The latest version of the master plan for the former U.S. Postal Service site in Northwest Portland is tentatively scheduled to return before the Portland Design Commission on Feb. 13, and time is running out for the public to submit comments.

ZGF Architects is preparing the master plan for Prosper Portland. The Bureau of Development Services has issued a request for response in advance of the public hearing. Public input will be received through Jan. 27.

The 14-acre site, the largest portion of the Broadway Corridor, is bounded by Northwest Lovejoy Street to the north, Northwest Broadway to the east, Northwest Hoyt Street to the south and Northwest Ninth Avenue to the east. Plans call for approximately 4 million square feet of new mixed-use development. Drawings submitted to BDS by ZGF Architects suggest a host of mid-rise and high-rise buildings – as tall as 400 feet – could be constructed on the site.

This iteration has “no fundamental changes” to plans previously proposed for streets, buildings or density, ZGF Architects spokeswoman Bailey Thompson said.

Applicants still hope Portland’s Green Loop, envisioned as a linear park connecting areas on both sides of the Willamette River, will be part of the master plan for the former U.S. Postal Service property.

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One day, residents and visitors alike will be able to travel on an unbroken path from Portland’s Union Station through Old Town Chinatown and the Pearl District all the way to the West Hills.

What is this magical thruway? It’s Northwest Johnson Street.

As the design and planning process advances for the massive $1 billion-plus Broadway Corridor redevelopment, Johnson Street has emerged as the “Main Street” for the whole 32-acre area.

“I think the connection of Johnson is going to be more significant than we can imagine,” said Nolan Lienhart, director of planning and urban design at ZGF Architects, the local firm that is heading up Broadway Corridor planning.

At present, the United States Postal Service‘s sorting facility blocks Northwest Johnson Street at Ninth Avenue. Planners and city officials believe demolition of that facility will unlock the broader redevelopment, including Johnson Street.

“I think we’ll all be stunned, when that facility goes away, what a hub of energy it will be,” Lienhart said at a November luncheon hosted by CREW Portland. “It’s going to be a vibrant part of our city that doesn’t exist today.”

Planners envision development of a new commercial corridor on Johnson Street, which will divide the Broadway Corridor in half. To the north will be parcels set aside for commercial space totaling approximately 1 million square feet. That could go to one large company as an urban corporate campus, or it could be divided for smaller office users. The zoning is flexible, allowing for the market to help determine what goes there in years to come.

Buildings north of Johnson Street could be built up to 400 feet high. To the south will be mixed-income housing, retail and perhaps some office space, with a maximum height of 250 feet. The corridor would provide three contiguous blocks of ground-level activation.

“We really want buildings to front onto it,” Lienhart said in an interview. He noted every other east-west street in the Broadway Corridor either crosses over Interstate 405 or runs into it. Northwest Johnson Street will offer a continuous, at-grade route into neighboring areas.

At street level, planners envision Northwest Johnson Street as an 80-foot-wide right of way with two-way vehicle traffic and a two-way cycle track where bicyclists will be separated from cars by a landscaped buffer. The street will be a designated neighborhood greenway, and connect directly with the city’s planned Green Loop.

While cars will be allowed on Johnson Street, nearby Irving and Kearney streets will be the primary east-west vehicle carriers in the area.

The Portland Housing Bureau is eyeing affordable housing projects, and there will also be space for market-rate projects that would include rent-restricted inclusionary housing units.

Broadway Corridor planning also offers an opportunity to build a fitting end for the Park Blocks. As they stand now, the Park Blocks terminate south of the Postal Service site in a surface parking lot bounded by Northwest Hoyt Street, Park Avenue, Glisan Street and Broadway. The Park Blocks currently have an “unceremonious ending,” Lienhart said. The Pacific Northwest College of Art, which neighbors the property, has been involved in discussions about a future park there.

ZGF is engaged in a $2.375 million contract with Prosper Portland for Broadway Corridor planning. Continuum Partners, the Denver-based company serving as development adviser, has helped shape plans behind the scenes. Continuum is negotiating a development agreement with Prosper Portland. The developer did not respond to a request for comment.

Demolition of the Postal Service facility is considered a crucial step. Prosper Portland last week issued a request for proposals for a demolition design team. In January, the agency plans to issue an RFP for a construction manager/general contractor to handle the demolition.

The demolition is tentatively slated to begin in early 2021. It’s expected to take 12 to 18 months, so construction on Johnson Street wouldn’t begin until 2022 at the earliest.

“It’s a complex demolition,” Prosper Portland project manager Sarah Harpole said.

A retail shop for the U.S. Postal Service will be moved to an adjacent parking structure, as part of the city’s $88 million deal to buy the site from the federal government.

Prosper Portland is also working with various groups on a community benefits agreement, Harpole said. The agency hopes to encourage small, local retailers to take space in the Broadway Corridor area.

“I think of it as an affordable main street,” Harpole said.

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Prosper Portland will hold a to debate the possibility of exempting the upcoming demolition of the former U.S. Postal Service campus in the Pearl District from competitive bidding.

The agency intends to rely on a construction manager/general contractor to demolish multiple buildings on the 13.3-acre site at 715 N.W. Hoyt St.

The hearing will take place beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 at Prosper Portland’s offices at 222 N.W. Fifth Ave. in Portland. Officials will receive public comments and discuss draft findings in support of such an exemption.

If the findings are approved by Prosper Portland’s board of directors, the agency intends to proceed with two requests for proposals to abate hazardous building materials such as asbestos from the old facility and demolish multiple structures.

The primary subject buildings include the main processing and distribution center (the single largest structure on the property), the vehicle maintenance facility and the electrical transformer building.

The USPS property is the single largest one that is part of the 32-acre Broadway Corridor area that spans the Old Town Chinatown and Pearl District neighborhoods. Prosper Portland recently applied to present a master plan for the Broadway Corridor before the Portland Design Commission.

Demolition of the roughly 400,000-square-foot mail processing facility is expected to start in 2021. The entire permitting, abatement and demolition process is expected to require between three to four years to complete. Construction of the first phase of high- and medium-rise development in the Broadway Corridor is expected to begin in late 2022.

Interested parties can obtain a copy of the draft findings by emailing Prosper Portland Business Operations Manager Dan Spero at sperod@prosperportland.us. Written comments on the draft findings may be submitted to Spero, also via email, no later than 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 13.

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A Denver-based developer, Continuum Partners, is expected to become master developer of the 14-acre U.S. Postal Service property in Northwest Portland.

Continuum Partners would take the lead on advising Prosper Portland in redeveloping the site, which city officials regard as the linchpin of the 32-acre Broadway Corridor. A vote on selecting Continuum Partners is on the agenda for Prosper Portland’s board meeting on Wednesday.

Continuum Partners was widely preferred by Broadway Corridor advisory committee members, Prosper Portland spokesman Shawn Uhlman said.

Continuum will not be paid for its role as master developer. It will serve in an “advisory capacity,” with the right to negotiate exclusively for Prosper Portland’s portion of the Postal Service site, project manager Sarah Harpole said. The Portland Housing Bureau also controls part of the site; the bureau could partner with Continuum or opt for another developer for that area.

Continuum was one of three candidates that were invited to a public forum for finalists held March 21. The others were Related Companies and McWhinney.

“We had three teams who had the capacity to deliver on the project,” Harpole said. “Continuum Partners rose above with their visions and values that were aligned with the visions and values we have for Broadway Corridor.”

Continuum’s experience forging partnerships with minority-owned contractors, redeveloping Denver’s Union Station and navigating large advisory boards also helped its pitch, Harpole said.

At the public forum, Continuum touted its success rejuvenating the Belmar shopping district in Lakewood, Colorado.

“We like to think that we healed the neighborhood with this project,” Continuum Partners founder and CEO Mark Falcone said.

Falcone and Continuum Partners Development Director Frank Cannon also pointed to the 9th and Colorado project, a 26-acre former teaching hospital site in Denver. For the 9th and Colorado project, Continuum delivered 110 units of affordable housing before any commercial buildings. The developer also built a bike hub at Denver’s Union Station with capacity to store 160 bicycles.

“We think of ourselves as human ecologists,” Falcone said. “We are in the business of building and shaping the human habitat.”

Continuum has experience navigating projects’ hurdles and challenges while maintaining an open dialogue with community partners, Falcone said.

“Integrity stands behind everything we do because a community’s trust is literally our only currency,” Falcone said. “Capital is a commodity; it’s easy to acquire. A community’s trust is not.”

Unlike the other developers that vied for the Broadway Corridor project, Continuum has not added local firms and nonprofit organizations to its team. Rather than presume knowing the best partners ahead of time, Continuum will in the next few months evaluate which local partnerships would benefit the project, Harpole said.

Cannon did not promptly respond to messages seeking comment on the company’s selection.

Also on Wednesday, Prosper Portland’s board is scheduled to authorize the agency to contract with ZGF Architects to complete a development plan for the Broadway Corridor and a master plan for the Postal Service site. ZGF has served as a consultant to the steering committee.

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A strong turnout greeted three candidates seeking to serve as master developer of the Broadway Corridor, a 32-acre site in Northwest Portland with potential for more than 3.8 million square feet of development, on Wednesday.

A public forum hosted by Prosper Portland was held at the Leftbank Annex, drawing local developers, architects, planning professionals, union workers and nonprofit advocates. About 300 people showed up to hear the developers boast of their past projects and commitments to diversity.

Audience members repeatedly asked the developers questions about diversity within their own firms and projects, commitments to communities of color where they build and disability access.

The developers pointed to similar multi-block projects they’d led in the past. In describing their own values, they sometimes lapsed into business jargon.

“The number one product we have is synergy, which is energy in alignment,” said Chad McWhinney, CEO of Denver-based McWhinney.

The forum was an opportunity for the public to meet the developers vying to transform the Broadway Corridor. The area includes the 14-acre U.S. Postal Service site, Union Station and several other publicly owned properties in a broad swath bridging the Pearl District and Old Town Chinatown.

Prosper Portland in early March named three companies as finalists. Besides McWhinney, Related Cos., a New York-based developer represented by its San Francisco office, and Continuum Partners, another Denver-based developer, made the cut.

The three developers have jockeyed to line up local partners. McWhinney is working with Portland hotel group Sage Hospitality, nonprofit housing provider Hake Development and former Portland Development Commission executive Bruce Wood. Local advisers include Beam Development for project entitlements and Mortenson for construction planning. The James Beard Public Market is also on board with McWhinney.

Related California has enlisted Portland commercial real estate heavyweight Melvin Mark and nonprofit housing provider Central City Concern.

Continuum Partners has not publicly announced any local partners. The group pointed to its experience remaking Denver’s Union Station, the Belmar shopping center in suburban Lakewood, Colorado, and a 26-acre university-owned site.

Related California CEO Bill Witte garnered some of the little applause of the night when he said his firm “beat out Donald Trump for the Time Warner Center project in New York.”

Frank Cannon, Continuum Partners’ development director, said Prosper Portland’s “tremendously aspirational” goals may come into conflict with each other and will require careful balancing by the master developer.

“It starts with an open and honest dialogue with the community about your goals and objectives,” he said.

Maurice Rahming, co-owner of O’Neill Construction Group, praised Prosper Portland for bringing the developers in front of the public. He wrote a letter in support of McWhinney’s bid.

“This is refreshing,” he said. “In the past, a lot of this happened in a vacuum and there wasn’t a lot of public vetting.”

Prosper Portland has also done a good job clearly laying out the expectations for diversity, Rahming said.

“As far as the teams, some of them were stronger than others, but they have a good idea of the expectations,” he said.

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Two Denver-based developers and a partnership with local ties were named Friday to a short list of candidates to be master developer of the 32-acre Broadway Corridor area in Northwest Portland.

The companies are Continuum Partners, based in Denver; McWhinney, also a Denver firm; and a third team of Related Cos., based in New York City, in partnership with two Portland entities, Melvin Mark and Central City Concern.

The developers were culled from nine responses to a request for qualifications that Prosper Portland issued in November. The agency will host a public forum on March 21 to hear presentations from the developers.

Prosper Portland sought to evaluate the firms’ experience in completing projects of similar scope, said Shawn Uhlman, spokesman for the agency.

“Everybody involved, the committee, was pleased with how thoughtful the responses were,” he said.

Developers may choose to add local partners as the process advances, Uhlman said.

“It’s still to be determined for each team,” he said.

The short list did not include Kaven + Co., a Portland firm that proposed a 970-foot-tall twin-tower skyscraper, although it’s possible the local company could emerge as a partner to one of the larger firms.

Continuum Partners pointed to its experience redeveloping Denver’s Union Station. Portland’s own Union Station is part of the Broadway Corridor study area. Continuum also led development of Belmar, a 22-block mixed-use district in Lakewood, Colorado.

McWhinney lists as part of its development team HaKe Development, a nonprofit developer led by Thomas J. Kemper, a local real estate investor and developer, and William F. Hart Jr., a founding partner of Carleton Hart Architecture.

Bruce Wood, a former Portland Development Commission executive, is also part of the McWhinney team. Local consultants for McWhinney include Beam Development and Mortenson Construction.

The proposed James Beard Public Market is also tied to the McWhinney bid.

In the Related Cos. pitch, the firm’s San Francisco office, led by Related California CEO Bill Witte, and Melvin Mark’s development arm will act jointly as lead developer with shared decision-making. Central City Concern will work with Related California to build 30 percent of the housing mix as affordable housing.

“Given that the committee views the Broadway Corridor as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, I was pleased to see responses from developer teams that clearly indicate they have the qualifications and proven experience to deliver on a project of this scope and scale,” Nathan Kadish, chairman of the Broadway Corridor steering committee, stated in a news release.

Melvin Mark Cos. CEO Jim Mark declined to comment on the Broadway Corridor bid.

Agency staff members are tentatively scheduled to recommend a development team to the Board of Commissioners at a May 9 meeting. A memorandum of understanding between the developer and agency would follow, and later, a development agreement.

The master developer will work with ZGF Architects to design a thorough redevelopment of the Broadway Corridor, including the 13.5-acre U.S. Postal Service site.

The city’s , published last year, envisions 3.8 million square feet of development along with parks, open space and transportation infrastructure. The plan calls for building nearly 2.1 million square feet of residential space, including a large amount of affordable housing.

In October, the City Council agreed to increase allowable building heights in the Broadway Corridor to 450 feet north of Northwest Johnson Street and 250 feet south of it.

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Prosper Portland has issued a for a developer to take the lead on redevelopment of the 32-acre Broadway Corridor in Northwest Portland.

After a development planning phase with ZGF Architects, the chosen developer will have exclusive negotiating rights to develop the 13.5-acre U.S. Postal Service property within the Broadway Corridor.

The area is a rare opportunity to develop a swath of land in Portland’s urban center. The developable area is substantial – the city’s , published last year, envisions 3.8 million square feet of development along with parks, open space and transportation infrastructure. The plan calls for development of nearly 2.1 million square feet of residential space, including a substantial complement of affordable housing.

In October, the City Council agreed to increase allowable building heights in the Broadway Corridor to 450 feet north of Northwest Johnson Street and 250 feet south of it. Floor-area ratios were also increased.

Prosper Portland will host an informational pre-proposal meeting Dec. 6. Questions are due Jan. 5, 2018, and proposals are due Jan. 19, 2018.

Prosper Portland’s board plans to choose a developer on April 11, 2018. The agency would then enter a memorandum of understanding with that developer in May 2018. A development agreement would follow in mid-2019.

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Final approval is expected Wednesday for the city’s plan to raise allowable building heights on the sprawling U.S. Postal Service property in Northwest Portland.

The new zoning would raise allowable building heights to 400 feet on the portion of the property north of Northwest Johnson Street, and to 250 feet south of Johnson Street. Both are significant increases from the 75 feet height allowed under current zoning.

The move to raise zoning heights comes as Prosper Portland prepares to guide redevelopment of the site. The Broadway Corridor Framework Plan envisions developing 3.8 million square feet of new space on the 14-acre Postal Service site, with a mix including housing and offices.

The new zoning could accommodate 4,000 jobs and 3,100 residents on the site, according to a city staff report.

City officials see it as an opportunity for dense, urban space, with an average floor area ratio of 6.7-to-1 across the site. If development proceeds along the lines of the Framework Plan, the North Park Blocks would be extended into the site.

City officials are trying to balance development options with maintaining views of the historic Union Station clock tower. ZGF Architects also conducted a shadow study to see how new development would cast shadows across the site.

Construction to maximum densities would impact views of the clock tower, according to the staff report. It recommended limiting these impacts by taking the clock tower’s location into account when designing new buildings and the Johnson Street extension.

The City Council did not discuss a motion to pass the zoning Thursday. It proceeded to a final reading scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.

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Prosper Portland plans to solicit developers’ interest in Northwest Portland’s U.S. Postal Service property beginning in mid-November, an agency official said Thursday.

The solicitation would then stay open until mid-January, said Sarah Harpole, project manager for Prosper Portland, the city agency formerly known as the Portland Development Commission. A preferred developer would be selected to consult on a master plan for the 14-acre property in April 2018.

Prosper Portland officials and planners for ZGF Architects gave a broad update of their progress to the Portland Design Commission on Thursday. The stakes are high for planners to deliver on what’s essentially a blank slate for a large and highly desirable property in Portland’s urban core.

“This is a very unique opportunity to develop a large site within Portland that is already well-served by transit,” said Kathy Berg, a ZGF partner.

Prosper Portland is embarking on a long and involved public planning process for the Postal Service site and nearby Union Station, known collectively as the Broadway Corridor. The agency has formed a 42-member steering committee that meets monthly. The committee has convened a number of subcommittees.

Planners are discussing a number of big-picture guidelines, such as a minimum floor-to-area ratio to ensure the parcels are built to an adequate height and density.

There’s also interest in allowing larger blocks than the typical 200-foot-by-200-foot grid that predominates in Portland’s central city.

“There’s a need for larger floorplates for corporate tenants,” said Nolan Lienhart, ZGF’S director of urban planning and design. “There could be an appeal to larger sites than are currently available in Portland.”

Some of the discussion centered around how best to involve developers in the process, and whether an early consulting developer would have an unfair advantage in winning work later on.

In ZGF’s research to date of case studies in other cities, there’s little precedent for one developer serving as an early advisor and then another developer serving as the primary developer, Lienhart said.

Prosper Portland’s solicitation to developers will be more similar to a request for qualifications than a request for proposals, Harpole said. She was reluctant to delve into specifics with the Design Commission.

“We don’t yet know the contents of the solicitation,” she said.

Portland agreed in May 2016 to buy the Postal Service’s central Portland property for $88 million.

The Postal Service is due to move its operations to a location near Portland International Airport in late 2018.

Prosper Portland released the Broadway Corridor Framework Plan in October. That plan called for 3.8 million square feet of development on the Postal Service property that bridges Union Station, downtown and the Pearl District, along with parks, open space and transportation infrastructure. The plan envisioned nearly 2.1 million square feet of residential space.

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The Portland Development Commission has executed documents agreeing to purchase the 14-acre U.S. Postal Service property bridging Old Town Chinatown and the Pearl District for $88 million.

The finalization of the deal is a milestone in the PDC‘s yearslong plan to transform a keystone area of West Portland into a new neighborhood with mixed-use buildings, public space and transportation.

The documents were signed Thursday, and PDC officials confirmed the development on Friday. Ownership of the property at 715 NW Hoyt St. will transfer to the PDC on Aug. 1.

“As of now, the deal is fully executed,” said Bruce Wood, the PDC’s real estate and construction services manager.

The Postal Service intends to use money from the sale to purchase from Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. property formerly used by Colwood National Golf Club. Bids for construction of a new facility are due in early July as drawings are finalized.

After the Postal Service closes on its $34.7 million purchase of the Colwood property in August, a two-year construction process will begin. In late 2018, the Postal Service will vacate its existing facility and move into the new one.

The PDC plans to issue a solicitation for development partners in early 2017, Wood said.

The PDC anticipates 3.8 million square feet of development on the Postal Service property, along with parks, open space and transportation infrastructure. A majority – nearly 2.1 million square feet – would be residential, as envisioned by the PDC’s Broadway Corridor Framework Plan released in October.

About 582,000 square feet would be office space, and 194,079 square feet would be retail. The plan also calls for institutional, medical/research and parking uses.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity,” Wood said.

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