SKB Exploring Condos at Uptown Shopping Center

PORTLAND-ScanlanKemperBard Cos. is exploring a condominium development at Uptown Shopping Center, the 47,000-sf retail center at Northwest 23rd and West Burnside that it acquired earlier this year for $20.76 million.

The acquisition from Federal Realty Investment Trust, which closed in June, included 47 apartment units a developable 55,000-sf parking lot behind Ben & Jerry’s and Hasson Realty. SKB Principal Robert Scanlan tells GlobeSt.com that a pending zone change for the greater area would raise the height limit for the property from 45 feet to 120 feet, allowing for a condominium tower.

The number of units hasn’t been hammered out yet, but unlike some of the larger units that have been built up the hill from Uptown, Scanlan says SKB’s condo units would be in the 800-sf to 2,500-sf range, with an emphasis in the 1,200-sf to 1,500-sf range. “It’s frankly where I want to live,” says Scanlan of the relatively densely-populated Northwest retail and residential district.