The Burnside Blog

Posted By Tim DuRoche on 12/07/2008

ON THE STREET
The City Council has stepped up and approved the final design for the Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge over I-5—a missing link of social geography connecting Lair Hill and the nascent South Waterfront neighborhood. The bridge will be an extradosed style design (somewhere between a girder and cable-stayed bridge)—for you crossword fans, “extrados” refers to the exterior curve of an arch.

This is a big move forward in terms of building healthy urban circulatory systems that amplify much-talked-about ideas like “walkable neighborhoods.”

As reported in the DJC:
“Architects at IDC Architects and engineers at CH2M HILL are a third of the way through the design process of the bridge that has shorter towers than a cable-stay bridge and a thinner profile than a box girder bridge. The result, say supporters, is a more aesthetically pleasing design with less change in elevation through its 300-foot length — a big concern for a bridge that begins about 100 vertical feet from where it ends

. . .The total budget for the bridge is $11.3 million, $9.7 million of which was obtained through federal grants, [Project Manager of the Portland Office of Transportation Jody] Yates said.

The discussion of the bridge started decades ago when the Interstate-5 freeway cut off direct pedestrian access from Lair Hill to the Willamette River and vice-versa.

“Definitely the observation of a missing link between the neighborhood and the river has been there a while,” Yates said.”

Other build-it-and-they-will-come elements to consider in activating street-life, community and commerce at SoWA: a branch of the Multnomah County Library (akin to the Hillsdale LEED-certified neighborhood branch), much-needed commercial development like a grocery store—a smaller footprint store like Trader Joe’s or Zupan’s, maybe—that could serve not only existing residents but those fabled affordable housing units that were promised for Block 33; and amenities like public restrooms to serve the Greenway and the Future Park.

IN THE AIR
You’ve likely heard that Mayor-elect Sam Adams has offered Vestas Wind Systems, the Danish wind-power company, cash incentives to the tune of $12.5 million to not only bring 800+ (largely white-collar) jobs to Portland, but to also develop a $250 million No. American HQ here—likely at the South Waterfront. Currently they employ about 350 Portlanders, among multiple office sites. The idea with this package is that a bigger chunk of real estate for their headquarters will attract a bigger chunk of top-tier jobs, ensuring Vestas’ long-term investment in the region.

Noting that it’s by far from a done deal, Sam said: “By making their plans public, Vestas underscores that they are serious about their Portland headquarters expansion plans. I will work aggressively with the state legislature to turn Vestas’ announcement of intention into reality.”

Next question. If Adams and the wind-turbine wizards desire new Platinum LEED-certified real estate development on the order of (at minimum) 400,000 sq.ft. down SoWa way, who will build this “white-collar building” and where’s it going to go?

I’m not a betting man, but dollars to Danishes, I’d wager that the Natural Step-inspired folks at Gerding Edlen would be in perfect philosophical and financial alignment to pull this off (probably in cahoots with their capable pals at GBD. . .although I’d love to see another Hacker SoWa project).

So where-o-where could a Vestas HQ be? It’s not likely that OHSU will be willing to part with any of the south-of-Marquam Bridge/north-of-SoWa parcel—even though they may be years off from realizing their bio-hub vision.

The development rumor-mill is abuzz with speculation that Vestas is eyeing Block 33, a 91,000 sq. ft “superblock” that OHSU acquired a leasehold interest in —slated for a 1,400+ stall parking structure that will serve as a foundation structure, from which airspace will be conveyed to PDC for the development of the neighborhood’s first affordable housing units. (Incidentally talk was also once made of OHSU siting a 300,000 square foot mixed- use life sciences facility on Block 33 .)

At a SoWa election forum last spring, KATU News reported that then-candidate Sam Adams was queried whether Portland had enough money to live up to its $1.9 billion South Waterfront promises—Adams reply at the time: “The short answer is no.”

Will Vestas’ $250 million dollar be the injection that shores up the gaps in the $1.9 billion neighborhood development? Save Ankrom Moisan’s mixed-use + affordable housing Tamarack, where does this leave affordable housing at the waterfront development?

Jobs, housing, economic stimulation, fulfilling public promises. . . what’s a body to do? Weighing the greater good’s a bitch, isn’t it?