91视频

In the past few years, a growing influx of new tech workers and residents has helped transform the city of Portland.

This population growth and demographic change has, in part, allowed the Goodman family and its Downtown Development Group to begin to put into action a series of development moves, including its ambitious . It calls for 11 new buildings, including five high-rises, on downtown properties near the Willamette River between Washington and Burnside streets. One of the first projects is 230 Ash 鈥� a modest, six-story mixed-use building, but much more is planned by Downtown Development Group 鈥� one of the oldest development firms in Portland.

For instance, preliminary plans have been formed for Downtown Development Group to work with a local, unidentified engineering firm on a net-zero building at the intersection of Southwest First Avenue and Pine Street.

鈥淚t will be like the Bullitt Center in Seattle,鈥� Downtown Development Group co-President Gregory Goodman said, referring to the commercial building that opened in 2013 and was certified as a 鈥渓iving building鈥� by the International Living Future Institute. The six-story, 52,000-square-foot structure uses solar panels and other green features to produce more electricity than it uses over the course of a calendar year.

Meanwhile, talks with an outside developer, Gregory Goodman said, have been ongoing about a possible project at the west end of the Morrison Bridge on Block 40, as well as another on a half-block site that currently serves as a parking lot just south of the Pine Street Market.

鈥淲e’ve had interest from people, but we don’t know what we’re going to do with that half block yet,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e were thinking a heavy-timber office building or maybe more housing, or a hotel? We’re trying to sort through all of that now. We’ve definitely had a lot of interest in other sites.鈥�

Also, on Wednesday, the city received a proposal for a 33-story tower and podium building to be constructed on the full block owned by the Goodmans that is bounded by Southwest Ninth and 10th avenues and Washington and Alder streets. The project would include 750,000 square feet of office, hotel and residential space above ground and four and a half floors of underground parking.

The block is home to the largest collection of food carts in the Portland area.

One project that has moved along is Eleven West, which received approval from the Portland Design Commission in December 2017. ZGF Architects has designed the project for developer Gerding Edlen. The site is Southwest Washington Street, between 11th and 12th avenues. Plans call for a 24-story building featuring 7,900 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Floors two through seven will hold 110,000 square feet of office space, while floors eight through 24 will hold 222 luxury apartments averaging 980 square feet each.

In addition, there will be four floors of below-grade parking accommodating up to 260 vehicles. A 7,900-square-foot rooftop amenity space will round out the project.

At 290 feet tall, Eleven West is intended to be 鈥渁n iconic structure for our city in the west end,鈥� Downtown Development Group co-President Mark Goodman said.

It’s also intended to mirror the Twelve West building finished in 2009 less than a block away. That building, rated Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design platinum, also developed by Gerding Edlen with Downtown Development Group as the largest investor.

鈥�(Eleven West) has the benefit of two things,鈥� Downtown Development Group Vice President Matthew Goodman said. 鈥淚t has a proxy across the street that has performed very well. And, second, like any development, you learn from the things that went well, and we have the benefit of hindsight in having the parcel across the street and in the West End more generally. I don’t know if there’s a better location to be building that product right now.鈥�

Currently, the project remains stalled because of needs for permits and full financing. In regard to the latter, Downtown Development Group is looking for a sizable financial partner, Matthew Goodman said.

鈥淲e want to be equity holders,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s an equity race, and we are trying to shop our partnership equity. With Twelve West we capitalized with a handful of families, but for this we’ll be looking for one large, potentially institutional investor. We’re kicking off the process and are hoping to have it wrapped up by the end of the summer.鈥�

Eleven West, when it is finished, will join a surging West End replete with new office and hotel space. Projects include:聽 new six-story office building at Southwest 12th Avenue and Morrison Street; an 11-story, 179-room Moxy Hotel designed by DLR Group for a quarter-block parcel along Southwest Alder Street between 10th and 11th avenues; and a 15-story, 220-room Hyatt Centric hotel being built by Mortenson Construction on the same block at the corner of Alder Street and 11th Avenue.

鈥淟ook at the West End in the last year and it’s amazing,鈥� Mark Goodman said. 鈥淚t’s really got quite a there-there energy.鈥�

Market conditions may soon change, he noted. But with interest rates still at historic lows, this may not be quite so important to investors and developers. This is, in part, what gives continuing impetus to projects like Eleven West.

鈥淵ou have to acknowledge we’re toward the end of a development cycle,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut also key is that the cost of money is still historically cheap. Where you look at it from our perspective, where you look at holding it for many cycles, it’s more important to have low cost of funds than to directly develop into the right cycle.鈥�