The Burnside Blog
Cyan Green Salon Wednesday
If you haven’t yet been to the Cyan sales gallery, here’s your chance. The building is still under construction, but Realty Trust and Gerding Edlen have teamed with the strategic gurus at Ziba Design to deliver a sleek space/sales center that features two completely built-out and furnished units: a one bedroom and a shotgun-style loft unit. Starting Wednesday a 6pm, Cyan Realty Trust is hosting the latest incarnation of its “Green Salon” event series, this time teaming up with Portland paint honchos Yolo Colorhouse. There will be food, Oregon Pinot Noir, and tunes by DJ Mr. Mumu. (AKA, the guy with the cool glasses often spotted manning Bruce Carey’s Saucebox turntables)
Jointly designed by Thomas Hacker Architects and GBD Architects, Gerding Edlen’s Cyan is not only one of Portland’s most innovative multi-family housing solutions to date, its compact units offer a glimpse into the future of the local housing market. When complete in 2009, the Cyan’s 16 stories will house 353 units geared toward entry level buyers, working urban professionals and down-sizers who want to live smack in the center of downtown.
The average units size at Cyan is around 650 square feet. That sounds dinky, but as you’ll notice in the model units, no space is wasted. Whereas many loft-style units in town feature long-entry corridors (AKA $40,000 hallways), Cyan makes good use of every inch. Appliances are small and clustered against the walls to facilitate open floor plans that maximize the flow of natural light. Compact ventless dryers are stowed away in closets, and fully operable windows span from floor to 9.5 foot ceilings.
What’s really special about Cyan is its emphasis on car-free living. The entire building contains few parking stalls. Gerding Edlen Principal Mark Edlen says the decision to reduce parking stemmed from the overwhelming demand of the 30 loft-style units in the Civic Condominiums that sold easily without parking stalls. (I purchased one of them) Cutting parking not only cuts construction costs, allowing for more affordable units, it also means less downtown traffic. In the case of the Cyan’s proximity to light rail, the streetcar, the farmers market, PSU, 24-hour fitness, Safeway, the South Park Blocks, Keller Auditorium, PSU, and Budget rent-a-car, why drive? I don’t want to sound like an advertisement for car-free living or Cyan, but I’m constantly surprised at how much money I save each month by not owning an automobile. When I want to skip town, I rent one. When I want to go to the Eastside, I use Zipcar. Most local rental companies offer 50% rental discounts on the weekend, and there seems to be a Zipcar on every PDX corner these days. In short, living without a car in Portland is a cinch.
See you there.
By Mike Thelin on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 01:43PM PDT
Very true Penny. Living sans coche on the Western shore of the Willamette is easy. When I lived in North Portland, I gained 10 pounds because I drove everywhere.
By Doog on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 03:54PM PDT
I’m watching this building rise from my window at the Harrison Tower. Mike, you didn’t mention that this will be the first building of a three or four building cluster. I think two or three apartment buildings will rise, and I hear that PSU has a few residential student towers in the works. My neighbor, who’s an urban planning consultant, tells me that the area around Cyan will be the most dense neighborhood in Portland in ten years. We hope so, but we’re also hoping for a grocery story. There’s a Safeway (terrible), and the farmers market (best in the country but only twice a week for six months), but we could really use the likes of a Whole Foods or New Seasons. Anyone listening?
By Rob on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 12:57PM PDT
Flexcar isn’t that expensive when you add up the average costs to own a car. I pay $4,000 a year for the pleasure of owning a car we drive less than 10K miles. Most of the trips are for weekend outings. When I didn’t own a car, my life shrunk, I spent more time on my garden, visiting friends and neighbors, and being more thoughtful about going out of town when renting made sense. You get a lot of rental time and miles for $4K. Even living in north Portland, the eastside, etc. is fairly easy without a car, something we should thx our city leaders, Tri-Met and others for their forward thinking and dogged pursuit of transportation alternatives. We need to understand there are creative opportunities to get around and live a god life. Carpools, vanpools, simply driving less are all options we can pursue. As fuel prices blow up and the car becomes a very expensive proposition, just remember you’re not living in Phoenix. Salt Lake and other low density western sister cities that are late to the alt transportation party. And if you want to keep driving, knock yourself out – you’ll have less congestion due to your friends and neighbors making different choices. Now about that $4.2 billion dollar bridge.
By Rachel on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 02:27PM PDT
I walk by the Chevron on Burnside every day on my mile walk to and from work, and every day I am so grateful I don’t own a car. You’re right, Rob, you make a lot more, shall I say, educated choices about when and where to go somewhere without a car.
I use Zipcar often enough, maybe once or twice a month, and it’s so convenient. But every time I have to drive downtown, I get the urge to just park the damn thing somewhere and walk to where I need to go.
That said, I have some great friends who schlep me out to the Gorge, the coast, or even Vancouver when I need to go. Forced carpooling. And I buy said friends drinks as often as possible for their trouble.
-rachel. www.portlandspaces.net/blog/the-design-district
By Rob on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 12:57PM PDT
Flexcar isn’t that expensive when you add up the average costs to own a car. I pay $4,000 a year for the pleasure of owning a car we drive less than 10K miles. Most of the trips are for weekend outings. When I didn’t own a car, my life shrunk, I spent more time on my garden, visiting friends and neighbors, and being more thoughtful about going out of town when renting made sense. You get a lot of rental time and miles for $4K. Even living in north Portland, the eastside, etc. is fairly easy without a car, something we should thx our city leaders, Tri-Met and others for their forward thinking and dogged pursuit of transportation alternatives. We need to understand there are creative opportunities to get around and live a god life. Carpools, vanpools, simply driving less are all options we can pursue. As fuel prices blow up and the car becomes a very expensive proposition, just remember you’re not living in Phoenix. Salt Lake and other low density western sister cities that are late to the alt transportation party. And if you want to keep driving, knock yourself out – you’ll have less congestion due to your friends and neighbors making different choices. Now about that $4.2 billion dollar bridge.
By Mike Thelin on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 01:05PM PDT
Enterprise offers 50% weekend rates, and many credit cards cover most rental car insurance fees. That means it’s possible to rent a car for an entire weekend for less than $50. The one problem with Flexcar I’ve found is that its day rates are quite expensive. It’s good for short trips, but after two hours, it really adds up.
By Scooter on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 03:00PM PDT
That Chevron is a travesty! I live on Kings Hills and I can see it from my window. There should be a law in Portland that all inner-city gas stations be buried underground. It’s a waste of space, and we shouldn’t have to look at them. Fugly!
By paul on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:25PM PDT
Zipcar is cheap! I use it on occasion and love it when I need it. It’s true about living outside of the center core of Portland, it’s harder to live there without a car. Portland as a city (not urban area) is very low-density – near the bottom of the list of larger west coast cities and half the density of Los Angeles. I prefer to live in the center but not everyone can, will or wants to so it’s going to be interesting how our cities and outlying areas evolve along with transportation. Cyan looks great by the way.
By Penny on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 01:07PM PDT
Please—living in Portland without a car is a cinch if you live in the middle of downtown, perhaps. I find Flexcar expensive, and I hate biking in the rain. So, really, if you only live, work, and play downtown, you can get away with not having a car. For the rest of us, especially for those of us with homes, I feel stuck without a car. I’ll have to figure out something soon, though, especially as gas is no longer affordable.