This Week in the Mercury
Friday, April 2, 2010
Neighborhoods A High-Rise Vision for the Pearl
Posted by Stefan Kamph on Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 3:40 PM
Yesterday the Daily Journal of Commerce featured a proposal from PSU graduate architecture students to build some high-rise structures as a "Pearl District Gateway."
- PSU
The complex would go in between Burnside and Davis, and 13th and 14th Avenues. The designers are suggesting some national chains, like Best Buy and Apple, as anchor tenants. Quoth Jonathan Malsin of Beam Development:
"Having national chains close-in would be great because we know people will go to them. At Burnside Bridgehead there was a lot of resistance to big box stores. But the Pearl is a retail-specific area that already has several national chains. People value authenticity here, so you do risk backlash."
The students pitched their idea to developer Harsch Investment Properties yesterday morning. So long, South Waterfront! Hello, Pearl!
2
Here is a repost of my comment from earlier today on the PortlandArchitecture blog:
It's quite a coincidence (for me) that you posted this today. I was just in the building at 13th & Burnside today, visiting a photography studio space on the 4th floor. (I was scouting a location for a client.)
I suppose change is inevitable, but I would like to point out that the current building is home to just about as close as you can get to the prototypical artist/studio lofts, with lots of raw open space and a gritty environment. And affordable. The sort of thing that attracted artists and galleries and creative types to the Pearl before it was even called the Pearl.
The new "gateway" developments from this informal proposal, or some other developer's proposal, may indeed prove worthwhile and viable, but the Pearl becomes just a bit less "oyster" and a little bit more "precious" with each shiny new tower.
Again, not knocking new development proposals. But I like the fact that the Pearl still includes a lot of adaptive reuse, and such a strategy may be a better "gateway" than complete redevelopment. There's plenty of room in South Waterfront, after all, for glass spires.
It's quite a coincidence (for me) that you posted this today. I was just in the building at 13th & Burnside today, visiting a photography studio space on the 4th floor. (I was scouting a location for a client.)
I suppose change is inevitable, but I would like to point out that the current building is home to just about as close as you can get to the prototypical artist/studio lofts, with lots of raw open space and a gritty environment. And affordable. The sort of thing that attracted artists and galleries and creative types to the Pearl before it was even called the Pearl.
The new "gateway" developments from this informal proposal, or some other developer's proposal, may indeed prove worthwhile and viable, but the Pearl becomes just a bit less "oyster" and a little bit more "precious" with each shiny new tower.
Again, not knocking new development proposals. But I like the fact that the Pearl still includes a lot of adaptive reuse, and such a strategy may be a better "gateway" than complete redevelopment. There's plenty of room in South Waterfront, after all, for glass spires.
4
what kind of evil mr. burns brainwashing does academia put architecture students through these days?
6
The stuff there now is ugly, and I for one still haven't gotten over totally finding towering, aflutter-with-activity pretty buildings absolutely sublime.
7
When Malsin says that people value authenticity here, I wonder, is he speaking specifically of those in the Pearl district? Because near as I can tell, those are the same people whose influx drove retail/service development, jacked up prices and forced out many of the artists and galleries in the first place.
8
In defense of the students, their assignment was to design *something.* I did a lot of business proposals in college that I would never have actually launched - it was just an assignment to get through. Would have been mortified to see my thesis up here, as if I was really championing it as a good idea. I just wanted the grade!
9
this fits in with social media research that shows young people (of the age of these students) are very comfortable with accepting "brands" as a normal part of life. so while Pdx "purists" (like me) would gag at building for national chains (and i love Apple), i get why it seems "natural" to them.
but they are wrong. Bob is right. imo.
but they are wrong. Bob is right. imo.
10
I'd be fairly pissed if they tossed out Everyday Music and brought in Best Buy. That doesn't seem like a very Portland thing to do.
11
Is Best Buy still even a viable business? I thought they were going the way of Blockbuster and Circuit City.
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