Ramp.JPG

This photo from August of 1999 shows the final days of the Lovejoy Street Viaduct. The viaduct, which stretched from the Broadway Bridge to Northwest 14th Avenue -- about five blocks -- came down as part of renovating what was called the River District into the Pearl District. Note that some new condos are already under construction.

(The Oregonian)

Editor's note: This story about what was to become the Pearl District first appeared in The Oregonian on March 13, 1994.

By Fred Leeson, The Oregonian



Abandoned rail yards. An outmoded shipping terminal. Ugly parking lots.

This could become one of Portland's most vibrant neighborhoods?



A plan wending its way to the City Council suggests that a decaying portion of Northwest Portland once devoted to industry and transportation could turn into a vital neighborhood for housing, business and recreation.

But it will take $900 million and maybe 20 years.

''We are very excited about this plan,'' said Robert R. Ames, vice chairman of First Interstate Bank and chairman of the River District Steering Committee.

Ames believes the plan's success ultimately could top Portland's other well-knownplanning jewels such as the transit malls, light rail, and the downtown waterfront urban renewal project.

The area covered by the new River District Plan includes land inside the Interstate 405 freeway loop north of Burnside, plus the Port of Portland's Terminal One property just north of the Fremont Bridge.

Key elements of the plan include:

Building 5,500 units of housing, enough for 15,000 residents.

Extending Waterfront Park north towards the Fremont Bridge.

Shortening by five blocks the elevated ramps at the west end of the Broadway Bridge on Lovejoy Street.

Returning portions of buried Tanner Creek to the surface and building an attractive river basin where it empties in the Willamette River.

Extending the North Park Blocks from Northwest Glisan to Lovejoy Street.

Using sites occupied by Terminal One and the Main Post Office for housing. (Planners think the Post Office eventually will be relocated close to Portland International Airport.)

Building transit links to downtown Portland with bus and perhaps trolley service.

Planners say the neighborhood could provide a wide range of housing alternatives for people who work in the downtown and Lloyd Center areas, freeing them of costly commuting and parking.

''The essence of this project is for Central City workers,'' said Roger D. Shiels, a planning consultant who contributed to the plan. He predicted that more than half the trips in and out of the neighborhood would be by transit, bicycle or walking.

Public attractions such as the proposed river basin, parks, and shopping and restaurants could make the neighorhood a magnet for visitors from across the region.

''It's not a wild idea,'' Portland businessman Bill Naito said of the River District plan.

Referring to his own waterfront housing development, McCormick Pier, Naito said, ''Privately, we've tested it. People love living on the river. That's why housing is a natural.''

During an informal presentation of the plan to the City Council, Mayor Vera Katz described the River District as a ''golden opportunity'' for Portland's future.

But making it happen could take many years and as yet undetermined creative

approaches to financing.

''We can't count on packaging the whole thing as we once did,'' said Commissioner Charlie Hales.

He was referring to the loss of tax-increment urban renewal funding, a mechanism used with great success in other urban renewal projects. Tax-increment funding was killed by the Ballot Measure 5 property tax limitation.

Ames said $150 million of public investment, mostly in streets, sewers and parks, ought to leverage $750 million in private investments.

While some public investment could come from routine street and sewer projects, city officials have not yet identified where the bulk of the money would come from.

Gregory S. Baldwin, an architect with the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, said private development could take 10 to 20 years. ''It will accelerate and decelerate with the economy,'' he predicted.

Shiels said a major advantage of the area is that roughly 100 acres is held in public ownership, mostly at Terminal One and around Union Station. He said that land can be traded with developers to open up public spaces along the riverfront and to provide suitable plots for development.

Shiels said trading property would be faster and cheaper than using condemnation to acquire public land.

If the plan is adopted by the City Council, it would replace portions of the Central City Plan adopted in 1988. The new plan puts more emphasis on housing and extending Waterfront Park northward.

The plan will be presented to a meeting of the city Design Review and Historic Landmark commissions at 3 p.m. Thursday, and to the city Planning Commission at 12:30 p.m. March 22.



-- Fred Leeson