Old Town/Chinatown News

[urbanlife]

Good to see these properties changing hands, it should be a sign of new activity beginning to happen in Old Town.

[maccoinnich]

Timeshare hotel planned for historic waterfront

Wyndham Worldwide proposes to build a vacation rental property at 221 SW Naito Blvd

PORTLAND, Ore. (The Tribune) – What’s your mental image of Portland’s waterfront at SW Naito Parkway?

Tourists wandering around with large pink boxes and squinting at parking meters? Or men in bowler hats and heavy wool suits chugging ale because the Benson Bubbler hasn’t been invented yet?

Vestiges of the bustling 19th Century waterfront remain — in real life and in the imaginations of Portland planners and property owners. Wyndham Worldwide, which owns Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, proposes to build a vacation rental property at 221 SW Naito Blvd, between Pine and Oak Streets.

The six story, 66,000 square foot building will bring the timeshare lifestyle to a part of Old Town currently occupied by a surface parking lot. The 67 units would have balconies and range from studios to two bedrooms.

The two sides squared off, politely, at a recent pre-application conference at the Bureau of Development Services.

Oregon only has two national landmark historic districts: one is the cowboy town of Jacksonville in Southern Oregon. The other is the Skidmore-Old Town Historic District, and ecause the Wyndham is in the latter, it is subjected to strict Type III design review. Anything new has to fit in.

...continues at KOIN.

In this case I agree with BDS: the courtyard facing Naito shown at the pre-application conference [PDF] is inappropriate for the Skidmore / Old Town Historic District. Naito should have a continuous street wall.

[urbanlife]

Great to hear that lot will be getting developed, but the need for this building to "fit in" leads a new question, fit into what? Did Portland forget that it tore down most of it's historic Skidmore District and almost nothing is left from the old Front St for this building to "fit in" with?

[PDXDENSITY]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Great to hear that lot will be getting developed, but the need for this building to "fit in" leads a new question, fit into what? Did Portland forget that it tore down most of it's historic Skidmore District and almost nothing is left from the old Front St for this building to "fit in" with?

I wish we were seeing much taller buildings go in here to compliment big pink.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by PDXDENSITY

I wish we were seeing much taller buildings go in here to compliment big pink.

I am actually fine with this being the size that it is because the next block west the height limit jumps up to 130ft, and then after that it jumps up to 460ft surrounding Big Pink. Overall, I for the most part approve of Portland's height limits downtown.

[maccoinnich]

Drawings for the Whidden & Lewis building [PDF, 8.4MB].

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Drawings for the Whidden & Lewis building [PDF, 8.4MB].

Good infill for that area.

[maccoinnich]

Whidden & Lewis DAR images:

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Whidden & Lewis DAR images:

Awe, bummer. It looks like they've dumbed it down a bit. I preferred this earlier version, which was a bolder combination of new and old:

[maccoinnich]

Design Advice drawings [PDF, 4MB] for the Worldmark by Wyndham project.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Design Advice drawings [PDF, 4MB] for the Worldmark by Wyndham project.

Not sure how this building will fit in with that old town look that is mostly gone in that area, but it will definitely be generic and not noticeable beyond filling a parking lot....so I guess that is good.

At least it is a timeshare building....and looks like one too...because that is a good sign for the city as being a destination place.

[maccoinnich]

Metro report time:

Pre-Application Conference to discuss Type III Historic Resource Review for the renovation of an existing 3 story building–the Grove Hotel and the construction of a new 9-story , 63,000 square-foot building (replacing the theatre addition). Both buildings will contain hotel uses with ground-floor retail. The site is within the New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District.

Design by Surround Architecture.

[philopdx]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Metro report time:

Design by Surround Architecture.

That'll be the biggest thing in Old Town/Chinatown since the MacDonald building. Glad to see *something* above two floors get built adjacent to Big Pink.

[zilfondel]

Good news. 9 story/63,000 ft^2? Thats going to be an oddball skinny building, thats for sure!

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Good news. 9 story/63,000 ft^2? Thats going to be an oddball skinny building, thats for sure!

Looks like we already got images of what it would look like.





http://www.surroundinc.com/#/the-grove-hotel/

[PDXDENSITY]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Looks like we already got images of what it would look like.





http://www.surroundinc.com/#/the-grove-hotel/

Some of it is cantilievered over the other building. I am in love. Holy crap, more like this in old town! I even get a slight asian influence from the style, though maybe I'm imagining it. It's gonna look so great right there. Old Town deserves more eclectic and dense activity going on. It would also make the empty space north of big pink start to fill in.

This building excites me; I love when architecture excites me.

[cab]

Love this addition. Hopefully it doesn't get dumped on by design review's "make it simpler" approach.

[PDX City-State]

I like it. Feels very Lower East Side. Does this site require Landmarks Commission review? If so, they are going to have a heyday with this one.

[tworivers]

Love. Here's hoping that the Landmarks Commission don't get their paws on it.

[maccoinnich]

This project is in the Skidmore / Old Town Historic District, so I believe it gets reviewed by the Historic Landmarks Commission and not the Design Commission.