Monday, November 24, 2014

The only constant is change, right?

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I'm standing in an area labeled the Burnside Bridgehead, at the east end of the bridge. See the backside of that giant A? It stands for Andersen Construction which recently started construction of a building on what is known as Block 67, very close to the north side of the bridge itself, in between NE 3rd and NE 2nd which run parallel with the Willamette River. Notice the Portland Oregon sign across the river, just visible between the A and the black pole? The Big Pink across the river, coming out of the top of the A? Well, before this new building is completed, maybe by the estimated date of May, 2016, I'm certain that neither one will be visible from where I stood on November 15, 2014, to take this photo--a great deal of this view of downtown Portland will disappear, available only to those who decide to rent an apartment in the building--I haven't discovered its name yet, but plans call for it to be a 21-story apartment tower on a 0.76 acre site; Skylab Architecture designed the building which is far from your typical tower in its shape. It's supposed to have 284 apartments on the top 16 floors. On the remaining floors, retail and commercial space, plus 202 parking spaces. Planned building amenities include a community plaza with a barbecue area, bike parking with repair station, technology lounge, pet exercise area, fitness center and spa. I read one place online that the intention is to offer 20% of the apartments to residents making 60% or lower of median family income, in an effort to respond to the growing need for workforce housing. Is that really going to happen? Oh, and just on the other side of that fencing, in between NE 3rd and NE Couch (the street in between me and the fence) there will be another building built which will be either two or three stories, commercial use only. I read it described as a spit of land, labeled Block 76W these days.

3 comments:

Birdman said...

That's sad. The view's the thing.

William Kendall said...

The view is lovely... but it'll no doubt be gone.

I remain dubious these days of any claim that a developer makes about their projects.

Randy said...

I hate when they build buildings that block a nice view.