum near 15th and Dekum. I remember the constant gang warfare, the 11 year olds with knives, the idiotic shouting all day long, the constant burglary, the cheap rent...oh, the sweet, cheap rent. I did save a lot of money over the years up here, as I don't make nearly as much money as I'd like too.

These days, I know with certainty that I simply never will be able to afford a 325k + house anywhere near Portland proper. My landlord bought the shack I rent for a grand a month for well under 30k back in the 80s when sane whites who valued their safety never set foot north of Prescott.

But hey ! Alberta Arts District ! Thai restaurants ! Expensive health food markets ! Che Wha--oops.

Hey, is the artificial Urban Growth Boundary great for the real-estate business, or WHAT ?

Gnarly Biker, it sounds like you're almost NOSTALGIC for the days of "the constant gang warfare, the 11 year olds with knives, the idiotic shouting all day long, the constant burglary"...all for the sake of cheap rent.

If its a choice between cheap rent and living next to sociopaths versus expensive housing and sociopaths (along with a few nice well meaning poor people) priced out of the market, I'll take the latter.

Of course it would be nice if fewer people acted like sociopaths, but hey, it's life!