What kind of infill is your city seeing these days? - Page 6

pdxtex · #**101** Posted **Jan 12, 2015, 9:02 PM**

after house hunting for the last month, i can tell you unequivocally that portland is NOT building new townhouses or low rise owner occ. multifamily. check out the mls and set the filter to 250-350k and its a whole lot of nuthin! in a metro approaching 2.5 million there are 77 units within this price range for sale. 77!! thats abysmal for a so called hot real estate market. single family home prices have recovered but the new condo and townhouse market sucks balls. apartments construction is chugging along all over the place however. this speaks volumes to me that the portland economy while getting back to speed is not producing high paying jobs and is becoming more of a dumping ground for those who gots priced out of seattle of SF. its actually kind of irritating because the market is there and open houses for dumpy houses are nuts right now. if you move to portland and plan on buying, plan on 300k minimum and at least 15-20k over asking price. makes me think being a renter isnt so bad.

UrbanRevival · #**102** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 3:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

that's the amusing thing about Philly, the infill is no-frills and often quite ungainly, but there is plenty of it (done often small-time developers). Also there are tons and tons of rowhouse and warehouse renovations going on at all times.

The steady march of infill in Philadelphia's neighborhoods is very interesting, but I think examples of "ungainly" infill is definitely found in every city, unfortunately. It's also a difficult balance when you're building something brand new in a dense neighborhood with a distinct, historic urban form -- but I personally appreciate the historic/modern contrast when it's done well.

I would also challenge you on the "no-frills" characterization, as I assure you that many new rowhomes in Philly are definitely geared to the high-end of the market, at $400K+, even in up-and-coming neighborhoods. They tend to be pretty "frilly" at that price point.

dc_denizen · #**103** Posted **Feb 1, 2015, 4:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanRevival

The steady march of infill in Philadelphia's neighborhoods is very interesting, but I think examples of "ungainly" infill is definitely found in every city, unfortunately. It's also a difficult balance when you're building something brand new in a dense neighborhood with a distinct, historic urban form -- but I personally appreciate the historic/modern contrast when it's done well.

I would also challenge you on the "no-frills" characterization, as I assure you that many new rowhomes in Philly are definitely geared to the high-end of the market, at $400K+, even in up-and-coming neighborhoods. They tend to be pretty "frilly" at that price point.

Well what about this?

In the past:

Currently:

I'm not sure you see infill like this in too many cities...it's unique, it's what it is.

What's going on with the tiny windows?

This is just...wrong.

link

This is pretty OK, but the name.."Awesometown"???? Sense of humor I suppose.

"Everything is better in Awesometown"

mhays · #**104** Posted **Feb 1, 2015, 5:19 PM**

Wow, pretty ugly in all cases.

UrbanRevival · #**105** Posted **Feb 1, 2015, 8:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Well what about this?

This is pretty OK, but the name.."Awesometown"???? Sense of humor I suppose.
"Everything is better in Awesometown"

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhays

Wow, pretty ugly in all cases.

Again, I don't disagree that there are awkward/badly-designed examples, and I think some of these projects are honestly based in experimentation with what looks best in a city with a dense, distinct, and historic urban form. Not to mention, some of the developments you've shown are on the "lower end" of the design scale; there are plenty on the upper-end in Philadelphia (and increasingly more as the city continues its revitalization and attraction of more affluent residents). A cursory search on any real estate website filtering for new housing over the past couple of years would reveal many more sophisticated designs.

Also, to a large extent, I think the modern architectural aesthetic that is becoming so prevalent in cities is often awkwardly-proportioned and without consideration of context. Here is a general Google image search on "urban infill architecture;" there are many good examples, but also many questionable ones:

https://www.google.com/search?q=seat...cture&imgdii=_

Nevertheless, as with all architecture, interpretation does come down to personal taste/sensibilities.

Leo the Dog · #**106** Posted **Feb 2, 2015, 3:22 PM**

Here's some in-fill in Crown Point/Pacific Beach, San Diego. These rentals replaced a gas station, that had been demo'd for years and was a dirt lot full of trash and weeds. Garage parking under the building. PB is a densely settled area of San Diego ~15,000-18,000 people per sq mile. This is about 8 miles outside of DTSD.

Source: http://media.utsandiego.com/img/phot...053cbc530c46a8

Edit: old picture went down on site.

Eightball · #**107** Posted **Feb 2, 2015, 4:48 PM**

Cool infill Leo

BrandonJXN · #**108** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 12:15 AM**

Chicago

http://chicago.curbed.com/uploads/14...1_Birdseye.jpg

http://chicago.curbed.com/uploads/Sc...41.54%20PM.png

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...panoptic-1.png

http://blog.chicagoarchitecture.info...1-1024x621.jpg

http://chicago.curbed.com/uploads/CGE7iRH.jpg

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...veinfill-1.png

pdxtex · #**109** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 12:40 AM**

*clenches fists! waves them in the air*.....id give my left nut if portland would start building stuff like this en masse. we had our condo boom about a decade ago and its been stagnant ever since....tell all your developer buddies to come to the west coast! we have a 9 mile cooridor along the east side max waiting to be developed like this. its all shitty strip malls and ghetto 1970s apartments at the moment.

dc_denizen · #**110** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 1:43 AM**

Yeah true that, the east side of Portland (as in east of mt tabor) could use some investment

Eightball · #**111** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 3:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdxtex

after house hunting for the last month, i can tell you unequivocally that portland is NOT building new townhouses or low rise owner occ. multifamily. check out the mls and set the filter to 250-350k and its a whole lot of nuthin! in a metro approaching 2.5 million there are 77 units within this price range for sale. 77!! thats abysmal for a so called hot real estate market. single family home prices have recovered but the new condo and townhouse market sucks balls. apartments construction is chugging along all over the place however. this speaks volumes to me that the portland economy while getting back to speed is not producing high paying jobs and is becoming more of a dumping ground for those who gots priced out of seattle of SF. its actually kind of irritating because the market is there and open houses for dumpy houses are nuts right now. if you move to portland and plan on buying, plan on 300k minimum and at least 15-20k over asking price. makes me think being a renter isnt so bad.

Interesting read, thanks for sharing. To be fair, a person in la/sf/dc/boston/nyc etc would love a 320k ownership opportunity. But incomes are lower in Portland, right? Or no?

ardecila · #**112** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 4:37 AM**

The below is not a real rendering of an infill project. These are images stolen/borrowed from other projects as an illustration of what dramatic modern architecture could look like.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...panoptic-1.png

Panoptic Group does do some bold stuff, but it's not on the level of those award-winning buildings. The actual proposal for that site (Grand and Western) is this:

src

pdxtex · #**113** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 4:38 AM**

^^^yes, portland wages are lower than those other cities, this is true. in some ways this city is still a work in progress. its got first tier ambitions but second tier politics and in many ways oregon is a third tier state! guess which state has the lowest high school graduation rate in the entire united states? mississippi? nope. arkansas. no way? oregon? no way? way!! so really its an economy in transition. while its leading the way in creative and diy pursuits, those people still need to live someplace, hence the huge apartment boom at the moment. but if the city wants to retain its professionals, the owner market needs to provide some kind of other housing option besides glass box condos downtown or old ass, musty granny bungalows of the inner neighborhoods . high density owner occupied infill along transit cooridors doesn't really exist. there is some TOD development on the east side but its mostly low income rentals. it frustrating if you want a townhouse in an inner neighborhood because they dont really exist. what you are seeing tons of though are skinny houses. often times, the developer get a demolition permit, mows down a small house on a big lot, and then builds two or three skinny houses. thats about as high density as it get in the inner neighborhoods righ now. nimbys fucking hate those too. shrug. can win em all.....

Muji · #**114** Posted **Feb 5, 2015, 9:11 AM**

I just stumbled upon these pictures of an infill project in South Philadelphia by ISA Architects. If you ask me, this is one of the best contemporary riffs on the traditional row house. ISA is the same firm behind the aforementioned Awesometown development.

Images by ISA Architects: http://www.is-architects.com/renewbold

Jasonhouse · #**115** Posted **Feb 5, 2015, 9:48 AM**

^Nice post. You kept the pics limited, on point and tasteful.

Especially digging the first one with Center City at the vanishing point of the streetwalls.

And your blog is the shiznit!

BrandonJXN · #**116** Posted **Feb 5, 2015, 7:08 PM**

Few more examples from Chicago. I'm really loving this thread.

http://i61.tinypic.com/91gun6.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img746/543/gHKZMS.jpg

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...-updatepng.jpg

http://www.mredllc.com/photos/property/574/06115574.jpg

http://chicago.curbed.com/uploads/13...ranklin_01.jpg

http://blog.chicagoarchitecture.info...1-1024x647.jpg

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...47.29%20AM.png

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...47.22%20AM.png

IMBY · #**117** Posted **Feb 6, 2015, 9:17 AM**

So much enjoyed going thru this entire thread, left Minneapolis back in 1993, and was excited to see the Vue project on Oak Grove St., as I lived on Oak Grove Street during the early 70's.

Can't think of any infill projects for Las Vegas, as this city is embarking on 3 major outfill projects, on the edges of the city, which will bring thousands of new, as I call them, paper mache type houses with stucco, all painted the same colors! 60,000 homes reported sitting in foreclosure here, or vacant, but they keep on building outward! Go figure! And they just built a new downtown for Summerlin! So now we have 2 downtowns!

Leo the Dog · #**118** Posted **Feb 6, 2015, 6:34 PM**

Ocean Beach, San Diego. The old, being replaced with the new. OB is very anti-development. They like to stay in the past. Any new develoment is controversial.

Source: http://obrag.org/wp-content/uploads/...14-good-sm.jpg

Jasonhouse · #**119** Posted **Feb 6, 2015, 6:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by IMBY

So much enjoyed going thru this entire thread, left Minneapolis back in 1993, and was excited to see the Vue project on Oak Grove St., as I lived on Oak Grove Street during the early 70's.

Can't think of any infill projects for Las Vegas, as this city is embarking on 3 major outfill projects, on the edges of the city, which will bring thousands of new, as I call them, paper mache type houses with stucco, all painted the same colors! 60,000 homes reported sitting in foreclosure here, or vacant, but they keep on building outward! Go figure! And they just built a new downtown for Summerlin! So now we have 2 downtowns!

They're not building to create a great place to live. They're building to make money.