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Custom House Going, Going, Gone for $2.5 Million
The long-vacant Custom House downtown finally has a new owner! One of Oregon's largest real estate companies, PREM Group, snagged the historic building on the North Park Blocks for $2.5 million after...
View ArticleFree Parking is Socialist
Seattle's liberal new mayor is talking big about bumping up the price of parking in the central city and the response is outrage on the right. In response, Eric Hess de Place over at NW enviro think...
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Blazers Get Rose Quarter Development Rights for Another Six Months
Mark SearcyThis morning city council approved a six-month extension of the Trail Blazers' exclusive development rights in the Rose Quarter, but not without some pushback from ol' Randy Leonard. Trail...
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More on the Portland Development Commission and the Portland Design Collective
In this week's Sold Out column, I delve a bit into the relationship the Portland Design Collective has with the city, specifically the Portland Development Commission and the downtown retail strategy,...
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Burnside's Galaxy Karaoke Lounge To Be Demolished
Local history and architecture blog Portland Preservation pointed out today that one of Portland's funniest looking buildings is scheduled for the wrecking ball. The Galaxy lounge and restaurant on...
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Should Immigration Detention Center Be Built Next to a School in South...
South Waterfront is cold on ICE's planned new facility.South Waterfront clearly needs development. After the city and urban renewal dollars have sunk $93 million into developing the area, what we have...
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Six-Story Senior Development Slated for SE Ankeny
The Foursquare Gospel Church has big plans for its humble parking lot on the corner of SE 12th and Ankeny: They've applied for a permit to turn the lot into a a six-story, 132 unit senior housing...
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Yes, the New McMenamins Has a Modest Mouse-Themed Bedroom
McMenamins invited me this past weekend to explore the interior of their new Crystal Hotel, the swank project built on the site of what used to be an infamous gay bathhouse. The hotel is slated to...
View ArticleTop 10 Most Expensive City and PDC Projects
I posted last week about a just-released study that shows the Portland Development Commission (PDC) did not use as many women and minority contractors as it should have. The studies of city and PDC...
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Heading to NE Couch: Big New Apartments
Until last year, NE Couch was a quiet back street. But after the city turned Burnside and Couch into a couplet, suddenly Couch is an major thoroughfare. It's only a matter of time before big...
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Hollywood Theater's New Neighbor: Five Story Apartment Building
It looks like the Hollywood Theater will be getting a new neighbor soon—one that has historical preservationists worried. Myhre Architects are planning a to turn that vacant lot on the west side of...
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Old Artistery Lot Will Become 29 "Car-Free Micro-Homes"
Six months ago, SE 43rd and Division was home to the Artistery, a DIY all-ages space that hosted shows, radical lectures, and punk potlucks in its falling-apart house and venue. Then, in January, the...
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Is the Portland Building a Historic 29-Year-Old?
CamKnowsThe state is considering nominating Portland's arguably most controversial building for the National Register of Historic Places, according to an article in the Portland Tribune. It looks like...
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PNCA Scores $740,000 in Public Money for Big Expansion Downtown
The Pacific Northwest College of Art has big plans for an old building downtown. The 511 Building on NW Broadway was a federal building (everything from a post office to the home for the Department of...
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List of Portland-Area Sites Where Walmart is "Actively Negotiating" for New...
UPDATE: Did you know Walmart has launched a Portland specific website with slick ads from local business Franz Bakery talking about how much Walmart supports local business? I did not, until reader...
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Mixed Use Building Slated for Construction on NE Alberta's Best Known Vacant Lot
I'm surprised by how many vacant lots there are on NE Alberta. For a street that's at the center of demographic change in Portland, that's gone in just over a decade from being a drug hotspot to...
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No Uwajimaya for Downtown Portland
This isn't happening: Instead, we're stuck with this: The DJC reports that the deal for a downtown Uwajimaya has fallen through, after years of work between the Portland Development Commission and...
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BREAKING: Stargate Lego Thing Sweeps Oregon State Fair's Lego Contest!
Last week, Alison Hallett blogged about going to the state fair; in said blog entry, she tasked me with reviewing the fair's various nerd-centric Lego displays. Yes: The Oregon State Fair has a Lego...
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Coming to 20th and Morrison: 71 Apartments!
Been by the corner of SE 20th and Morrison recently? What was once the Cemetery Gates cafe is now an empty lot covered in construction equipment. The new development across the street from Lone Fir...
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Coming to North Williams: A New 84-unit Apartment Complex
Yesterday I posted about the rapid change on North Williams and the decades-long process that has replaced black-owned businesses with fancy new stores, restaurants, and apartments. One current...
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